I *heart* Food Isetan Foodmarket

As an Isetan member, I have regular updates from their countless brochures and leaflets. Their never-ending promotion has gotten me bored, until I came across this particular leaflet about their new Food Market in Lot 10. Now, for those who are not aware, the food court in Lot 10 Ground Floor has been closed for renovation for a couple of months. I have no idea what was the renovation about until I received their leaflet about their "enhancement" of their supermarket... which is to a food market.


The brochure states that it will open on 9th Oct 2009, so I went over for a look. Well, the supermarket is opened, with a few more variety of food, but the food court is still under renovation. The place only had 3 small tables to dine in, which is quite a waste.


My favourite - Yaki (RM5.00). This is really good. I actually went back for a 2nd serving!

Doraemon's favourite "doughnut" - Dorayaki (RM4.20). The feeling is red bean paste. I don't quite like this as I find this quite dry and tasteless.


Yakitori - RM3.00, which is RM1.50 per stick. This is actually quite delicious. I like this.


Vincent got the Grilled Chicken Drumstick (RM5.80). A little too sweet for my liking.


I am now waiting for the food court place to complete its renovation. Then there should have more choices, and hopefully more tasty food.

Station 1 Cafe

We were in the neighborhood of Taman Pertama the other day as we were paying a site visit to our new home. Can't tell exactly what we were looking at (surprise!) but all I can say is that we are very satisfied and happy! Done with that, we drove around to scout for food, and stumbled across Station 1 Cafe.


We've always seen this cafe here, so we thought we'd give it a go. The deco was tastefully done, giving a very chill-out place to hang out.


Vincent ordered Iced Wulong Tea (RM1.60) and it was served this way. We were quite surprised because it looked too fancy to be iced Chinese tea.


I ordered their signature Yes Tea (RM4.60). I reckon it's the same as the jasmine tea typically served at cafes. My complaint is that it is too sweet for my taste, but it has very strong tea taste and fragrance.


Vincent has been having the western cuisine craving for weeks now... So he ordered the Chicken Chop (RM12.90). The chicken chop was sliced a bit too thin, but it does tasted OK... At least enough to make him happy.


I don't wanna have Western food, and also nothing on spaghetti. So I ordered their signature Nasi Lemak Special (RM10.80). The chicken rendang has very strong santan... A little bit too overwhelming. The sambal is actually very tasty.


I guess their food is not bad... I mean there is a reason this cafe chain is growing like mushroom... They are everywhere! Since this is very close to my new home, I can foresee us dropping by more often to try the other dishes offered in their menu.

17, Jalan 2/90, Taman Pertama, 56100 Kuala Lumpur
03 - 9282 5233

Ipoh Chicken Rice @ Gasing

After paying a visit to Moniq at the Gasing vet, We went to the New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice at Gasing. I heard that the chicken rice here is very good, so we give it a go though Vincent is a bit skeptical as he always think that the best chicken rice is at Pudu.


The place has 2 floors, and was already crowded when we went there at about 2 pm. There were many waiters to ensure that service was fast and efficient. When I looked at the menu, I realised that there was no price stated on the menu at all. It was just words and some picture illustrations.

The "Oil Chicken Rice" - RM1.60 per plate.


Instead of having roasted chicken like we usually do, we try something different this time. We ordered the steamed chicken instead. RM8.00 for portion of 2 people. The chicken is very tasty and very tender. I ordered the chicken breast and it was delicious! The sauce was not too salty nor oily. And the chicken was not really fat too.


The BBQ Pork - RM9.00. Portion is a little too small I must say, and I find it a tad too sweet. Even the pieces were chopped too harshly and big. I'd prefer thinly sliced and crispier BBQ pork.


Without fail, I need some vegetable, so we ordered the Bean Sprout - RM3.00. I find it too oily for a vege dish... I couldn't even finish this dish because of that.


I haven't had this is ages, and when I saw a picture of this in the menu, I ordered it immediately. This is the Gold Bar Fish Cake - RM4.50. This fish cake is tangy and yummy! Though the sauce that came with this tasted funny, I enjoyed eating just this alone.


Not a bad place to try something new... But we are very KL inclined people. Unless we are here in the neighborhood, we might come back. If not, we'll just stick to good ol' Pudu for the best chicken rice!

107 Jalan Gasing, 46000 Petaling Jaya
03 7956 0958

Warm Bak Kut Teh dinner

It rained heavily on Saturday evening, and by the time I woke up at 7pm (we were at the vet the whole afternoon), the rain has just slowed down to fine drizzle. Hunger for something warm and serves hot Chinese tea, Vincent suggested we go for bak kut teh.

It's been awhile since we've had that, so we went to this bak kut teh shop at Pudu called Yik Sek Ho. This is near the Pudu wet market.


We ordered for 2 people's portion for the bak kut teh soup. At a chill, windy night, nothing, soothes the feeling more than a warm pot of tasty bak kut teh... Ahh perfect! Soup is just tasty, the pork is tender, the vege is fresh... Best feeling!


This is my idea of bak kut teh - I call this the Black Soup LOL. I will pour the soup over my rice until it's flooded, then only I'll move on to the pork. It's just a habit I develop since I was a kid. Although this is not as good as the one in Jinjang, it really is not bad. One of the best actually.


One of the must-haves - the Yau Char Kuey. Vincent will fight for the black soup to dip this in it. Most bak kut teh shops serve this cold and soggy, but this is actually still very crispy. Thumbs up!


The soaked Tau Fu Pok. To me, there isn't much taste in this unless I go with lots of chili and garlic.


Definitely need this whenever I have bak kut teh is the red chili (the spicier the better)...


... And without doubt is the garlic. Mix the chili and garlic with soy sauce... Hmm what a pleasant delight!


Total bill came up to RM32.00. Standard price Vincent said.
Good place for us to enjoy bak kut teh.

It was (almost) a good day

Moniq's schedule surgery is today, and Vincent's dad was there. The exploratory surgery started at 12.30pm. Vincent and I were worried sick... We really don't know what we can do anymore except to pray and hope that Moniq is strong enough to go through this.

At 4pm, I called the vet. The vet said "She is awake"! OMG! I was so happy! So thrilled to hear those words! When you thought you have just been blessed with good news after a week of gloominess, this is what came next - "When we cut it open, it is very bad". The vet told me that the liver is very bloated and is blocking the blood vessel, thus, the blood could not flow through to the intestine, carrying the "waste" out of the body. He tried to move the blood vessel but the liver is blocking the way. So he took a sample of the liver and sent it for test in Australia.

In the meantime, Moniq has awaken, and is now recovering. The vet said that she will be in more pain cos her wound will not heal "normally" due to the blockage of the blood. But then again, my dog proved yet again that she is willing to fight for her life by waking up after the surgery! I consider that a good sign already.

Vincent's dad told him that when Moniq was sent to the surgery room, her body was shaking furiously... It's like she knows what is gonna happen to her, and his dad said he saw tears dripping from her eyes... Poor Moniq... poor poor Moniq. I really pity her...

Pls recover soon, and come back to us.



Oh! On a different note, I finished work at 5.10pm and arrived home at 5.30pm today! YAY! There was power cut in the whole building at about 4.10pm. At first, I thought it was only the building, but even the shops around our building has no power too. Hmm...

Who has the right?

We have decided to send Moniq for surgery... And her surgery is tomorrow, 27.10.09. This is an "exploratory surgery", whereby the surgery is perform to explore what has happened in the body clearly. It is different from the therapeutic surgery", which means they can "correct" the situation on the surgery table then and there.

This is a very difficult situation and choice because:
1) Her liver is not functioning "properly" - Doctors do not normally perform surgeries on pet that has that liver diagnosis but for her case, we do not have any choice left.
2) She might not be able to withstand the sedation. If for whatever reason her organs can't withstand the sedation, she might not even get to open her eyes and leave the surgery table alive.
3) If she gets through 1st and 2nd part, once a sample is taken from her liver, they will stitch her back. Since her organs are not functioning well enough, her wound will take longer time to recover, and she will feel more pain than usual during the recovery.
4) The liver sample will be sent to Australia for test, and it will take 10-14 days. During this period, Moniq can't come home yet. She has to continue her IV drips and blood tests, and hope that her liver will flush out the fluids and poison to avoid her stomach from bloating anymore.
5) After the sample test reports come back, the vet can tell what is her "real" diagnosis is, and will then only be able to confirm if she can be cured or not. There is no confirm answer if there will definitely be a cure once the report is back.
6) The vets have not perform such procedure with a pet that is in this situation. It is a very high-risk surgery.

We can choose to skip through all these, and just choose to put her to sleep... But who has the right to decide the life and death of a dog? Shouldn't it be the dog itself? She has her right to fight to live, and we are giving her this chance. Even though it will costs a bomb for the whole process, but we have no right whatsoever to deny her rights to live. We will let Moniq and God decide her fate.

I wanna thank those who showed their concern and has kept Moniq in their prayers. Pls continue to do so. Her surgery is tomorrow, and I do hope Moniq will fight for her life. She must know that we are all here for her, waiting for her to come home with us.

Actually, I have a picture of Moniq in the hospital, with the IV drips, shaved legs, bloated stomach, shrunk body and neck, but it's just too excruciating to post it up here. It hurts so much.

Plus One Shabu Shabu

21.10.09

We rarely go for dinners like this on the weekdays, but I'd thought we could come to try this place and have some alone time with Vincent. He has been really down and this would just cheer him up and we don't have to return home too early cos every time he is home, he has discussions with his family for hours on Moniq. I just don't want him to get stressed out especially after working hours.


The meal that will take longer is definitely steamboat or shabu shabu. That's because you take your own sweet time simmering and cooking your food. And I've been meaning to try this place out as I've seen people visiting this place at wee hours like 2am.


The place is called Plus One Shabu Shabu at Imbi. It is next to Imbi Palace (which was posted in my last 2 posts). Their menu offers a varieties of raw as well as cooked food.


We arrived at about 6.30pm. Since it was still early on a weekday, we were the only customer then. Check out the utensils they use. Quite different huh?


Even the cup and bowl has carving on them.


The place is fairly huge. It has round tables catered for bigger groups, and square tables for smaller groups. They also have rooms for those who needs it.


We ordered Chinese Tea. Even the teapot was different.


Unlike most steamboat restaurants, this restaurant prepares a pot for every customer. I guess this is more hygienic and you get to choose your own soup. However, the disadvantage would be you will lose out on the fun of shabu shabu with your friends. Hmm but I definitely prefer this individual pot style.


There is a total of 17 choices of soup for you to choose from! That's really a lot! The soup prices range from RM5-RM7. I chose one that is recommended on the menu, which is the Pork Bone with Corn Broth (RM7.00). This soup is very tasty! I had it refilled and almost finish the soup myself!


Vincent chose the Pepper Pork Broth (RM7.00) - Also one of the recommended item. The pepper taste and smell was really strong. Advisable for those who loves this soup.


One thing that shocked me was the choices of sauce they have! It was a huge round table which looks like a buffet table. Instead of offering food, the table offers a variety of sauces. Total number of sauce - a whopping 12! I actually took the effort to photographed all 12 different sauces!


The must-have for steamboat is the Deep Fried Bean Curd Sheet (RM6.00).


We also ordered the Quail Egg (RM4.00).


What is shabu shabu when you don't have the thinly sliced meat. We don't feel like eating beef, so we ordered the Pork Loin (RM18.00). I find this not too bad... Not exactly the freshest, but not exactly the worst. The only complain I have is that I find it a little too fat.


I ordered their Homemade Fish Ball (RM5.00). If you don't pay too much attention to it, you will just drop this into your individual pot, cook it and eat it. But Vincent picked up some smell from it. Not the fish smell, but the fridge smell. He has this thing for food that has been in the fridge for too long and soak up the smell of the fridge. We didn't finish this.


This was not on their menu... It is their new item and was on a different menu. This is the Taiwanese Pork Ball (RM5.00). Quite pricey, but it was all worth it! This was very delicious! It's fresh, and very yummy!


I didn't take a picture of the vegetables that we ordered, but I'd reckon it's worth mentioning that the price we paid for the vege (RM6.00 for a bowl) was a little too pricey for that portion. I didn't know the price of it until I got the bill cos Vincent was the one who ordered it... But he said other vegetables in the menu are that price.

Overall, it was a good experience for shabu shabu and spending a little time away from all the stress. Unless we have another itch for steamboat, we will think twice if we wanna come back here or to go for the porridge steamboat. Am not saying this is a bad place, but it's just that I might need to think for other options before actually driving there.

20-22, Jalan Barat, Off Jalan Imbi, 55100 Kuala Lumpur
03-2148 0322