J&G Fried Chicken @ Putrajaya, Wilayah Persekutuan

One of the recent outlets to open in IOI City Mall is J&G Fried Chicken. J&G is a famous Taiwanese Street Food and over there, it is knows as Ji Guang, hence the abbreviation of J&G. It's all about chicken bits (pop corn chicken) that are deep fried and they top it up with some spicy flavours. Over there in Taiwan, this is a huge business and it is great to see that they have started opening outlets in Malaysia.

The Outlet On The Lower Ground Floor

Their menu was rather simple. Just a few dishes surrounding this Fried Chicken. To add a Malaysian touch, they had also introduced a Nasi Lemak combination. Since it was almost lunch hour, I decided to go for the Nasi Lemak combination and had another drink. The concept is rather simple. Place your orders and pay for them. Then they would fry the chicken and season them according to taste. 

Honey Lemon @ RM 4.00

Nasi Lemak with Pop Corn Chicken @ RM 12.80

Sambal Packed in a Packet

In a matter of minutes, my meal was served. The Honey Lemon was okay. Prepacked stuff that must have been done at the factory level. Taste wise, it was okay and I would rate it at 7/10. The Pop Corn Chicken was freshly prepared and it comes in a paper bag. Their Nasi Lemak however may be one that comes from another vendor and the sambal is packed separately in a small plastic packet. 

Nasi Lemak with Pop Corn Chicken

Closer Look At The Pop Corn Chicken

The Nasi Lemak tasted very familiar. It tasted exactly like the one that I usually buy from Shell Stations, except that this came in a different packaging. The Sambal was quite oily and basically there was nothing much in it. Just some oily sambal and onions. No anchovies whatsoever. The Sambal itself was sweet, I mean really sweet was wasn't to my liking. Honestly, the Nasi Lemak was just so so and if I were to rate this, I would give it 5/10. The Pop Corn Chicken itself was nice but the amount of artificial flavouring used is definitely frightening. Taste wise, I would give it 7/10.

If you're really into Taiwanese flavours, then I would recommend giving this Fried Chicken a try. Otherwise, you may not enjoy it. The Chicken itself was good but the amount of artificial flavours used is frightening. The Nasi Lemak too was nothing to shout about.

Address: LG 76-A, Lower Ground Floor, IOI City Mall, 62502 Putrajaya.

Business Hours: 1000 - 2200 Daily 

Kepong Food Court @ Kepong, Kuala Lumpur

After having been in India for about two weeks, we returned yearning for the local food. Tonight, we decided to head to Kepong to try out this food court which is located along Jalan Metro Perdana Barat 14, right opposite AEON and Carrefour Kepong. 

Huge Number of Stalls

Huge Number of Stalls

Huge Number of Stalls

This place has been around for a few years now. This place is famous as you get more than 60 different stalls here selling a variety of food. You get Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Portuguese, Malay food and Western grilled items here. Definitely a variety that is not easily found under one roof. The place as I know it is mostly packed, especially on weekends where it may take a while for you to even get a table. We were lucky that we managed to get a table almost immediately. Having taken our seats, each of us did a long walk checking out the stalls before finally placing our orders. Ordering here is quite simple, just walk up to your desired stall, mention the table number and the dish that you would like to have, and then it is sent over to your table.

Mutton Satay

Mutton Satay

Peanut Gravy

There is a Satay stall right at the corner where we were sitting and he had Chicken, Mutton and Beef Satay. We decided to go for the Mutton Satay. The Satay's were good, meaty and no fat. The taste too was quite nice but not as good as perhaps Sate Kajang. For just a normal stall, it was quite nice. The peanut sauce too was not watery nor thick, it was just about the right texture and mildly spiced. I would rate this satay at 8/10 .

Prawn Mee

Prawn Mee

The Prawn Mee was just above average. Though it had all the ingredients as you can see from the photograph above, the soup was quite bland and that killed the overall taste. The number of ingredients is important but the key item, is the flavour of the soup which was lacking here. Definitely not recommended. I would only rate this dish at 6/10 .

Fried Chicken

Fried Chicken

The Fried Chicken Stall is located on the other end from the Satay stall. This stall specialises in only fried chicken selling fried chicken, fried chicken pop corns and fried chicken skin. The Fried Chicken was really nice, well marinated and deep fried to a golden brown colour, just the way it should be. I would rate this at 8.7/10 .

Chee Cheong Fun

Chee Cheong Fun

This Chee Cheong Fun stall is somewhere in the center of the food court. This guy sells the above standard Chee Cheong Fun, Curry Chee Cheong Fun and Yong Tau Fu items. He also has the flat and rolled variety of the dough to choose from. Basically, here one would add as many extra items that you would need. The Chee Cheong Fun was nice and indeed the items were fresh. Definitely a good preparation and I shall rate this at 8.2/10 .

Char Kuey Teow

Char Kuey Teow

The Char Kuey Teow stall is located on the far end, quite close to the Satay stall. The portion and taste were good. It also came with lots of bean sprouts, eggs and cockles. Not something outstanding but it was good. I would rate this at 8.4/10 .

Deep Fried Fish with Chili Paste @ RM 18.00

Deep Fried Fish with Chili Paste @ RM 18.00

This stall is a very large stall specialising in seafood items and is located right next to the satay stall. It is difficult to miss this stall as if I am not mistaken, this is the largest stall occupying three units. They have seafood like fish, cuttlefish, cockles, clams, crabs, prawns, giant prawns, squid and many more. A variety of preparation is done here and all have been photographed and displayed at the stall for ordering convenience. We went for the above Talapia fish and requested him to prepare in the above method. Pricing is standard too. Small is RM 18.00 and Big is RM 22.00 .The fish was wonderfully deep fried to the extent that even the head was crispy. The spicy sauce was a tad too spicy so just be cautious when ordering this style of cooking if you are not able to take very spicy food. I would rate this dish at 8.9/10 . 

Us Having Dinner

Us Having Dinner

This was definitely a very satisfying dinner and a huge change from the last two weeks. I would recommend this place as it has a huge variety of food to choose from, the prices are reasonable and the food court itself is quite clean. Good to go in large groups as you get to try more food items like the seafood which are ideal for sharing. 

Address: Jalan Metro Perdana Barat 14, Kepong Utara, 

                Kepong, 52100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: 1700 - 0200 Daily

Din Tai Fung @ e@Curve, Petaling Jaya

Having started with a humble beginning in Taipei in 1970, today Din Tai Fung is voted as the Top 10 Restaurants in the World and have established their presence in ten countries. Having had the family together for the Deepavali holidays, we decided to head to their outlet in e@Curve for a sumptuous lunch. 

Din Tai Fung @ e@Curve

Interior of the Restaurant

Their outlet here is relatively large as it occupies four  shop lots. There are various sections available for customers to dine and as it was rather full today, we were placed at the far left section, close to the kitchen. The cleanliness here was really good and the staffs were very efficient. Right from greeting us at the entrance to even serving the dishes, everything seemed so perfect. It was a pleasure being able to sit near the kitchen as we were able to see how the food was being prepared and the skill of the Chef's in making these dumplings. 

A Brief of their Xiao Long Bao

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

It took me a while to digest their menu as there were so many dishes being offered and they all looked good. After going through their menu for almost 20 minutes, we decided on our orders and finalised them with the waiter.

Jasmine Pearl Tea (Fujian China Green Tea) @ RM 14.00

When you order tea here, it comes in two pots. One being filled with tea and the other is empty. You would need to empty the first serving into the empty pot and then the earlier one with the leaves still intact is topped up with hot water. With every pot you purchase, you get two refills free. The above Jasmine Pearl Tea was a soft flavour tea and it had a distinctive taste of it's own. I definitely liked it and would rate this tea at 9.3/10 .

Taiwanese Century Egg @ RM 4.80

The above starters was pretty good. The eggs were soft and fluffy yet firm on the texture. You get a thinly sliced and pickled ginger on the yolk and it has to be consumed in one bite to give the full flavour. I would rate this dish at 9.2/10 .

Spicy Shrimp and Pork Wanton @ RM 10.00

The Shrimp and Pork Wanton comes in a very spicy curry like gravy at the bottom. What amazed me with the dumplings here is how well they had crafted it. Yes, crafted is the right word as it was so perfect. The skin was amazingly thin and the fillings were just delicious. I would rate this dish at 9.7/10 .

Xiao Long Bau @ RM 10.30

The acclaimed Xiao Long Bau is definitely a must try dish here. Being one of the world's best, it is delicately made with very fine skill. Definitely the best that I have tried till date. I would rate this at 10/10 .

Shanghai Style Deep Fried Fish @ RM 19.50

If you had not read their menu, one would assume that this dish was sliced pork as it tasted just like that but in actual fact, it is sliced fish. The meat was thinly sliced and fried with honey and it was cooked to perfection. This is another dish that is a must try at this restaurant and I have not tasted this preparation elsewhere. I would rate this dish at 10/10 .

Shrimp & Pork Shio Mai @ RM 15.30

The Pork was bagged in very thin skin along with some vinegar and the shrimp was placed on the top making it look like a flower that is just blooming and the taste was absolutely delicious. Both the presentation and preparation were perfect. This deserves another full rating of 10/10 . 

Shrimp & Pork Fried Rice @ RM 15.50

Their Fried Rice was good too. It came with loads of Shrimp, Dried Shrimp, Sliced Pork and Eggs. The portion was lavish in the sense that it was good to be shared by three people. Although I find this to be good, I have still tasted better Fried Rice in other similar restaurants. Nevertheless, I would rate the above preparation at 8.8/10 .

Pork Bun @ RM 6.80

Their Pork Bun came with a good amount of fillings which were slightly on the 'Tai Bao' kind of taste. Here the bun came with a much thicker skin and it had to be peeled off  before consuming. Between this and their Xiao Long Bau, I would still prefer the latter as it was world's apart. I would rate their Pork Bun at 8.6/10 .

Overall, our dining experience here today was definitely a very good one. Most of their food served were excellent and the service provided was prompt, efficient and smooth. The pricing too was quite reasonable bearing in mind the quality of the food served. I would definitely return here again and get my hands on more dishes that I was not able to try today.

Address: G17-20, Ground Floor E@Curve, No. 2A, Jalan PJU 7/3, 

                Mutiara Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: 1000 - 2200 Daily

Telephone: +603 7728 3218

Website: http://dintaifungmalaysia.com/

Little Taiwan @ e@Curve, Petaling Jaya

Today we decided to try out this chain of restaurants called Little Taiwan which is found in most of the shopping malls. They claim to be Taiwanese food and it holds the Halal status but having visited Taiwan before, I feel that the food here had been altered to suit the Malaysian taste buds. Today we visited the outlet in e@Curve .

Little Taiwan Restaurant at e@Curve

Seats along the mall walkway

The outlet itself is rather small and most of the seats were arranged along the walkway of the mall. This restaurant seemed to be very busy today and there were only two workers serving the entire crowd. There were even many that got disgruntled for waiting close to 30 minutes just for the orders to be taken. Even we had a difficult time here but since we were in no rush, we decided to just accommodate. From where we were sitting, the kitchen was clearly visible and the chefs were two Bangladeshi guys. It is then I learned that no real cooking happens here. The food are all frozen and these guys just need to put them in the microwave, heat them up and serve and I wonder why that was raking really long. The best part is that there were only two microwaves in the kitchen. 

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

Specialty Dish here

Another Signature Dish

The menu was quite elaborate and the above are just some of their pages. It took us a while to decide what to have and then I finally decided on having two mains and some other side dishes just to try them out. Once I made the decision, I walked up to the counter and placed my orders instead of having them to come up to my table and that would probably take ages.

Chicken Meatball Soup @ RM 4.90

After an hour of waiting the dishes started arriving one by one. The above Chicken Meatball Soup was the first to arrive. I found this to be rather nice despite looking very simple. There were four meatballs and this dish came at RM 4.90 . The soup was quite nice and had some black pepper in it and the meatballs were nicely prepared too. Though they were slightly on the hard side, the flavouring was good. I would rate this dish at 7/10 .

Dumpling @ RM 6.90

These dumplings were just average to me. The filling was very little and the skin was just too thick and that gave it a very flat taste. For such small pieces, I feel the price of RM 6.90 was too much. I would only rate this at 5/10 .

Braised Egg @ RM 1.50

The Braised Egg was above average. I definitely have had much better ones in other places. The price was not expensive for the dish but I would rate this at 7/10 only . It is nice but not outstanding. 

Golden Yam Balls @ RM 5.90

The above Yam Balls were an utter disappointment. They were really horrible. The crisp skin was tasteless and had a deep oil stench. The filling was rather miserable in quantity. A waste of money. I would only rate this dish at 2/10 .

Side Dish Comes With Any Set Meals

Vegetable is Salad Cream

This side dish comes with any set meals and as we ordered two set meals, we received two of these. The Vegetable came with Salad Cream and was decent though miserable in quantity. I would rate the vegetable at 7/10 .

Rice & Molasses Crisps

The above Rice & Molasses Crisps was just average. We did not quite enjoy this and in fact we left it after just tasting a single piece. I would rate this at only 1/10 .

Braised Tofu

The Braised Tofu was pretty good. They used the same ingredients that was used for the eggs earlier but it tasted quite nice. I would rate this at 7/10 .

White Rice ...part of the set meal

Spicy Salted Fish Fillet Rice Set @ RM 15.90

This was one of the rice sets that we ordered. This came with the above side dish, white rice and also comes with another soup which I would writing more about shortly. At RM 15.90 for the full set, I found it to be quite reasonable. What we did was we ordered two of these sets and shared the mains which makes more sense as we wanted to try as many dishes as possible. The above dish was quite nice and it was surely altered to cater to the Malaysian taste buds. It was slightly spicy but not too much and so it suits well with people having a low tolerance level of spiciness. I would rate the above dish at 8/10 .

Taiwanese Supreme Chicken Rice Set @ RM 15.90

This was by far the best dish that we had here today. It was really nice and the only set back that I can say is that the quantity was less, or much lesser compared to the previous Spicy Salted Fish Fillet dish. To me, this seemed to be like an Indian dish instead of a Taiwanese dish. My rating for this shall be 9/10 .

Clear Soup

This soup came with both the sets. I found this to be rather good. It was slightly salty but delicious. I would rate this soup at 8.5/10 .

Desert Complementary

We got the above desert complementary as they had messed up our orders along the way and we had to wait close to an hour before our food arrived. Well, it was just the same items that they gave us with the main set meals with the exception of the two crab sticks. We just had the vegetables and the crab sticks and left the other crackers as we did not like it in the first place anyway. 

Generally, this restaurant is not bad as they do have some dishes that are nice. The major setback here is their staffing which definitely needs to be improved along with the waiting time for the dishes to arrive. Anyone having a meal in a mall would have limited time and people usually try to catch quick meals like this when they are waiting for showtime to catch a movie and if these people drag the orders this long, definitely most people would not have the patience to wait. One of their waitress was a foreigner, possibly from India, and she made loads of mistakes with us. There was even a point when she put a dish in front of us, something that I had ordered, and as I was about to eat it, she took it away just like that saying that that was not for me but for another table and that mine was still not ready yet. These gestures can really aggravate customers but I just kept my calm today. Otherwise, I think the place is just okay. 

Address: Level 1, e@ Curve, Mutiara Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: 1000 - 2200 Daily

Telephone: +603 7725 1355

Website: http://www.little-taiwan.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LittleTaiwanMY