Tag Archives: noodles

Malaysian edition: Culinary delights in Kuala Lumpur

Posted in Chinese/Asian, Food, Travel by

My long absence can be explained by a last minute decision to head to Kuala Lumpur for a friend’s wedding. There was the Perth wedding and a week after that a bunch of friends and I indulged ourselves in culinary heaven for the couple’s second round of celebrations in Malaysia.

I love weddings, to say the least, and even more so when it is held overseas because the celebration keeps on going long after the couple has gone on their honeymoon. And that is exactly what happened in KL.

As soon as we landed and checked into the hotel, food was the main thing on the agenda. Really, Bukit Bintang is the place to be! Great hotels everywhere and just walking distance to all the places we wanted to go to. I learned from the hairdresser I went to that the place we have been dining at for a selection of hawker food is the best in town. What a relief to hear that from a local. This place is called Lot 10 – more like the food court of a shopping mall called Lot 10. Anyhow, you can find all sorts of things you want to eat there! They are cheap and delicious.

A sample of treats we had at Lot 10, a cleaner venue for hawker food:

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But no trip to KL is complete without sampling the food found in Jalan Alor, a popular street for dinner or supper or just a place to hang out after a big night out. Though some shops serve the same kinds of food the trick is to find the shop that sells the best dish.

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And this guy made the night complete…or was it early morning? Turkish ice cream in 3 flavours – vanilla, chocolate, and durian.

Great food for about a third of the prices in Perth!

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Recipe: noodles with fish flakes and mushroom

Posted in Perth, Recipes by

From my kitchen: noodles with fish flakes and mushrooms

Remember how I bought a large container of fresh noodles from Big Bowl Noodles? Well, here is one of the ways I’ve cooked the noodles. Pasta noodles would work perfectly with this dish too.

Ingredients

noodles that serves 2-3 people

1 fish fillet

olive oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup white wine

1 – 1 1/2 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup cream or half a block of Philly cream cheese

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt and pepper

Method

1. Cook the noodles according to packet instructions, drain and set aside.

2. In a large pan, panfry the fish fillet until crisp then, using a fork, flake it.

3. In a same pan, heat the oil and sautee garlic and mushrooms for about 2 minutes. Then add in the flaked fish.

4. Add in white wine, chicken stock, cream (or cream cheese) and lemon juice. Stir until well incorporated. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

5. Add in the drained noodles and mix until all of the noodles are covered with sauce. Let the noodles soak up the sauce. Note that the this recipe is meant for dry-type noodles with only a hint of sauce on the plate.

6. Serve hot and enjoy.

Big Bowl @ Northbridge

Posted in Chinese/Asian, Perth by

Finally a place in Perth where I can indulge in noodles semi-guiltlessly (semi, because I am trying a diet of low carbs). If you need to be reminded…I have a very unhealthy addiction to noodles. Noodle soup, stir-fry noodles, deep fried noodles with sauce, boiled noodles, claypot noodles, salad noodles – in whatever way noodles are cooked I will eat them all (but noodles in a heart warming broth is my number choice).

Today on a very chilly day I ventured out to the city for some harmless shopping. I had the craving for a good bowl of soup, battling between minestrone or asian soup. In the end, asian soup craving won so I headed on foot to Northbridge for a big bowl of noodle soup. I have read that Big Bowl Noodles along William Street makes their own noodles so that alone is enough to convince me to give this place a try. The restaurant was not overly busy when I walked in seeing as it was already 2:30pm then. There were only 3 other tables occupied so service was very quick.

They have this on their wall explaining something about noodle making -

Big Bowl: info about noodle making

- and they are right. Noodle making is an art. Big Bowl makes their own noodles called La Mien, as in noodles pulled by hand, but we are now in the modern ages so they actually use machines to “pull” the noodles. There are 3 machines – 1 for regular noodles, 1 for wholemeal noodles, and 1 for thicker regular noodles – and the noodles are “pulled” to order. Place your order then choose your noodle and the waitress presses a button on the machine and, voila, noodles come out and she passes them on to the chef.

Big Bowl: here comes my wholemeal noodles

There are some 50+ combinations of noodles on the menu – some soup, some stir fried, some vego..etc. and it did take a while for me to decide which one to indulge in. Finally I chose the fish skin with prawn dumpling noodle soup with wholemeal noodles. Wow, it was heaven in every slurp. And made even better with a little bit of chili. It was unusual to have wholemeal la mien because I have never been to a chinese restaurant that actually makes and serves wholemeal noodles. This worked just fine for me because I currently have an obsession with anything wholemeal (for that added texture). The soup was very simple yet tasty. Just broth, I’m guessing pork broth, and not loaded with msg seeing as I was not left dehydrated after I finished my bowl of noodle soup. They were generous with the veggies too. The only real problem with my meal were the dumplings. They came in only 4 pieces and were mediocre. The wrapper was too big and I could not make out where the fish skin was.

Big Bowl: fish skin with prawn dumpling noodle soup

The staff there can speak little English, enough for them to get by and understand me. I was going to try ordering in Chinese but I felt so embarrassed with my broken Chinese that if she asked me something else I would’ve just turned red and replied in English. The lady who served me looked a bit uptight but she did turn out to be friendly upon “chatting” with her about the noodles. I loved my wholemeal noodles so much that I ordered fresh ones to take home. I did not know that you can actually just order fresh noodles until a man came in and ordered 4 large containers. So I copied him and ordered 1 large container for myself. And this was when I “chatted” with the lady about the different types of noodles and how I should store and cook them at home.

Big Bowl: take home fresh wholemeal noodles

I am literally contained with excitement about cooking the noodles at home. I finally found a place where I can get quality noodles to feed my addiction.

My rating: 8/10

Big Bowl on Urbanspoon

Recipe: Chinese-style stir-fried noodles

Posted in Chinese/Asian, Recipes by

From my kitchen: Chinese-style stir-fried noodles

I cook this dish very often because it’s really tasty and easy to make – once you get past all that slicing.

Ingredients

1/2 capsicum, sliced thinly

1 carrot, peeled and sliced thinly

2 stalks celery, sliced thinly

1 onion, sliced

1 chicken breast, cut into strips

oil for stir frying

2 packs yee fu noodles

1 – 2 cups chicken stock or water

4 tablespoons oyster sauce

1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce

4 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons sesame oil

spring onions for garnish

Method

1. Cook the noodles according to package instructions. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a wok. Add in the vegetables and cook for about 2 -3 minutes. Transfer onto a plate.

From my kitchen: vegetable strips

3. Add more oil to the wok. Stir fry the chicken strips until completely cooked.

4. Then add in the chicken stock or water, oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix well.

5. Add in the noodles and constantly mix it with the sauce so the sauce is evenly distributed.

6. Add the vegetables back to the wok.

7. Once noodles are al dente and evenly coated with the sauce, transfer onto serving plate.

8. Serve and enjoy.

Phong Vinh @ Northbridge

Posted in Perth, Vietnamese by

I came to “Phong Vinh” for lunch one day en route to the post office in Northbridge. I used to frequently dine in “Viet Hoa”, the Vietnamese restaurant next door, but after they have decided not to put anymore coriander in their soup I was on the hunt again for a good Vietnamese restaurant. I love pho. I love soup. I love bean sprouts too. So, mathematically speaking, I love Vietnamese noodle soup. I heard and read great reviews about this food court seating styled restaurant and it seems to be always full every time I walk past it.

The waitress served me tea in a thermos, yes a thermos, not a teapot, as soon as I sat down. They have over 100 menu items including spring rolls, rice dishes, dry noodles, soup noodles, beverages. It took a while for me to decide what to eat since everything looked so delicious. Finally I went for the “chicken beef soup”. I asked the waitress if this had noodles and she said it’s “chicken hofan in beef soup”. Ah well, should have written that in the menu.

I was playing with my Iphone when the steaming hot bowl of noodle soup came. The waitress spilled some of the soup and splashed some onto my arm while transferring the bowl to my table. She apologised and quickly went to get a cloth to wipe her mess. The bowl was literally a bowlful of soup (which was why it spilled) and I already knew then and there that I would not be able to finish the whole bowl unless I wanted to fall asleep at work. As with any other Vietnames restaurant, my noodle soup came with a side of bean sprouts and mint, and also a side of chilli and lemon wedge. Yum yum yum. The soup was very tasty and it had coriander in it. If there’s anything wrong with it it would be that it’s a little too oily. The lady said it came with hofan noodles. I was disappointed with this but due to my own fault really. I was really after the pho noodles, rice noodles not hofan noodles. The hofan was too soft for me. Somewhere close to being mushy in fact. I asked the waitress beforehand if I could change my order when I saw a yummier looking item in the menu that had rice noodles in it but she said the cook/chef had already started making my hofan soup. So no worries I told her. It was my mistake. And the best thing about my noodle soup was the chicken. It was very very tasty and tender. I was thinking of bland sliced chicken breast when I ordered this but they surprised me with uber tasty chicken chunks. Needless to say I was very very full.

Phong Vinh: chicken in beef soup

Then a few weeks later  I came here again with Auntie C, Uncle J and my little cousin. We had springs rolls to start with – a pork one and a vegetarian one. Both were very tasty and crunchy. They serve it as soon as they come out of the fryer so watch your tongue.

Phong Vinh: spring rolls

This time I made sure I ordered the correct type of noodles. I had the Phong Vinh special noodle soup which was divine. Rice noodle in soup loaded with toppings, seafood and meat.

Phong Vinh: special noodle soup

As we always have someone order a braised duck noodle soup in Viet Hoa, we also had Phong Vinh’s braised duck noodle soup to see how it compares. Both were similar in taste and the difference really just came down to the soup. Phong Vinh’s is not as salty as Viet Hoa’s.

Phong Vinh: braised duck noodle soup

Uncle J had the chicken noodle soup, dry style (which basically means that the soup is served on the side). This is utterly similar to the chicken beef soup that I had during my first encounter with Phong Vinh except that the chicken here was fried and served on the side as a cutlet piece. He said the dish was just lovely.

Phong Vinh: chicken noodle soup dry style

Last but not least, my little cousin had the stir fry beef with fried rice. This is definitely not the best dish they are serving. The sauce on the beef tasted like something out of the packet and the fried rice was bland. If you are looking for a dish like this I’d suggest heading to a Chinese restaurant instead.

Phong Vinh: beef stir fry with fried rice

 

My rating: 7/10
Phong Vinh on Urbanspoon

Golden King BBQ @ Northbridge

Posted in Chinese/Asian, Perth by

I think I have just found myself a new place to eat whenever I get cravings for roast duck.

Today I’m feeling a little sick with a cold coming up and a throat that’s itching and beginning to sore up. So I figured that a good bowl of noodle soup would help alleviate my blocked nose and decided to head down to Hong Kong BBQ in Northbridge to have my usual “Sliced Duck Noodle Soup with Preserved Vegetable”. As I was walking down the street I took a quick look to see if there is a long queue outside. I only had an hour for lunch and as soon as I see a long line outside I am just going somewhere else. The street seemed strangely quiet on a weekday office lunch time and that’s when it hit me: today was a Wednesday and Hong Kong BBQ is closed on Wednesdays! I almost passed out at this thought. So I aimlessly continued walking down William Street hoping to find a decent place to eat where I can get my much needed soup.

Lo and behold! A few steps down the street was “Golden King BBQ”. I took a quick look at some of the dishes printed on the window and they had something that said “noodles (dry/in soup)”. This was good enough for me. I walked in and it was a full house but not over crowded. The waitress was just cleaning up a table when I walked in so I did not have to wait at all. She then handed me a menu and I went straight to the noodles section. Unfortunately they did not have my favourite sliced duck noodle soup with preserved vegetables so I ordered the next best thing which is simply  “Roast Duck Noodles”, not sliced into strips and no preserved vegetables. Strange how I did not order “Roast Duck Noodles Soup“, huh? Considering it was precisely what I was craving for. Let me tell you why.

Two minutes after I sat down, the waitress, without looking at me, put down a big bowl of soup on my table. I thought it was someone else’s order so I did not touch it obviously until I clarified it with the waitress. Then when she came over to take my order I asked her what is was and she said : “It’s free”. I was already thinking how awesome this is. A big bowl of soup just for me. I think they give out a free bowl of soup per table such that if there are 2 or 4 of you then you would just have to share. Dont worry, they’d give you a serving ladle and small bowls for that. But since I was having lunch alone I have the whole bowl to myself.

This is not just some chicken powder with spring onion soup. This is an actual homemade soup simmered for a least a few hours. How do I know this? Well, we make this kind of soup at home. Stock bones and chicken bones boiled and simmered together with carrots and celery (at home we would add onions and tomatoes too). I quickly took a few sips after ordering to warm up my stomach and it tasted almost exactly like what we regularly make at home. You could still see a few pork and chicken bones in the soup and that tells you it’s the real thing.

Golden King: a hearty asian soup for free

It didn’t take long for my roast duck noodles to be served. I had the dry kind because I already had that big bowl of soup and having another bowl of soup would make me too full and sleepy for work. The had 2 kinds of noodles in the menu: ordinary or special. I noticed that the Chinese equivalent of the special noodles is what they call “la mien” so I ordered that. The ordinary ones are what I assume to be egg noodles.  The dish came with a generous serving of roast duck and a side of steamed bok choy. The noodles were a bit stubborn as I couldn’t easily pick them up with the chopsticks because they were slippery and stucked together. Cutting them was hard too because they were “spongy”.  Anyway that really isn’t a big deal.

And then it was heaven in my mouth when I took a bite of that roast duck. The duck was juicy and tasty. Crispy skin and virtually fatless. Succulent duck is what I’d call it. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I quickly ate all the noddles first so that I can save the best for last. I’ve had some pretty good roast duck before and this one here from Golden King BBQ will certainly make it to my list of places serving awesome roast duck. On top of that the prices are actually pretty affordable too. My lunch cost me just $10.00. Hong Kong BBQ or Happy Star‘s noodle soup dishes cost more than that.

Golden King: Roast Duck Noodles

The place did not impress me at first glance. It looked like a Chinese canteen. But after my very good first experience here I will certainly come back and try the beef brisket noodles that the person in front of me ordered because it looked divine. Noodles smothered in beef brisket stew. Or perhaps I can just order a small bowl of steamed rice to go with my free soup?

My rating: 8/10

Golden King BBQ on Urbanspoon

Joy Cafe @ Northbridge

Posted in Chinese/Asian, Perth by

I was looking for someplace to eat for my lunch break as I did not have my usual packed lunch and I stumbled upon Joy Cafe in William Street, Northbridge. I walked in not expecting too much because I had a feeling that this place would let me down. The photos of some of the dishes like “Fragrant Chicken Rice” and “Beef Brisket Noodle” posted on the window looked good enough for me to try this place.

An alarm sounds when you walk in notifying the staff that there’s someone at the door. So I was looked after quickly. The interior is a bit weird for me. It looks like a typical chinese restaurant setting but also a diner with Asian-style diner couches. I really could not make up if this is a Hong Kong style or, perhaps, a Taiwanese style restaurant. The TV screen was playing a Hong Kong TV series but the staff were speaking in a Taiwanese accent. To add to my confusion, this place also serves some very Hong Kong style cafe dishes like “toast and ham with creamed corn soup” or “toast and steak”, something very similar to Hong Kong’s Cafe de Coral’s breakfast and tea menu.

Anyhow, the waiter led me to sit on one of the Asian-style diner couch which was super uncomfortable. The seat was sinking in the middle and I could hardly rest my elbows on the table. So I moved around trying to find a spot on the couch that is not sinking but everywhere was just as bad. The waiter stared at me while I was decided what to order. After a few minutes of glancing at the menu nothing caught my eye so I just asked him what is a good noodle dish? He suggested the “Beef Brisket Noodles” with soup on the side and I said OK.

And just as I had predicted, this is not the best beef brisket I had eaten but it was edible. Good enough for me not rant about it. My plate had a small serving of the beef brisket, about 6 pieces medium sized beef cubes, that had been cooked in either a sauce from the jar or a homemade blend of oyster sauce and sweet soy sauce. There are no spices (e.g. star anise) to be seen nor tasted that goes into cooking beef brisket. The beef itself was not even tender enough. To make up for the small serving of beef 1/3 of my plate is covered in thin egg noodles lightly tossed with a soy sauce gravy. The amount of noodles is enough to make you full. And to top it off they will also give you 1 bunch of bok choy cut in half and a spoonful of dry chili. From what I can assume, the soup that came with it is made from chicken powder and a whole lot of ground black pepper and a whole lot of spring onions. It was obviously not made with stock and I was simply grossed out by the amount of pepper that I am sipping with each spoonful.

Joy Cafe: Beef Brisket Noodles

I hurriedly went to pay for my meal rushing back to the office. Cost me $10.50 for such a mediocre meal. I gave the cashier a $20 note and a 50-cent piece and they had no $10 notes to give me. So I went out with a pocketfull of $1 and $2 coins.

My rating: 5/10

Joy Cafe Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Nao @ Perth CBD

Posted in Japanese, Perth by

At first sight I would never have even thought of stepping into this little Japanese restaurant. The place does not strike to me as some place posh. In fact, it is a little bit icky when you step into the restaurant. The floors just seem like they are covered in grease and I would no doubt refuse to put my precious bags on them, the tables are not exactly pristine clean specially when you are not the first to have occupied them, and the walls I dare not even touch.

It is through my cousin’s recommendation that I sort of reluctantly agreed to have dinner at Nao. After all, it was almost the end of night shopping hours; most places have already closed their kitchen and the restaurant next door was way worse than this shabby place. Plus I was very, very, very hungry that anything to feed my hunger would suit me just fine.

We placed our orders just in time before Nao’s kitchen closed. It was too hard to choose what to order partly because Japanese food is not among my favourites and the menu is quite worn out which did not help convince me that food here will be good. Anyhow, what made this shabby little place special was that they make their own ramen. And not just 1 type. They come in 3 flavours: egg, chilli and spinach (or as they call it: yellow, red, green). Any place that makes their own “raw ingredients” is, in my opinion, convincing enough to give them a go. And this I do not regret.

I ordered the “Spicy miso chicken ramen with red noodles” and it was darn good. The noodles were al dente (as the Italians would describe it) and they tasted nothing like instant ramen noodles. Even though it’s called spicy miso and I had the chilli ramen with it the noodle soup was not spicy at all (and that’s coming from me, who is not a big spicy dish eater). All ramens come with bamboo shoots, nori, sesame seeds, and the meat of your choice. On my first visit I was really disappointed to see that I was given only 3 thinly sliced chicken pieces. The disappointment quickly fades though once you slurp that first spoonful of soup. The second time I was there I had the “Spicy miso chasu ramen with red noodles” which was exactly the same as the chicken one except for the meat of course. If you are too health conscious I’d say go for the chicken, or seafood. The chasu is indeed like American bacon. It is thinly sliced pork meat with a big layer of fat encircling it. The spicy miso soup was a tad too salty for my liking (and again, this is coming from me, the sodium queen) so by the 3rd  time I went there I opted for the regular miso soup instead and it was divine. It was just the way miso soup should taste like and just the right amount of sodium (or miso paste) was added. The dish is served in an oversized bowl that makes your noodles and soup seem little. But don’t be fooled. For an average of $10.50, you will leave feeling really, really full specially if you ordered takoyaki or gyoza on the side and managed to woop those down too!

Nao: red noodle

Nao: spicy miso chasu ramen

Speaking of takoyakis and gyozas – these are 2 notable Japanese entrees that you must try if you think you have enough room in your tummy to fit them all in. The takoyaki comes in 6 pieces, a little bit smaller in size than the ones you get from other Japanese restaurants. Size doesn’t really matter to me since I can barely eat them anyway after having my ramen but it is worth a try. They are served by the friendly staff as soon as they come off the takoyaki pan so you can be guaranteed that they will have a crunchy outside and a steamingly hot inside. The same goes for the gyoza. You eat them as soon as they come off the grill but that means you have to wait for maybe 20 minutes for a plate of 4 gyozas. They came after I was halfway done with my ramen (and if you know how fast I eat you will know that this is indeed a long time to wait for an entree). And the presentation was not as good as it should have been. The gyozas clearly got stuck to the pan/grill as evidenced by the missing bits of the skins and they seemed to have been cooked in a non-wiped previously used pan as evidenced by the burnt black bits sticking to the skin. If the taste wasn’t good then this was unforgivable but the taste was indeed good so I would no doubt order this again.

Needless to say, I was taken by surprise with Nao. It went from a barely noticeable restaurant to a Friday favourite of mine. I now usually stop by Nao for dinner after work on Friday nights before embarking on my shopping spree (in hindsight this is probably not a good idea because you won’t be able to fit into anything after finishing off that tasty bowl of ramen).

My rating: 6.5/10

www.naojapaneserestaurant.com.au

Nao Japanese on Urbanspoon

*photos from Nao’s website