Pepper Soup, USJ

If you're looking for good comfort food to eat in Subang Jaya or USJ area, if the timing is right, why not give this place a try...

This coffee shop is quite busy not only on weekdays but weekends too. There are quite a number of stalls in this coffee shop but this time, I would like to recommend the Pepper Soup stall. Calling all soup lovers out there! This is one stall you have to try.

This stall is located at the back of the coffee shop and they only have 2 selections, Pepper Soup or Lotus Soup. So if you like peppery soups, you would like this.

Even though this coffee shop opens at 8am and closes at 11pm, this stall is only open from 12pm to 3pm. It will close even earlier if they're sold out before 3pm.

Customers already start queuing in front of the stall even when they're busy with preparations before 12pm.

This stall is operated by an elderly couple but they are very fast. You have to be ready with your orders by the time you reach at the front of the line. There's really not much time to ask for more information. They get a bit irritated if you're indecisive when it's your turn to place your orders.

You just have to decide between the Pepper Soup (Pig Stomach Soup) or the Lotus Soup. The aunty or uncle will ask you 3 questions; if you want to tapau (pack to go) or having here, if you want with or without chicken feet for both soups and big rice, small rice or no rice. So be ready with your decision.

The aunty will then prepare the ingredients for the soup you ordered and the uncle will be the one busy preparing the soups in few pots at once. While waiting for them to prepare your order, you will have to scoop your own chilli, spring onion and soy sauce.

This is the Pepper Soup or most people would call it Pig Stomach Soup. The main ingredients in this peppery soup is the pork stomach and pork meat. My husband loves this.

I would usually order the Lotus Soup. The main ingredients in this soup is lotus root, pork meat and peanuts. This soup also has a peppery taste to it.

This is the best kind of food to eat during one of those cloudy or rainy days.

OUR RATING

Ambience : 3/5

Service : 3.5/5

Food Quality : 3.5/5

Price Range : $

Status : Non Halal

Other information:

Address : Restoran Tian Tian, No 12, Jalan USJ 20/8C, USJ 20, 47630 Subang Jaya, Selangor

Business Hours : 12.00pm - 3.00pm (Closed on Mondays)

Transaction : Cash

Niko Niko Onigiri, Puchong

Onigiri are also known as Japanese rice balls. It is made of white rice formed usually into a triangular shape wrapped in Japanese seaweed and it comes with various types of fillings and flavours. Onigiri are usually my preferred choice of food when I'm in need of something convenient yet delicious or when I'm looking for something simple and less fussy. It's a must for you to have onigiri when you're in Japan but this is the best I can find nearer to home.

Niko Niko Onigiri is best known for their variety of onigiri although there are other kinds of Japanese food available in their menu. It is a simple and casual cafe that serves Japanese Chinese food. They have a number of outlets around Klang Valley but the selection of onigiri may not be the same in each outlet. The one I visit frequently is the outlet in Puchong.

This is how the onigiri here looks like. Each onigiri is prepared fresh and wrapped individually. The seaweed sheet is wrapped within a plastic sheet so that it could retain its crispness for a longer period of time to ensure a better taste experience. However, there are proper steps to follow when you want to remove the plastic sheet and at the same time maintain its triangular shape.

Image taken from https://livejapan.com/en/article-a0001721/

Once you've removed the plastic sheet, it will look like this...

My personal favourite is the Tanuki Mixed Rice Onigiri. It is Japanese Fried Rice wrapped in seaweed and I opened it just to show you what it looks like...

They also have some local Malaysian flavours that I was keen to try.

This is the Sambal Onigiri. Don't worry, it is not very spicy. It may be a bit spicy for most children but it is not for an adult.

They have more than 20 flavours to choose from and I'm sure there's something for everyone. The price ranges from RM 3 to RM 4.80 per onigiri depending on the type of filling you choose

OUR RATING (Based on Puchong Outlet)

Ambience : 3.5/5

Service : 4/5

Food Quality : 3.5/5

Price Range : $

Status : Halal

Other information:

Address : No 39, Jalan Puteri 2/3, Bandar Puteri, 47100 Puchong, Selangor

Contact No. : 019-351 0541

Business Hours : 10.00am - 10.00pm (Monday - Friday) / 9am - 10.00pm (Saturday - Sunday)

Links : https://www.facebook.com/NikoNikoOnigiriPuchong/

Other outlets:

1. Jalan Radin Tengah, Sri Petaling
2. SS 15/4D, Subang Jaya
3. Jalan Batu Nilam 5, Bukit Tinggi, Klang
4. Kuchai Exchange
5. Glomac Cyberjaya
6. Jalan 4/1, Taman Bukit Serdang, Sri Kembangan
7. Permas Mall, Permas Jaya, Johor

(I'm not sure if there are more or the above outlets are still in operation)

Chuan Yee Charcoal Steamboat, Penang

Date visited : 30 June 2018

For a very long time now, I have stopped eating commercial steamboats because I find it boring and pointless. The ingredients are the same and the soup base is always the same few choices, tom yam or clear herbal soup. 

I was watching a Korean variety show on YouTube one day and it was about a couple who went for a honeymoon in Penang and this is one of the food places highly recommended by the couple. So I took note of it and decided that I had to try it out myself to see if it was really as good as they claimed it to be.

Today was the day and it was not just good, it was on a OH MY GOD IT IS DELICIOUS kind of level!

What's different about the steamboat here is that they uses the old school kind of steamboat pot where it uses burning charcoal to keep the soup boiling. 

The charcoal is at the bottom of the round chimney looking thing in the middle of the pot. There are 3 sets of soup base. Set A is for Fish Head, you can choose either fried or fresh fish head. Set B is for Fish Fillet and Set C is without fish. For all 3 sets, you can choose to have milk added into the soup base or without.

I chose Set B with milk added to the soup base and the ingredients included are Fried Fish Fillet, Homemade Meat Ball, White Fish Ball, Cabbage, Abalone Mushroom, Tofu Pok, Enoki Mushrooms and Seaweed.

After you have placed your order, you can then help yourself with the variety of sauces available according to your own preferences.

They have their own made chilli sauce, ginger sauce, garlic sauce, cili padi in soy sauce, dark soy sauce, shallots in garlic and lime juice, spring onions and few others. You can mix them however you want.

Unlike most steamboat places, their soup is served with all the ingredients already in the pot. The only ingredient served separately is the Fried Fish Fillet.

This Fried Fish Fillet is not just any fried fish fillet. The Fried Fish Fillet here is delicious! It is very tasty and it can be eaten just like that or dipped into the soup.

Another item that you HAVE to order is their Fried Fish Skin. It is so light, crispy and tasty. It is so good that I wanted to order one pack of these to go and eaten as snacks.

I also ordered a serving of pork slices and all these are enough for 3 person. They also have other ingredients that you could top up such as prawns, bean curd skin and etc. We didn't even have to order noodles or rice and by the time we were finished, we had to carry our stomachs out of this place.

The soup base was nothing I have ever tasted before. It is well seasoned, light and sweet. Even with milk added into the soup, it does not feel thick or creamy. The seasoning is not overwhelming to the point that will make you feel thirsty after. My friend loved the soup so much that he wanted to pack the leftover soup home to cook his noodles with.

If you happen to be in Penang, you HAVE to give this a try. I would also recommend either you come here at 6pm or call to make a reservation before hand to avoid the long wait. I arrived at 6pm, so I managed to get a table easily but by 6.30pm, the place was already packed!

OUR RATING

Ambience : 4/5

Service : 4.5/5

Food Quality : OH MY GOD/5

Price Range : $$

Status : Non-Halal

Other information:

Address : No 5 Jalan Kek Chuan, Georgetown, 10400 Penang.

Contact No. : 017-401 5447 / 04-227 3012

Business Hours : 6pm - 11pm (Closed on Wednesdays)

Vegan Life, Ipoh

Date visited : 28 May 2018

I first came to this place 3 years ago with my vegetarian friend and I immediately fell in love with the food here. The food here is so delicious that you'll forget that you're in a vegetarian restaurant.

Vegan Life is different from all the vegetarian restaurants I've been to. The dishes here are prepared uniquely and presented in a way that will make you salivate just at the sight of it. 

Since there were only 2 of us here, I could only order 4 dishes and even that the waitress was skeptical that we may not be able to finish all of them.

My husband ordered the Vegan Soy Taufu Delight Rice. The item you see in the bowl consists of soybean fiber, soy toufu meat, toufu, coriander and ginger sauce.

I ordered the Vegan Red Curry Rice as I wanted something spicy. The curry contains potato, toufu, dried bean curd, celery, cabbage, cauliflower and mushrooms. I liked it very much because the curry has a sourish taste to it and I like sourish food.

I saw this on their menu and I wanted to try it out because it seems to be their signature noodle dish. It is called the VeganLife Special Fried Noodle. Depending on your preference, you can order it spicy or non spicy. I'm not sure what type of noodle they use in this dish but it is definitely not the common type of noodle. It is not oily and it is not too dry as well.

Last but not least, the VeganLife French Bread Pumpkin Mushroom Soup. Since I love pumpkin based dishes, I had to try this as well. The pumpkin soup is thick and savoury. This soup is quite filling as it is filled with mushrooms, broccoli and cauliflower. 

Other than these dishes, there are many other dishes that you could choose from. They have a variety of rice dishes, noodle dishes as well as Western dishes. You'll be spoiled for choice. 

I would highly recommend this place if you're a vegetarian or just want to eat something different or meatless.

OUR RATING

Ambience : 4/5

Service : 4/5

Food Quality : 4.5/5

Price Range : $

Status : Halal

Other information:

Address : No 25 Jalan Medan Ipoh 7, Bandar Baru Medan Ipoh, 31400 Ipoh, Perak

Contact No. : 012-566 6044

Business Hours : 11.30am - 4.30pm / 6pm - 9.30pm Daily

Transaction : Cash

Links : https://www.facebook.com/ivanvikym/

Kedai Makanan Kum Kee, Ipoh

Date visited : 27 May 2018

This is one my favourite go to place for dinner or even supper when I'm in Ipoh. It is not located within the town area but hidden within the quiet village of Pasir Pinji in Ipoh and it only opens at 6pm till late.

This place is famous for their braised chicken feet and pork trotter which locals refer to them as "Big, Small Feet". Small feet being the chicken feet and big feet being the pork trotters. And these two are the signature dish of this place.

For me personally, I will only order their Chicken Feet a.k.a Small Feet as I'm not a big fan of pork trotters. But I heard the Big Feet are the more popular choice among the locals.

I normally don't eat chicken feet when I'm back home but the ones here are very soft and tasty. It's so soft that the skin and flesh are easily detached from the bones.

Though they are popular with their Big, Small Feet, people also come here to eat other dishes and generally people here prefers the Ipoh Hor Fun.

You can have it either tossed in just dark sauce.

Or you can it in clear soup.

And of course they don't just eat it plain, they will usually pick and choose ingredients like these to go along with their noodles.

Another popular choice is non other than their steam chicken.

The steam chicken skin is thin and smooth while the meat is very soft and tender. I somehow feel that the chicken texture here is much better than the ones people rave about in Lou Wong or Onn Kee.

The above are only some of the dishes I've ordered, the ones I've missed out, other than the braised pork trotter, is the braised tofu and also the Ipoh bean sprouts.

And if you come here during the weekdays, after 8pm, there will be a stall selling all sorts of kuih opened right in front of the restaurant. The kuih sold by this man is home made and is quite popular among the locals as well. Even before he finishes setting up his stall, you could see people starting to gather around him anxious to make their purchase.

I would also recommend you to come here during the non Public Holiday weekday to avoid the crowd.

OUR RATING

Ambience : 3/5

Service : 3/5

Food Quality : 4/5

Price Range : $

Status : Non Halal

Other information:

Address : 798 – 799, Jalan Raja Muda, Taman Pasir Pinji, 31650 Ipoh, Perak

Contact No. : 012-512 5219

Business Hours : 6pm - 3am Daily

Transaction : Cash

Kedai Kopi Kwong Hong, Ipoh

Date visited : 27 May 2018

When I came here for the first time last year, I immediately fell in love with this place. I only regret that I didn't know about this place much earlier. This is a place that serves Ipoh style Yong Tau Foo. However, the locals don't call it Yong Tau Foo, they call it Zhao Liu (Fried Ingredients in Cantonese).

Their business starts at 12pm but the shop is open for preparation at 11am. You can sit around and order drinks but they will only start the food ordering when they are ready at 12pm.

Just by sitting around and watch them prepare made me so excited. For me it's like watching food porn. Just look at the spread of ingredients you could choose from!

They even have variations of noodles to choose from. They have 4 types of noodles, mee hoon, yellow mee, Ipoh kuey teow and laksa noodles. After choosing your preferred noodles, you then choose the method of preparation or soup base. You can have it dry (noodles tossed in dark sauce with no soup), clear soup, curry and sometimes they even have assam laksa.

Assam laksa

Curry soup

Don't expect the normal thick and strong tasting soup from the usual assam laksa and curry laksa, the soup base here is lighter in taste so that it does not overpower the taste other ingredients.

These are my selection of the day. We ordered some fried stuff and some soup based ingredients. The fish paste used has a soft and bouncy texture. Each ingredient has their own special taste and each so delicious.

All the ingredients are so tasty. There's nothing I don't like here. I just wish I had a bigger stomach so I could eat them all.

So if you were to come here, try one of everything. I promise you won't regret it.

OUR RATING

Ambience : 3/5

Service : 4/5

Food Quality : 5/5

Price Range : $

Status : Non Halal

Other information:

Address : No 309 Jalan Gunung Rapat, Taman Rapat Setia, 31350 Ipoh, Perak

Business Hours : 12pm - 5.30pm (Closed on Mondays)

Transaction : Cash

Tai Soo No 1 Ipoh Famous Dessert, Ipoh

Date visited : 26 May 2018

When we talk about dessert in Ipoh, almost everyone that I know will mention Funny Mountain Tau Fu Fah. But to me, Funny Mountain is no longer funny as it is highly commercialized and it is too crowded with tourists. So I decided to look for another alternative for good Tau Fu Fah (Soybean Curd)... and I found it.

Tai Soo No 1 Ipoh Famous Dessert is a humble store located along the busy street of Jalan Raja Musa Aziz. And here they offer more than just Tau Fu Fah. They have Tau Fu Fah in different variations, cendol and ais kacang as well.

So if you are among a group of friends or family who would appreciate more variety, this would be a good choice.

Now let's talk about their Tau Fu Fah first.

This is their plain Tau Fu Fah with Gula Melaka (palm sugar). Tau Fu Fah with Pandan Syrup is nice but Gula Melaka gives the Tau Fu Fah an added caramel toffee like taste. The Tau Fu Fah here is very smooth and served in a reasonable portion.

This is Tau Fu Fah with Soya Bean and Pandan Syrup. It's a mixture of both hot Tau Fu Fah and cold Soya Bean drink. I will usually choose this on days I'm torned between a hot serving of tau fu fah or a cold and refreshing soya bean drink.

This is their Red Bean Cendol. The red bean and cendol is soft and sweet. However, when mixed together with the shaved ice drenched in Gula Melaka, it's not overly sweet.

And this is their Ais Kacang Special. Their Ais Kacang Special consists of shaved ice drenched in Gula Melaka, Rose syrup and evaporated milk, cincau (grass jelly), cendol, sago, red beans, sweet corn, roasted peanuts and then topped with a scoop of corn flavoured ice-cream. I actually preferred my Ais Kacang without ice-cream but I forgot to inform the staff on that and by default, it came with the ice-cream.

So if you want to try something new or enjoy your dessert away from the tourist crowd, why not come here for a change.

OUR RATING

Ambience : 3/5

Service : 4/5

Food Quality : 3.5/5

Price Range : $

Other information:

Address : No 24 Jalan Raja Musa Aziz, 30300 Ipoh, Perak

Contact No. : 012-527 8881

Business Hours : 11am - 6pm (Closed on Wednesdays)

Transaction : Cash

Links : https://www.facebook.com/ipohfamous/