Food By Fat Cat, Sunway

Date visited : 25 December 2017

It's been awhile since I've made any new recommendations. Once again I came across this place by chance when I was on a Christmas grocery shopping trip with my family.

This place is newly opened and is attached to the Jaya Grocer grocery store in Sunway Geo.

It's called Food By Fat Cat... I wonder what's the story behind this name...

It has a very cozy atmosphere and the staff are very cheerful and friendly too.

They also have some mouthwatering homemade cakes, brownie and scones.

Upon placing my orders, the lady at the counter recommended me to try their soup of the day, potato soup. I'm glad I did because it was delicious! I usually won't order creamy soups like this except for mushroom soup. It was not too thick and the taste was just right. The garlic toast that came with it was delicious too. It was soft, fluffy and tasty. It complemented the soup so well.

My sister ordered this and I can't recall the name of it but it consisted of waffles, scrambled eggs and deep fried oyster mushrooms. 

My husband ordered The Fattie Breakie. It is a combination of scrambled eggs with crispy turkey ham and edamame beans, sautéed mushrooms, baked beans and a freshly toasted bread. It may look simple but it is delicious.

My father and I could not help it but to try their Nasi Lemak Meow Meow. Their nasi lemak consists of brown rice topped with Crispy Chicken Kaarage, Sambal, thinly sliced and rolled Japanese cucumber, hard boiled eggs, anchovies and peanuts.

My father and I enjoyed our nasi lemak so much and I will definitely revisit this place to try out more dishes.

Later I got to know that this place is a collaboration between Jaya Grocer and the culinary team behind one of the place I recommended in my earlier posts, The Good Batch.

OUR RATING

Ambience : 4/5 

Service : 4.5/5

Food Quality : 4/5

Price Range : $$

Status : Halal

Other information:

Address : D-01-01-001A, Block D, Sunway Geo Avenue, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Subang Jaya, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor

Contact No. : 03-5650 5181

Business Hours : 10am - 10.00pm (Daily)

Transaction : Cash only

Links : 

fatcat.my

https://www.facebook.com/fatcatmy/

Curry House CoCo Ichibanya, Japan

Date visited : 3 & 9 November 2017

I got to know about this place through a YouTube channel I was following (click here to watch) and I marked it down in my Japan trip food list. It definitely did not disappoint and I manage to visit 2 different branches.

This chain restaurant is called Curry House CoCo Ichibanya. Their outlets have similar signboards that looks like this...

You just need to remember this logo...

During my first visit, I decided to play it safe and ordered from prefixed selections in the menu. These are some of the available selections...

So I ordered the super safe, Pork Cutlet Curry, and it came like this...

It may not look like much but it's really delicious!! The spiciness was just right for me and the pork cutlet was so crispy on the outside but yet tender and juicy on the inside.

The others was a bit more adventurous and they ordered something else...

They also have salad selections like this...

So after my first visit, I revisited the YouTube posting and discovered some tips which I then put to use during my next visit.

This is found on the front part of the menu and this is where you get to do a bit of customization. I'm sorry but I don't know everything that's on it but I only know the important parts.

This is the first part... you can choose your preferred curry sauce. The first indicates the default curry sauce which is the pork sauce. The third one's beef and the last one is hashed beef.

The second part is where you choose the amount of rice. The default amount is 300gm. If you decide to have lesser rice, which is 200gm, you'll be given a slight discount. I chose 200gm of rice which was just the right portion for me.

The top part is where you choose the level of spiciness. The first one is for non-spicy, recommended for children. The second one is medium, which is also the default level. From there you could increase the spiciness right up to level 10! I decided to maintain mine at default level while my sisters chose level 10. Their lips were like twin sausages by the time they finished but they still loved it.

The bottom part is for the level of sweetness if you would like to add honey to the pork sauce. I skipped this part.

This is where you select the things you want served with your curry. From the top left picture: tartar sauce, fried garlic, soft boiled egg, hard boiled egg, ladies finger, tomato sauce, cut tomatoes, tuna, corn and mashed potato. The ones without pictures from the top left: eggplant, nato, fish fries, scrambled egg, clams, shrimp clams, cream croquette (with crabs), prawns, mushroom, tomato asparagus, cheese, vegetables, spinach, fried chicken, hamburger, pork shabu, ground meat cutlet, loose cutlet, chicken cutlet, crispy chicken, sausage, seafood, cheese in hamburger steak, chicken meatballs, beef cutlet, beef meat, prawn cutlet, cheese in hand punch cutlet, pork cutlet... (all translated using google translate).

So, I chose... pork cutlet, cheese, mushroom and soft boiled egg.... TA-DA!!!

It was REALLY delicious. I wish I had more chances to try out more combinations. But if you prefer less hassle but with minimal customization, you can choose from the prefix selection and then customize the level of spiciness, rice portion and other additional things you would like to add.

So, if you're going to Japan, you HAVE to visit one of their many branches to try out their curry rice.

While I was preparing this post, I found out that there's a branch in Malaysia but no pork is served and the review mentioned that the quality is not the same.

OUR RATING

Ambience : 3/5 

Service : 4/5

Food Quality : 5/5

Price Range : Really depends on what you choose

Status : Non Halal

Other information:

Address : Various

Business Hours : Depending on branch

Other sources:

https://youtu.be/SP3xRhfRJJQ

Raja Uda Tomyam Porridge, Butterworth

Date visited : 14 October 2017

A friend recommended for me to try out this place more than a year ago but we were out of luck because we happened to visit on the day that it was closed. I almost lucked out again when it was closed yesterday for an emergency but thank goodness I had the chance to make a second attempt during this trip.

There's no signboard of any sort at the shopfront, so I guess you just need to depend on Waze or Google Maps to find this place. Just search for Raja Uda Famous Kwong Wah Tom Yam Noodles.

This place is only open in the evening till late night and this place is packed most of the time.

The best part about this place is that you get to pick and choose the ingredients you want.

You have ingredients such as pork balls, fish balls, taiwan sausages, crabsticks, seafood tofu, minced pork, bacon, sliced pork belly, prawns, squids, mushrooms, fried fish meat, abalone slices, cheese slices, paddy frog meat and many more.

After you've done choosing your ingredients, you pass the selection plate over to the lady and decide if you would like to cook it with noodles or porridge, tomyam flavoured (spicy) or clear soup (non spicy). For noodles, you could choose between fine rice vermicelli, thick rice vermicelli or springy noodles (better known as Cintan noodles among the locals). The popular choice would be the springy noodles.

I came here to try the tomyam porridge. But when I saw springy noodles were available, I couldn't help it but to choose springy noodles in tomyam instead and hoped that my colleague would choose the porridge. But when she came back to the table and told me that she chose the thick rice vermicelli in tomyam, I decided to order an additional bowl of tomyam porridge so that I could complete this post.

This was my bowl of tomyam springy noodles. I had pork ball, vegetable fish ball, mushroom ball, fried fish meat, pork belly slices, seafood tofu and enoki mushrooms. The tomyam flavour is not like the regular Thai type of tomyam. It's sour with a bit of sweetness and not too spicy at the same time. For me I liked it this way because if its too spicy, I wouldn't be able to enjoy all the ingredients in the bowl including the noodles.

This was my colleague's thick rice vermicelli in tomyam soup. She had bacon slices, fried fish meat, abalone slices, seafood tofu, crab balls, quail egg and fish balls.

Now this is the tomyam porridge. The tomyam used in the porridge is the same as the one used for their noodles. I liked this porridge because it's not to watery and not too thick. I chose the shitake mushrooms, minced pork meat, abalone slices, a prawn and an egg.

I'm glad that I finally get to try out this place. It definitely did not disappoint and I would definitely go back for more visits.

OUR RATING

Ambience : 3/5 

Service : 4/5

Food Quality : 4/5

Price Range : $ (depends on what you choose)

Status : Non Halal

Other information:

Address : 7121, Jalan Raja Uda, 12300 Butterworth, Penang (Beside SRJK (C) Kwong Wah Primary School)

Contact No. : 012-479 0283

Business Hours : 6.30pm - 2.00am / Closed on Wednesdays

Transaction : Cash only

Kopitiam Kita, Kota Bharu

Date Visited : 29 September 2017

This is my favourite breakfast place in Kota Bharu. Whenever I'm in Kota Bharu, I MUST have my breakfast here. This place is called Kopitiam Kita.

This place is constantly packed with locals and I've never once seen this place even half empty.

The reason why I love this place so much is that you can choose from a wide selection of local Kelantan food such as Nasi Tumpang, Nasi Dagang, Nasi Kerabu, Nasi Lemak and many more.

All these food you see readily packed and grouped into different baskets are actually from different suppliers from various parts of Kelantan. This place serves as a platform to promote and sell their specialty dishes.

My selection for today are Nasi Berlauk Ikan Tumpat, Nasi Kapit Sambal and Nasi Tumpang Kubang Pasu.

Each packet is like a surprise present to me because I don't know how each packet would look and taste like. But until today, I've never been disappointed with my choices. 

The one at the top of the photo, served on a banana leaf is Nasi Kapit Sambal. The square shaped rice is like nasi impit and it's served with a dry type of sambal. The sambal is sweet, salty and spicy in taste and it's really delicious when eaten together with the rice.

The one at the bottom of the photo, served in brown paper packing is the Nasi Berlauk Ikan Tumpat. I don't think it's the name of the fish, I think this rice is from a town in Kelantan called Tumpat. Like I said... every packet I chose is a surprise to me because I just picked them up in random and based on gut feel.

Now this cone shaped rice is called Nasi Tumpang Kubang Pasu. Nasi Tumpang is rice with different layer of dishes wrapped in a cone shape with banana leaf. 

And now for the main highlight of this place... it's a toast bread dish called Roti Titab.

It's toasted bread served with their own homemade kaya and half boiled egg. Even if you don't prefer runny egg yolks, you should try this. The combination is OUT OF THIS WORLD!

This dish is so delicious and popular that they decided to trademark the name, Roti Titab.

And this is their bread served in many other ways...

If you ever have a chance to go to Kota Bharu, you have to make it a compulsory to come here at least once. The Roti Titab is a must and the rest is up to you to try.

OUR RATING

Ambience : 4/5 

Service : 4/5

Food Quality : 5/5

Price Range : $

Status : Halal

Other information:

Address : 4357-A Taman Desa Jaya Jalan Pengkalan Chepa, 15400 Kota Bharu, Kelantan

Contact No. : 019-981 0888 / 018-987 0888 / 012-987 0888 / 010-910 0001

Business Hours : 6.00am - 2.00pm (Saturday - Thursday) / 6.00am - 12.30pm (Friday)

Transaction : Cash only

Links : https://web.facebook.com/KopitiamKitaRotiTitab/

The Porki Society, Sea Park PJ

Date visited : 22 September 2017

Today was one of those days where we planned to go one place but ended up at another. So this is yet another surprise discovery.

When we drove pass, the signboard just screamed "TRY ME"... and then we did.

It was a very cozy and casual Thai restaurant with colourful wooden furniture.

The first thing that caught our attention when we opened our menu was this...

This is their best seller, the Porki Platter. It was pork served in 5 different ways... pork skewers, grilled pork, pork sausage, pork ball sticks and squid stuffed with minced pork. The dipping sweet, sour and spicy dipping sauce elevates the deliciousness of the meat on this platter. Each type was tasty in its own special flavour.

Since we ordered the platter and there were only 3 of us, I decided to order boat noodles instead.

Only one of it was mine... It was only RM2 a bowl!

But in case you're not familiar with boat noodles, the portion is actually very small... some could eat up to 20 bowls in one sitting.

My husband decided to try one of the all time favourite Thai dish... the Pineapple Fried Rice.

This is not one of those that only have a slight pineapple flavouring to the fried rice. It has chunks of pineapple added with the fried rice.

We also ordered a side of Thai Spring Rolls. It comes with its own sweet and sour dipping sauce with peanuts.

When I go to a Thai restaurant, I will always look out for their popular dessert, the Red Ruby. So this time is no different.

What I appreciated most about it was the sugar syrup given separately in a little container. This way, we are able to adjust the level of sweetness according to individual preferences. However, the red jelly that wraps around the chestnut is a little hard for my liking. But on overall, it was still a decent Red Ruby.

I'm glad we discovered this place because I will definitely come back to this place to try out other dishes. I saw the Pad Thai ordered by the table next to us and it looked delicious.

OUR RATING

Ambience : 4/5 

Service : 4/5

Food Quality : 4.5/5

Price Range : $

Status : Non Halal

Other information:

Address : No 10 Jalan 21/19, Sea Park, Section 21, 46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Contact No. : 03-7865 5241

Business Hours : 12pm - 10.00pm (Daily)

Transaction : Cash and credit card

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

Hong Kong Dim Sum BFB, Ipoh

Date visited : 31 August 2017

Most of the time when people make a trip to Ipoh and in need to satisfy their craving for dimsum, they will usually head towards the popular dimsum street in the heart of Ipoh town. I do have my favourite dimsum place there but this is not about that place. This place is tucked away from the frenzied crowd but yet still crowded with locals.

This is Restoran Hong Kong Dim Sum BFB... or direct translation for their name in Chinese, "Bat Fun Bun" aka 8 1/2.

Since it's not overly crowded tourists, it didn't take very long for us to get a table.

They have a wide selection to choose from... the common ones as well as some unique ones.

I like the way that they're not too big in size. Otherwise, you'll get full easily and you won't be able to try out more varieties.

The fried selections are quite delicious because it's not too oily.

Deep Fried Yam Paste with meat filling is delicious with the right amount of yam and meat filling and at the same time not too oily.

There are also some of the common selections that are equally delicious.

A trip to the dim sum restaurant will never be complete without having Char Siew Pau...

Another popular choice here is the runny, creamy salted egg yolk and custard filling bun or better known as Lau Sa Pau.

If you're going to come here, try to be early so that more varieties are available.

OUR RATING

Ambience : 3/5 (It's just like any other dim sum restaurant)

Service : 3.5/5 (The staff are very prompt in clearing the empty plates and dim sum baskets)

Food Quality : 4/5

Price Range : $ (Cheaper compared to dim sum places in the Klang Valley)

Status : Non-Halal

Other information:

Address : 61, Persiaran Bandar Baru Tambun 16, Taman Ipoh Impian, 31400 Ipoh Garden, Perak

Contact No. : 010-220 3812

Business Hours : 6.30am - 1.30pm (Daily)

Transaction : Cash