Oriental Spoon At Sooka Sentral

Godma instructed me one morning over breakfast, "get your food blogger friends over to Sooka Sentral to try out Ming Lee's new restaurant". Note, "instructed".

Anyway, being the obedient, filial unofficial godson that I am, who's hoping to get into a wealthy woman's will, I meekly and mildly proceed to carry out that with which I am instructed. After checking with the Empress of the Food Blogging Realm, Lyrical Lemongrass, (who is only less influential than the OTHER Empress, Masak Masak, but she's perpetually busy, unlike Lyrical who doesn't have much of a social life to brag about), and getting a date where she could grace us with her regal presence, I send out an invite to a few others.

The place, Oriental Spoon At Sooka Sentral, but I already said that in the title. Sooka Sentral is a kinda annex to all the office buildings which houses several restaurants, including Zen, Centro, Chilli Expresso, etc etc... and is popular with the office crowds. Owned by the same owners as Bangsar Seafood Village, the cuisine is HALAL, and for lunch, they offer a wide array of dim sum.




Finally, a date is set, and we were even supposed to be graced with some imports, as some Aussie food blogger was to join us, thanks to Lemongrass, along with two other guests. In the process, the inimitable Jackson Kah, whom I invited, had to be disinvited, as I didn't want the table to be too full, as the old adage goes, less men more share. Alas, it was a no show by the imported blogger, due to some infection or something. Three extra seats..... hmm, a lot more food.

After apologising profusely to the very amiable Boss for the last minute absentees, we start munching on the steamed peanuts, while waiting for the rest of our party to arrive. Nipple Joe and Lemongrass were there, and Unkaleong and I walked in at the same time, me bearing two bottles of the nectar of the gods. Nothing like some plonk to break the ice. Not that there was any ice that needed breaking, we were among familiar company. Godma and daughter, (organiser of the event) showed up shortly after, and for the finale, the grand entrance by the master bakers, Allan and Nigel.

Feeling ravenous, after a recently introduced 10 minute workout, by Unkaleong, I wanted to dig into these gorgeous yam puffs immediately, but I forgot about the shooters with their heavy equipment. In contrast to Organiser's camera, which battery died after one shot. I should mention that the place doesn't usually serve dim sum for dinner, but the Boss made special arrangement for the Dim Sum chef to stay back and give us a generous sampling.

Of course, Mr Put Foot In Mouth, Nipple Joe, said, "Oh, restaurants probably dont serve dim sum at night because not fresh". Boss picked up on it, and smiled sweetly and assured him these were fresh. GUFFAW.



Gorgeous Yam Puffs


The interior of the yam puff. The yam was light and fluffy, and the filling was delicious as well.


The chicken charsiu paus
These were alright. I found it too have too much bread, not enough filling.


Succulent luscious prawn dumplings, fresh springy prawns.


Aren't these the cutest black sesame dumplings you have ever met?


Isn't Henry the Hedgeohog simply adorable!!! How can a person in clear conscience gobble this up?


The art of eating life forms.




Glutinous Rice Balls.
I thought these were quite nice, but I was also getting full on all the other stuff, and the rice seemed to take up unnecessary stomach space, especially when we knew there was more to come.


Fried Radish Cake
Very flavourful, containing something inside that I can't quite put my finger on, but gave it that extra body and texture.


Lamb Pai Kuat On A Steamed Radish Soup
This was a great hit. Lots of oohing and aahing. A worthy substitute for its porky cousin.


Prawn Cheong Fun
Silken smooth rice noodle, I thought this dish was excellent. The sauce was perfect, not too salty, and the chilli paste complemented the dish. Again, so smooth it could just slide down your throat.


Lotus Root Shaped Pastries
This HAS to be MY personal favourite of the night. Light, flaky buttery pastry, that crumbles and melt in your mouth, with a savoury meat filling. Absolutely divine. Just looking at it makes me want to catch the LRT to Sentral right now and take away some. Apparently it's a new creation by the chef, so it might not be on the menu as yet. Saliva dripping.





Braised Beef Brisket
I love beef brisket, and the flavour of this one was superb, but the brisket could have done with a bit more braising. It was unanimously agreed that this would taste even better the next day.

We thought the dim sum would cause us to explode, when along came the A la Carte food. Their signature starter, Bamboo Fungus Roll, Sotong Ball and Chicken Floss and Venison In Bird's Nest. The bird's nest was also lovely and flaky.

Fish: Arrrrgh, I can't breathe!!!!
Us: Tough luck!
Deep Fried Garoupa With Flavoured Meat Sauce


Two Combination Prawns, Lychee Prawns and Prawn Salad
The pairing of lychee and prawn is rather nice. The prawns were fresh and succulent.


Stir Fried Lotus Root With Celery and Almond Flakes
You can't really go wrong with this dish. I love the glorious array of colors, and the different textures of the vegetables. The rubbery wood ears, the crunch of the lotus root, and the crispiness of the almonds.


Food Bloggers With Their Large Equipment


Crab in Salted Egg Yolk
This dish should come with a health warning. The wonderfully rich sauce married with the sweet flesh of the mud crab.....its like romances made in heaven. Eat too much of this, and you might actually end up there. (in heaven....or hell, depending on who you are)


Durian Puffs, or whatever these are called, purchased by Lemongrass from that Gardens place everyone's been blogging about. In there somewhere, like a booby trap, were one or two that were laced with cempedak instead of durian. It was then I found out what a banana Unkaleong is, he doesn't eat EITHER of our local king and queen of fruits.


My Homemade Pear and Ginger Upside Down Pudding

This is now my 4th time making this. In my haste, I forgot to add in my glaced ginger, which is a tweaking of the recipe. It's always stressful bringing cake when the baker boys are around, but they were polite with their verdict. Actually made it for godma.

Anyway, it was an enjoyable relaxing night. Faces were a bit sanguine from the Savignon Blancs, and stomachs were full to the brim. Thanks so much to Boss of Oriental Spoon, for having us, and for making Dim Sum chef stay back, and thanks to Jade for organising and putting this together.

Note: Car Parking is also very easy. Although they currently close at 8pm, if you came for dinner at 7.30pm, or make prior reservations, they will stay open for you....apparently.

Pea Party

It was a long awaited lunch, that had been postponed a few times, which was a blessing in a way, because it gave the hostess time to boldly experiment with ambitious new frontiers, such as crispy skin siu yoke (roast pork). Anyway, I underestimated the time it would take to get there, and as I was nearing the place, I got a call from a rather frantic sounding Pea asking where I was. However, I wasn't disappointed by the youth of today, as Nipples was only milliseconds ahead of me. The couple who lived the nearest, in Shah Alam, ie, Lemongrass and Bald Eagle, sauntered in the latest, like Paula Abdul and Randy Whatsisname when they missed the cab for the auditions.

Most of the invitees were already huddled around the dining table by the time I got there. Pea and Mr Pea were dishing out the vast array of food they had been slogging over. Very impressive. Everything they served was home made.

Even the fish paste for this glorious yong tau foo was hand beaten by PP. It takes a woman of great strength, and faith, to actually make their own fish paste from scratch. For me, its the Magimix, or forget it. And to laboriously stuff all the bean curd and chillis with the paste, and then cook it.....sounds like a full day's work to me.

The fish paste was yummy and springy. I think I myself whacked three or four of those stuffed chillies. My favourite. My least favourite is White Tau Foo, which I'm glad wasn't there.

And here we have the legendary roast pork. This dish takes two days to prepare, coz it requires dehydrating the skin in the fridge. Through some marvel of nature, the skin was dehydrated while the meat remained soft and moist. Definitely a must try recipe from the same bought that I also purchased.

White Tau Foo, not exactly my favourite, but the garnishing was yummy.

The delectable cream puffs, that seem perky and puffy as......a robin in spring?... well,yeah, filled with a tangy lemon cream, brought by the Just Heavenly Pleasures Boys. There's something indescribably pleasurable in sinking your teeth to something that oozes out glorious thick cream. I think hence the appeal of the classic cream puff and eclair.

Obviously I am not describing the food in chronological order as it was consumed. This stir fried veggie is like a woman with makeup screaming out to be photographed. The colors just look so natural, (unlike the aforementioned woman), like a flower garden in Cameron Highlands.

I think Nipples brought the roast duck....the meat was tender and succulent, no complaints there. But since its not homemade (in Pea's home anyway) we shall not dwell on it.

The curry chicken was also made by Precious Pea. What an amazing hostess. I thought it was superb, spicy enough, but without searing your tongue. Thick rich coconut gravy, in keeping with the theme of decadence on a Monday afternoon. Oh, it was a public holiday in celebration of Gautama Siddharta's birthday. (and I think death and englightenment all rolled into one)

Mr Pea's legendary vinegared pork trotters, that spawned Tolkien length threads on Facebook. As someone announced that it was for confinement, (confinement refers to the period after a woman gives birth, where she's supposed to eat certain things and not eat certain things. Gingered items are good because it expels gas), I declared I was expecting my 5th. I should declare here that I meant 5th helping....not 5th child.

The other desserts contributed by JHP Boys was a freshly baked yorkshire pudding with icing sugar and honey, AND a wonderfully wobbly wine jelly. The wobble in the jelly was perfect. Not too wobbly as to be sagging, taut enough to render a wonderful texture, yet, not hard and crunchy like agar agar. The trick apparently is to use gelatine. Having suffered a minor hangover from a champagne tea the day before, I didn't dare risk imbibing too much solidified wine.

On the social side, the company was great. Nipples, on no less than two ocassions, put his foot in his mouth BIG TIME. The first was a statement implying that the baker boys weren't yet FAMOUS, (GASP!!! Nipples, JHP boys have between them 1500 ppl or more, on their facebook), and the other statement disparaging a certain group of people, who were certainly present in the room.

Making a rather inaugural (well, for me anyway it was inaugural) appearance was the recently titled Hairy Berry.

Conversations ranged from neutering of dogs to how to stimulate them. Lemongrass gave a very naughty giggle as she watched in wonderment at the little doggy's urm.... woody. And blatantly in front of Bald Eagle too. There was also the inevitable conversation about the two Davids showdown in American Idol. As this is written, the results are already out, but I have been warned severely not to make any hint at the results. I find it hard to believe in this day and age, such things can be kept secret, when even something as secret as the brokering of judges in the judiciary cannot be kept secret.

This is one of those mystery shots. Why was he sitting with the laptop facing away from him? Maybe he's so accustomed to modelling for products, he thought he was doing an endorsement shoot for dell, or whatever brand it was.

If there was one shortcoming about the whole event, it was that the hostess didnt entertain us on the koo chng WHILE we were eating. She could have created a totally Xin ambience by playing this wonderful classical chinese instrument as we ate.

It was a fabulous lunch, thank you so very much Precious Pea and Mr Precious Pea. We...well, I, hope to be invited again for the glorious spread very soon.

Baking Class - The Art Of Superfine Baking, Japanese Cakes

Twas a lazy afternoon, the first day of the long weekend. With great effort, I lugged my posterior to the bake class that I had signed up for, some weeks back, at my favourite "Learn to Cook" place, the Cooking House. Earlier that morning, we were at a Brunch birthday party for a friend's kid. Usually, I avoid kid's parties like the bubonic plague, but I knew this hostess would ensure we had proper nourishment. In any case I had to supply two chicken pies, so I thought I'd drop by anyway and check out the spread. And I wasn't disappointed. Gourmet sausages, imported streaky bacon, grilled mushrooms, designer bread and real butter, and chunky marmalade, and of course, my chicken pies. Hostess with the mostest in question actually has the same birthdate as me, which begs the question, are people's personilities REALLY defined by their birthdates?

Anyway, as the kilos of pork produce settled in my stomach, I braced myself for yet another culinary caper. To my horror, I realised I had left my camera in wife's car and she had already gone off to work, (on a Saturday afternoon), leaving me with no camera for the class. So I had to make do with the cheap obsolete Kodak camera that my dad normally uses.

The three items on the syllabus were Matcha Cake, Jap Moist Chocolate Cake, and Honey Cake. A cursory glance at the recipe told me that Japanese are very health conscious, because NONE of the recipes contained butter. Immediately alarm bells went off in my head. However, what they lacked in cholesterol from butter, they certainly made up with eggs. The chickens in Japan must really have a tough life, especially the hens. Look at that bowl of yellow, its ALL yolks. I think about 30 eggs went in there.

Cooking classes are very interesting by virtue of the composition of people. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say there's a mishmash of people, predominantly females, save for the chef, and me, some of whom, despite attending the class, will probably never get beyond cracking eggs for an omelette, to those who probably tried out the recipe that very night itself. One particular lady showed off her culinary knowledge by wowing us with questions like, "Oh, how much are those eggs? 28 sen or 29 sen each?" I'm sure such precise knowledge of egg prices will go a long way in helping her make those chiffons rise. Boo, Paprika and I exchanged rolling of eyes.

With not a lot of previous industrial bakery exposure, I have never seen this method of folding egg white. With hand. Somehow the entire motion reminded me of a hairdresser going through a lot of lather on the head. Ignorance IS bliss. Not that I'm particularly queasy about where my food has been, or whose finger's they've run through...but yes, some people might find it disconcerting. Apparently however it is normal to fold chiffon with your hands, like some people use their hands to toss their salads, including Domestic Goddess. Also, his method of separating yolk emulates Nigella's method somewhat, ie, using hands, BUT he breaks all his eggs into one bowl and fishes out the yolks.... which to me, with my clumsy fingers, is like unsafe sex, for one of those little yolkies is bound to explode on me, rendering the egg whites useless.

The next cake was the famed honey cake. I finally got a chance to see the The Role Of Ovalette As A Rising Agent In Sponge Cakes. How's that for a dissertation title. Yeah, so there's local ovalette, vs Australian Ovalette, for the Japanese Cake. Even baking is a borderless world.
It's quite amazing to see how the batter rises, it reminds me of that childhood story we read about that magic porridge pot, and how it flooded the entire town coz the silly girl who was operating it forgot the password to stop the pot. But just before the mixing bowl looked like it was gonna do a Mt Vesuvius, it was done. Again, the sploshing about with bare hands, even ladelling it into the cake pans.

The moist chocolate cake employed more or less the same technique, all very chiffony, and using egg whites to incorporate air.

The green sponge cake, dotted with red beans, prompted Boolicious to exclaim, OOOH, LIKE SPOTTED DICK. Immediately thought of diseased appendages that turned green with purple pocks sprang to mind.

Verdict: The matcha cake, layered with non dairy cream (ugh) and made into cake form as well as swiss roll, is probably the winner of the 3 contestants. The distinct green tea flavour goes well with the red bean. I could have done without the fake cream. I would try to make this.

The famed honey cake apparently was the wrong texture. It tasted like a very light sponge with a hint of chemical. And as I am not a honey fan, this cake got struck off my list. For this kind of cake, supposed to be more dense, I think I would like some aromatic butter.

The Jap Choc Cake, not bad, very chocolatey, probably because of the fairly good quality couverture chocolate used. Again, its basically a sponge. So it would be okay as a base cake, with some other unhealthy embellishment, such as choc ganache, or choc cream, but not something I'd eat on its own.

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon, then again, I always enjoy my sessions at the Cooking House.

Pear And Ginger Upside Down Pudding

Since I've been told that my posts (by some youth of today) are too lengthy and tiresome to wade through, I shall keep this one short.

I've always ordered this dessert whenever I dined at Top Hats, Bonton & Alexis. I suspect the pastries Top Hats, Bonton, Alexis were all spawned by the one and the same person. Su Chan. And for years, I have been combing the net for a recipe that resembled this, but to no real avail. Until she came out with a cookbook.


Of course when Boolicious (Masak Masak) told me about the impending launch of the book, I was as excited as when the Lord of the Rings was released..... well....maybe not, bring it down a few notches, yeah, say 90%, and you have it.

Even more thrilled was I to find out that within those pages lie the magical inscriptions that would allow me to make THIS in my own oven.

Verdict? Absolutely yummy. Since I couldn't be bothered to make my own treacle ice cream, I just served it with Bulla Pure Cream, which is probably a better choice, as the cake is sufficiently sweet and the neutral but orgasmic taste of cream actually complements it the way lemongrass complements tom yam.

On a separate note, strawberries can really embellish a cake with minimal effort hor. I think this looks quite pretty. Only problem is the prohibitive cost of strawberries.

Chang Festival

Gosh, is it that time of year again? Like a circle in a spiral like a wheel within a wheel....
First Chinese New Year, then Qing Ming, then Chang, then Hungry Ghost, then mooncakes, (it's when mooncakes appear that I usually go, OH NO, another year has gone by).... and these are only the chink festivals. Not to mention Thaipusam, Deeepavali, Hari Raya and Christmas.

Anyway, thanks to yet again the kindness of fellow flogger, Lemongrass, (what would life be without this gregarious garnishing) who offered me a free spot in a Chang Demo at the Grand Millennium, organised by ALICE GEORGE COMMUNICATION, Public Relations, Communication & Event Counsel for the hotel. I figured at 3pm on a Friday afternoon...there were worse ways of spending the day.

I got there on the dot, after slurping down a late lunch at that noodle place in Sg Wang. Beef brisket noodle. Yummy. But lets not digress.

To you anglophile bananas (yellow on the outside, white on the inside) out there, the Chang festival is actually known as Zongzi in Mandarin, and falls on the 5th day of the 5th moon of the Chinese Calendar. Sounds very exotic when you say it like that. I was born on the 24th day of the 11th moon, of the Julian Calendar. And like all good Chinese dishes, there has to be a story associated with it. The dumplings are basically red herrings to detract the fish in the river from eating the decomposing body of a patriotic poet who threw himself in the Miluo River when China got conquered by the Qin Dynasty. [In current day terms, it would be like the Son In Law throwing himself in the Klang River after Barisan's shocking defeat, and the BN supporters throwing in packets of nasi lemak to prevent the fish eating him...oh, hangon, no fish in the Klang River.] Oh, famous poet's name was Qu Yuan. Check it out on Wikipedia if you must.

Anyway, on hand to greet us was Head Chef (I think) Simon, and the Chang Master, Chef Thye Yoon Kong. Laid out in all its full glory were the ingredients that are to be stuffed into the dumpling. These dumplings somehow always reminds me of the phrase, "Bao Ham Yoke Zhong" (wrapping salty pork dumpling). A visual here, It's like me trying to get into my size 34 jeans, whereby I gotta rub butter on my hips and use a shoe horn to get in.



The raw ingredients, pre soaked, are laid out here... chinese mushrooms, chestnuts, lotus seeds, black eyed beans, salted egg yolks, green ( I think mung) beans, dried shrimp.



The above are the ingredients for the Zing Special Dumpling, and boasts an array of delicious stuff, such as dried scallops, duck meat, chicken meat, chestnuts, mushroom.


This assortment of ingredients is for the second type of dumpling, with is a rice&bean dumpling with lots of filling... like abalone, roast duck, chicken... how the heck do they fit all that into one size 34 C?



The presoaked dried ingredients, namely glutinous rice, from thailand, (as the quality is supposedly better), and green bean.


The vine with which they strap in those plump dumplings. Completely biodegradable, not like rafia string. Very good, highly recommended. Anita Roddick would approve.





And the bamboo leaves to wrap it all up. The larger ones (dumplings) use large lotus leaves as the final wrapping.





And with the speed of Superman, Chef Thye rolled up the first dumpling. It's like driving through a small town, like Bidor, one blink and you've missed it. Same thing here. He kindly (suppressing his impatience, I suspect) slowed it down a notch for the others to grasp the complexity of the task. Yours truly tried his hand at it, but gosh, that knotting requires a phD in Scoutship, or Knotting. Makes macrame look like a reef knot.



Finally, the best part, eating. All very good, though frankly, I still prefer the porcine versions. There's something about lard, ....healthy stuff is inversely proportional with taste, almost. You can purchase a gift pack of the three types of dumpling (the last one was the alkaline dumpling with red bean paste), with a bottle of XO sauce, for RM80. Also, the GM will be holding Chang making classes on 7th and 21st June, at RM80 per session. Do check it out.