Serenity and Surrender at Serendah

We've been talking about going to Sekeping Serendah almost 4 months ago, when Unkaleong first told us about this place, over a champagne brunch/tea. The fact that it was fully booked every weekend only piqued our interest and curiosity even more. The photos on the website looked charming. A weekend getaway, less than an hour from KL, with a waterfall, pool, etc, with good friends, good food and good booze, what more could a person want.

Finally, we decided to book a Fri & Sat since all the Sat & Sund combos were fully booked. Thus began our road trip on Friday morning. Hairy Berry had come back a day earlier from the republic to join us on our sojourn..... AWOL thought she was going for a Tatler shoot, and came with heavy mascara, hair done, and fake eyelashes, that made Aisywara Rai look like she's had her eye lashes singed. Actually, AWOL had gone for a photo shoot with some chick magazine that morning, as a representative of FAMOUS FEMALE BLOGGERS. We are in awe to be in the company of such luminaries. [muttering a silent prayer of thanksgiving to the Almighty for giving me such an honor]..... The Deaf One appeared sans make up, .... I finally understood its importance in a woman's life, and the younger set trickled in.

An earlier conversation with the walking food guide, Boolicious, revealed that I should try Lan Je in Rawang for its steamed Tilapia. However, Rawang town has changed so much, and I believe the new road completely bypasses the old town. So we didnt find it. In any case it was too early. We finally settled on this restaurant in Serendah town. Serendah town itself is literally those towns where one blink and you'll miss it.

In untried, untested waters, one really just orders and hopes for the best. But I guess in order for a place to survive in the middle of nowhere, they'd have to be pretty decent.

Our hokkien mee was good, lots of lard, but as Hairy said, not enough Wok Hei. Flavour was good, and we were famished, so no complaints there.


The beansprouts and salted fish was also good. Lots of big chunks of salted fish. However, being almost half way to Ipoh, I was kinda hoping that it would be those plump taugeh on steroids kinda beansprouts that you get in Ipoh. Nevertheless, it was good.


Wild boar curry. Yummy! The perfect companion to a bowl of rice. The boar was surprisingly tender, and the curry sauce very delectable.



The Lala fried with ginger and shallots. You almost needed a microscope to find them, but the taste was nice and sweet. Actually, I reckon these things are sweeter when they are smaller.


Finally, the Tilapia done Thai style. A lovely assam sauce, with generous helpings of okra and brinjal. Lovely. The only problem with all these foods if you were on a low carb diet, as they scream out for rice. Total damage was RM118!!! Amazing hor. Where to find in KL?!

While waiting for the food, our two famous food bloggers spied with their little eyes, (one with fake eyelashes and mascara), the barfi stall across the road. Quite honestly, up to that point, I had no idea what Barfi was. Apparently its quite a famous place, this one, and has been featured in some AFC program.

All of the sweets above are way too sweet for me. I dunno their names, but if you wait long enough for Hairy Berry's post, which he reckons will be up in two month's time, I am sure he'll be listing them in detail. One bite of that barfi and I was bouncing off the walls with the sugar overload.

After weaving our way through some tiny rural roads, we found ourselves at our destination.

For city slickers, actually this place might be a bit of a challenge. It's very zen, and minimalist. No air cond in the glass sheds, etc. Got hot water though. Two large double beds upstairs. So unless you're into ahem, swinging and watching, it is a rather chaste affair.





Our teatime picnic, consisting of Foie Gras pate from Singapore, gourmet biscuits, flourless chocolate cakes, cold cuts, sandwiches (with wholemeal bread, eugh), cheeses, orange poppy seed cake, capsicums and tomatoes in olive oil, oh, and lots of Macallan.

The other highlight was the waterfall nearby. Amazing that such a sight exists less than an hour away from KL. Local kids having a field day, somersaulting, and plunging into the deep pool. Ah, the carefree days of youth.









I love this picture.

For dinner, we had a barbeque, whereby we paid one of the workers there to do the "hard" work for us lazy bums.





Contrary to what someone said on Facebook, this is NOT the ipoh gluten with chilli. (chut tai) It's a whole chunk of fresh FOIE GRAS.

A fortuituous meeting with Cuisine Studio Chef Jean Michellast week enabled us to get some caramelised apple when buying the foie gras. It was a marriage made in heaven. Also, since we didnt have a non stick pan, had to use oil so it wasn't as well seared as I'd have hoped. Nevertheless, it was delicious.

Berkeping Foie Gras Di Sekeping Serendah

The Morning after, saw the girls exercise their culinary skills by preparing Indomie goreng for all of us, and a large omelette with the leftover salad ingredients.






A lovely weekend by all accounts. Thanks to the young uns for organising.

Launch Of My Nourishment Magazine

Some of you may vaguely remember that I was supposed to be involved in a new food magazine. However, due to some miscommunication, and probably also they had enough contributors, I was NOT involved in the first issue..... but nevertheless, was rather pleased to know that it did come to fruition, and is now readily available at quite a number of F&B outlets.


Anyway, last Thursday, I get a call from a rather excited Chief Editor, and Chef, Ryan Khang, who tells me, "Hey, what would a food magazine launch be without the presence of that very important group of people, the FOOD BLOGGERS?" and tells me to invite some "famous food bloggers". Of course, fame is very subjective. In my mind, the famous ones are those that I read, and who are my personal friends. So beware, this kind of vague instruction could very well lead to a nepharious form of flogger cronyism.

On my list of invitees who could make it, were of course, Boolicious of Masak Masak, the hawt hawt Ciki of Cumi & Ciki, (and Cumi), Babe in the City KL, Nipple Joe of Lots of Craving....together with the last minute stand ups, heh heh, Jackson Kah and Jules, who were both down with a cold, Paprika who had a family obligation, and those that couldn't make it anyway, due to their hectic social schedules, Nigel & Allan, and AWOL (A WHIFF OF LEMONGRASS). But yeah, in an ideal world, that would have been my more or less complete list of of Food Bloggers. Oh, I forgot Precious Pea too, who is perpetually packing and unpacking, from her staggering list of holidays on Air Asia. Datuk Tony Fernandez should give this woman a permanent seat.

The event was at Nikko Hotel. The carpark is a nightmare....cars going in and going out meet at a deadlock right after the entry barrier gate, and while the turn to the lower basement is like 20 feet away, it takes 10 minutes to get there, coz of the back to back traffic of cars exiting.

I digress. The editorial team was there, dressed up to the nines. No wonder the guy on the cover of the magazine looked familiar, coz it was Francois Loubet, the handsome french chef who teaches in Taylor's College. Other culinary luminaries were there too, such as the president of the Malaysian Chef's Association, I forget his name. Julie Wong, Boolicious' boss, of Flavours Magazine, with Jean Michel, from HTC, French Culinary School, the authoress of Fruitastic, etc etc and so forth.

Babe & hubby were already there when I arrived, and we were digging into the homemade dips prepared by Chef Francis Lim, whose class I attended in Cooking House once. The dips were excellent, ......much better than the hotel food that was served later on. But, we weren't there for the food, but for the glorious company of food bloggers.










One of the interesting items on display was that super blender that blends juices to a fine pulp, so that nothing is wasted. I had copious amounts of fresh fruit juice that night. How very healthy. Alas, they ran out of champagne too quickly, and Nipples, Ciki and me were foraging desperately for another glass of bubbly. Red wine was giving me a headache.

I LOVE chatting with Jean Michel, and his French Malaysian accent. Very funny chap. We look forward to sampling his cuisine at Cuisine Studio, Tropicana when he's back from his travels on 3rd December. He actually invited us over to go and eat there before he went overseas, but alas, I couldn't make it.






Well, although there was a fairly big crowd, us floggers I think had a fairly good time.

Big thanks to the Editorial team and Ryan for a wonderful time.

Restaurant New Seaview, PJ Section 21, the Coffee Shop I Grew Up With

A bit of insight into my simple life....I realise my posts are usually about seemingly expensive restaurants, but as I was telling AWOL, (A WHIFF OF LEMONGRASS), I eat at kopitiams almost everyday, and I always forget to bring a camera, because it's like a routine meal. Whereas when I go to proper restaurants, I make a conscious effort I guess.

Anyway, I happened to have my trusty old Lumix on me on Sunday. Every Sunday after church, (when we go, that is), we usually end up eating in some coffee shop or other. Those in the radar are usually Nam Chuan in Lucky Gardens, the other one further down the road, with the pork ball noodles, a corner coffee shop in old town, same row as UOB Bank, Harmonica in New Town, and SEAVIEW in section 21, in between section 14 and Paramount Gardens.

Now, this place has a special place in my cholesterol filled heart, because, in my childhood, when many of you were not born, or even a dirty thought in your father's head, we used to come here on some weekends. Not after church, because I come from a heathen family. I remember there used to be a chee cheong fun stall at the corner, and ...well, that's about all I remember. Those days, as kids, we weren't allowed to pick anything we wanted. You just ate what was given to you. And for some reason, we were brought up not to opt for chee soi, (noodles in soup), or eat the vegetables that came along with it (because they never wash), OR order drinks.

After years of therapy, I have managed to overcome all those unsurmountable obstacles, and am glad to announce that I am free of those childhood shackles, and liberally order soupy noodles and drinks, and eat the vegetables. And I give the kids a free hand in their orders, which results in the poor wife having to walk the entire breadth and length of the kopitiam to fulfill their orders. Why do I not do it? Ah, ssssh, she doesnt read this, but my little secret is this. Offer to drop them off first, and then go and park. And take longer than necessary to park, so that by the time you've arrived, they're all seated, and tranquilised with their drink and orders all taken.

Sometimes, it doesn't work, and after parking, they're still waiting for a table. Argh, I hate situations like that.

Anyway, this was our order for the day last Sunday.

Kid no 3 ordered this CKT. Taste wise it was good, but I found it a bit on the oily side. I mean, there's oily CKT and there's OILY CKT. However, they are very generous with their LIU, and there were at least 3 prawns, and lots of see hum. No, the kids dont eat see hum (cockles), I do.

My current favourite at this place is now the Hakka Mee. I have managed to convert Kid no 1 & 2 to follow in my tastes, which drastically reduced the walking time for wife, since she could now order for THREE at the one stall. Kid No 1 opted for the soup version, which I didn't bother photographing. The noodles are nice and crunchy, and the gravy not overpowering, but subtle yet imparting wonderful flavour. The mince pork that accompanies the noodles make it a match made in heaven.

Just when I have my camera with me, wife has to order something uninteresting, like yong tau foo, and without much variety either. Smack forehead.

For now, kid no 4 can just mooch off her siblings, but the time will come when she will demand her own portion. We try to inculcate independence, and she can feed herself quite well ever since she was two, two & half. We'll have to talk about the Swiss Finishing School for Ladies later on I suppose. A bit hard to hook a rich husband when you have noodles hanging off your mouth.

The other stuff that is really good here is the pork noodles. There's always a long queue. And they always have innards, which are my favourite.

On a separate note, I've been memed AGAIN, by mysimplefood. This one is titled SEVEN THINGS YOU DID NOT KNOW ABOUT ME. What's with SEVEN? Argh, that's six too many facts for me to reveal.

1. I cannot go to bed unless I've washed my feet.

2. I have a COLD showever every morning. ie, NO HOT WATER.

3. I have been taking a cup of disgusting oatbran in the morning for the last 4 years or so. Now I'm used to it. It's just oatbran and water, and its revolting.

4. I do not sleep with aircond, as a general rule, as I am but a simple guy, with very kampunglike needs.

[CAUTION: DO NOT READ THIS PARA IF EASILY GROSSED OUT]
5. On one occasion, at an undisclosed government location, I had a massive stomach ache. I ran to the nearest toilet, and PRRRAAAAAPPPPPPP, managed to unload on time. Then I look around, and of COURSE, there's NO TOILET paper, (that's no surprise), and to my horror, NO WATER either. I had to look into my wallet, and LO AND BEHOLD, found an old MAS ticket. (those with the red carbon sheets)...... Phew.

6. I used to teach english part time at Robert Lam English Language Centre.

7. I used to be a part time model for men's underwear. ..............err...not. I used to be a part time copywriter at a small ad agency.

However, as I had just tagged others in the THINGS IN MY WALLET MEME recently, I shall not do so this time, for fear of kena scolding. Hope you dun mind, mysimplefood!

Sudu, Malay For Spoon

Before I talk about food, it was with a heavy heart that I had to bid a friend farewell. I still remember the day we first met, it was at a clinic. I had agreed to participate as a lab rat, in a top secret trial that was on going, by an undisclosed agency.

We had to sign some forms, I remember, and then we were introduced. PDM was to be my constant companion during the trial, and was supposed to stick by me through fat or thin, sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer. I didnt count on getting so attached, and when our gaze first met, I knew that it would be an interesting partnership. It was important for me to trust PDM, and to adjust my life according the information given.

6 months went by, and yeah, we did a lot of things together, and for most of the time, stuck very close to each other. When that fateful day came for us to part, I had to muster up all my composure not to break down in tears, before saying goodbye to my new old friend.

Yeah, it was like having my own little TAMAGOCHI. This pedometer, (PDM) tracks the number of steps you walk, (clockwise from upper left), the number of aerobic steps, (ie, continuous steps without any break), your mileage, and lastly, calories burnt. Alright, it didnt follow me EVERYWHERE, but for most of the time, was in my pocket, or around my neck. I forgot to wear it many times, and I don't wear it in gym classes, cos I didn't want it flopping all around the place, especially in classes like Body Step and Body Combat. Anyway, farewell my little friend.

Back to food. Yeah, last Saturday night, once again I found myself with NO invites, NO social obligations. Gosh, I must be becoming unhappening on an exponential scale. The likes of AWOL apparently have got no weekends free until May 2009, whereas, my calendar is blanker than the look of our PM when fielded with a tough question.

So, whenever I'm free, it's wife's lucky day, coz she gets my undivided attention. I thought I'd utilise my cash voucher for Latest Recipe, (LATEST, not SECRET, big diff there), the buffet spread in Le Meridien. It's a large outlet, so I figured ah, no need to book la. To my surprise, it was fully booked. We arrived at 7.45pm, and the maitre d said, oh, we can accommodate you provided you clear out by 8.30pm. Pshaw, what do they think we are, a Hoover vacuum cleaner?

We then decided to try our luck at Sudu, next door at KL Hilton, after all, it's quite romantic to spend the Saturday night Spooning away. There's something very surreal about the lift lobby of the two hotels, and the two thresholds that lead to VERY different worlds. Left to KL Hilton, and Right to Le Meridien. Very DR WHO.

The Sudu buffet spread is very comprehensive. It's actually a SEMI buffet, supposedly, because it comes with a choice of main courses, which quite honestly, we could do without. I would have been quite happy just chomping away on the buffet.

I had my requisite sashimi in dainty portions, pacing for the mammoth task that was ahead.

After having been spoilt with the Buri from Ozeki, and my usual Hamachi at Iketeru on the last few visits, sashimi salmon seems a bit of an anti climax. Nevertheless, it was fresh, and no complaints, apart from the fact it wasn't yellowtail.

The generous chilled seafood platters. I was delighted that they had real crabs, and not those flower crabs that give you 10gm meat for every kilo of shell. The crabs, steamed and chilled, (very aussie), were sweet and meaty. The oysters were nice and plump, and the fish roe was bursting with flavours. The prawns....hmmm, lacked flavour, although texture wise, they were fine. But no matter, because I was enjoying my crabs, with a lovely chilli mango salsa sauce which was one of the condiments.

My predominantly Malay upbringing has rendered me partial to ulam and sambal belacan. One of the LEAST popular dishes at the buffet, I noticed. Suited me fine. The belacan was full of kick, and I looked like I had just had a session at the Clark Hatch upstairs. Not enough ulam raja, my favourite ulam leaf, and what little they had look a bit wilted. The gado gado in a cup was novelly presented, but nothing to shout about.

Note the dainty portions. All just for taste.

The Indian fare was screaming out to me, the way a muruku screams when it's chucked in hot oil. I couldn't resist a spoonful of the tomato basmati rice and the array of curries. The chicken curry was very nice. And boy do I love em papadums.

Let's not forget the vegetables. Oh, I did have ulam, I forget, but I am a sucker for mushrooms, in all shapes and sizes. The Lok Lok section USED to have scallops for the Lok Lok, but I guess times are hard.

There are three category of mains, RM99, RM118 and RM128. The RM118 will be things like Rib eye etc... of course, we opted for the cheapest, RM99. I had the duck confit, which was actually VERYYYY GOOD. The tart casing was lovely and buttery, and the duck was tender, moist and very tasty.

Wife opted for the poached salmon, also in the RM99 category. Very clear and clean. Not being a fan of cooked salmon, I surprisingly found this dish quite palatable.





Ah, a pic of my tart opened up with the contents flowing out.

Dessert time: Actually the best thing about the dessert was the ice creams. I think it's homemade, and the vanilla had vanilla beans, and the strawberry sorbet was full of chunky fruit. That green malay kuih, usually my favourite, was the WORST I've ever had anywhere!!! The entire thing was hard, and chewy, and floury.....The white stuff in the little glass was very nice. Some panna cotta thingie I think.




This cake below looked good, but wasn't. It's SO disappointing to dig into a piece of NOT NICE cake. Can't remember what I did with it. Must have flogged it off to wife. These days, whenever I pass her something, she automatically assumes, "Why? Not nice ah?"





You may think I'm scraping at the bottom of the barrel when I start reviewing the pecans, but honestly, these are the BEST pecans I've had in Malaysia. Crisp, fresh, and light. Absolutely yummy. I shoulda nicked some in a bag for a pecan pie.


An impressive cheese platter. Love the smelly blue cheese, with pine nuts and the crunchy pumpkin. Pity I was stuffed to stupidity by this time, and could barely fit in another pine nut.




With the discount, the overall bill was RM113, for the two of us. Good deal hor. Speaking of good deals, YAY, I managed to book zero fares to Melbourne, for next Sept, at RM5778 (incl meals, baggage and insurance), for SIX of us. That's less than RM1k per person. Heck, the cab fare (in Melbourne) will probably cost more!