How To Cook: Japanese Garlic Fried Rice

To cook is love. :)

In this age and time, cooking is a luxury we spend our time on. We'd rather drive out to the new hipster cafe in town, and have nice looking food served on our table. 

How about whippin' up something simple like say, Japanese Garlic Fried Rice?

"It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone's fingers have been all over it." - Julia Child

I'm not at all a pro in the kitchen. But I truly believe that a good tasting dish from the kitchen comes from a happy heart. A must -have disclaimer is that, I cook by way of "agar-ism" aka estimation. ;)

You'll need:

- 2 cups of short grain rice (cooked the night before)

- 3 eggs

- 3 stalks of spring onions

- 1 carrot

- 1 clove of garlic

- Cooking oil

- Salt & pepper to taste

All that you'll need

Instructions:

1. Finely dice carrot into even cubes.

2. Finely chop the spring onions.

3. Finely slice HALF of your garlic (as garnishing for your fried rice later).

4. Finely chop the remaining half of your garlic.

5. Whisk eggs.

Pre-cooking tips:

1. Cook rice with lesser water (as compared to if you were to cook normal rice).

2. The egg functions to give color to the fried rice, to make it beautifully yellow-ish.

3. I bought a rather big carrot, so I only used half of it.

4. How much garlic you want depends on how much liking you have for garlic. I used more than a clove. Also, how much garlic you want as garnishing as compared to the portion used to be stir-fried with the rice depends on how much garlic garnishing you'd like to have.

Ok, let the photos begin!

Heat up the pan/wok with "more than usual" cooking oil and fry the thinly sliced garlic (meant for garnishing) until golden brown. Set aside and drain the oil with kitchen towel.

Next, with the same oil, stir fry the finely chopped garlic until almost golden brown.

Then, pour in the overnight rice.

Mix well the garlic and rice.

Then pour in the whisked eggs (photo below refers).

All these while, remain at medium to high heat.

See how yellow the eggs make the rice look? Mix well and make sure the eggs coat the rice nicely.

You can add a pinch of salt & pepper to taste here.

Once the eggs coating the rice has somewhat dried up (cooked), pour in the diced carrot.  

Stir fry for about 2-4 minutes, or until doneness of carrot is as per your liking.

Beautiful colors of the dish can be seen now. You can choose to add in more salt and pepper to taste at this step...

Once the fried rice is almost done, pour in spring onions.

Remember to leave some spring onions for garnishing!

Stir fry for another 1-2 minutes and the dish is ready!

Lunch is served! ;)

Note: There are no hard and fast rules to cooking. Always remember - cook from your heart!

P/S: The original recipe was adapted from Taste of Malaysia's Japanese Garlic Fried Rice. Google it up! ;)

Black Market @ Main Place, USJ 21

A long hiatus it has been and here I am back again, writing about food! #whatsnew Been here and about for the past few months and I've seriously been meaning to write but time was something I ran short of.

Yesterday evening called for a reason to celebrate. I got ourselves a Groupon voucher to dine at Black Market @ Main Place located at USJ 21.

Main Place is a fairly new mall, revived from a previously long abandoned development project, which now houses many crowd-driving stores, e.g. Sushi Zanmai, Starbucks, Mcdonald's, Jaya Grocer, and in-trend fashion stores like Uniqlo and Nichii.

Note that Black Market has 3 outlets in town, namely Jalan Kampung Pandan, St. Mary's Place and Main Place mall.

An outlook of the eatery. It is located at a quiet corner of the mall.

The Groupon voucher requires a 2 days prior reservation. Unfortunately, I was told that the eatery has been fully booked on both Saturday and Sunday. But, the staff told me to just walk-in.

So, walk-in we did and after much miscommunication, we finally "SCORED" ourselves a table for 2 in the "fully-booked" restaurant which appeared fairly empty on a weekend night.

Nevermind it all....


Let's feast our eyes with food now!

For starters, we ordered something exquisite - Garlic Butter Scallops @ RM16.

Verdict:
Served with bread, the taste of garlic was so pungent it ended up tasting bitter instead of the supposedly flavourful fragrant. 2/10

We have a fond liking for garlic. But truth to be told, this garlicky dish was way too much for our tastebuds, or shall I rephrase it, overly exquisite for our common tastebuds. Haha. Should've stuck to the usuals, maybe Wedges with Guacamole? ;)


We also ordered an Anchovy Caesar Salad with Pork Bacon & Jamon @ RM26.

Verdict:
The dish was served with generous amount of croutons which was a big YAY. Overall, the pork bacon saved the salad which came with little amount of anchovy dressing. It was dry and not at all fantastic, in my honest opinion. 4/10


We ordered one main to share - Cheesy Potato Cod @ RM38.

Verdict:
The cod slices were fresh but the baked mashed potatoes seemed to lack flavour. Then again, nobody told me they hid bacon slices underneath and hence, I shall give it a 7/10! :D Not too bad and this is probably the best dish we ordered that night. Haha


Rested our tummies and called for our dessert to be served - Apple Cinnamon Chill Cheesecake @ RM13.

Verdict:
Loved the presentation already! 8/10

A side view of the cake.

Verdict (taste-wise):
It was an interesting twist to the cheesecake; I loved that they used caramelised apple as the base. It complemented the cheesecake really well! The cheesecake itself was well done, not too soft, not too flour-y. Rightly done and may I proclaim that this is my personal best cheesecake that I've ever had. Overall verdict, 9/10.

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The evening crowd just as we were leaving

Location

No. GF-21 & GF-22, Ground Floor,
Jalan USJ 21/10, 47630 Subang Jaya

For reservations or enquiries: 603-5879 7668

Would I make a return visit? No, mainly due to the initial impression from the service by their staff. Also, food was nothing exceptionally good in my tastebuds' opinion.

Madam Kwan's Nasi Bojari - Malaysian Food at it's Best

I know we're currently in the Ramadhan season where our Muslim counterparts fast during the day.  Let's see if today's post will help you decide on where to ajak your Muslim friends to beriftar! ;)

Aaaand, yes, this is finally a "HALAL" food post!

Madam Kwan's to me is a high class eatery that serves high end Malaysian food.  First thought that comes to my mind? Why pay a premium when authentic Malaysian food is everywhere in town, roadside stalls, mamaks, and whereverelse there is.

But here at Madam Kwan's, there is a MUST ORDER - Nasi Bojari! This is definitely NOT a dish you can find elsewhere ;)

A brief description -

This is a dish of tri-coloured red-yellow-white rice with assam prawns, beef rendang and deep fried chicken drumstick; served on banana leaf. This dish also comes with the usual sides of half a hard-boiled egg, cucumbers and additionally, tomatoes!

Priced at MYR24.90, the portion is overwhelming for the premium that you'll pay. Don't let the above photo deceive you! The chicken drumstick itself is enough to mind blow you.

Verdict: 9/10

The tri-coloured has hints of herbs and spices albeit not overpowering the dish as a whole. Overall, it is a fantastic pair with any of the three side dishes, i.e. fried chicken, beef rendang and assam prawns.

Not forgetting to mention, the fried chicken (they only serve chicken thigh) was juicily well done. The skin has the right amount of crisps and the size of the chicken is guaranteed to stuff you to the brim!

The beef rendang is rightly fragrant and not too dry. BTW, if you are abstaining from beef due to religious beliefs, you can always opt for curry chicken. Just inform the waiter when you make your order.

And the 2 assam prawns...

MMMMM~ they are not too sweet nor overly sour. Paired with a perfect balance of onions, the 2 assam prawns are guaranteed fresh! Thankfully I had a colleague who doesn't eat prawns so she donated her's to me. In total, I had 4 fresh juicy prawns! ;)

Look at us! The 18 of us headed to Madam Kwan's One Utama for an unofficial buka puasa dinner (boss' treat, YAY!) and at least 90% of us ordered the Nasi Bojari!

Oh BTW, whilst waiting for the exact buka puasa time, I dissected my chicken to the very core so that I can focus on eating later on instead of slicing the chicken off the bones heh! #maximisingidletime

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The downside of this dish for me however, was the lack of gravy. I wish they provided sambal or perhaps more gravy from the assam prawns. ;)

All in all, it was a fantastic dinner. Thanks, Boss! :D

Woo Pin Fish Head Noodles 湖滨鱼头米 @ Taman Danau Desa

A typical Sunday morning calls for a good brunch.

I woke up feeling very chinese today and decided to satisfy my cravings for Fish Head Noodles - a dish I have not had in a long long while... In fact, I miss the BEST fish head noodles (which is not open on Sundays) :3

So, Woo Pin Fish Head Noodles at Taman Danau Desa will have to do. I've been here a couple of times over the past years, and I'd say that this is second best, as compared to Goon Wah's. 

The shop's out front

It was a 20-minute drive from Subang. By the time we got there, it was close to noon. The place was crowded, but the staff were prompt with helping us get seats at a table shared with other diners. BTW, it is a stated rule that "all tables are to be shared". LOL

Placed our order and food was served within the next 15 minutes.

If you fancy a quick and hasty meal without having to watch out for fish bones whilst enjoying your meal, then the order of Fish Paste Noodles will be a favourite.

The noodles were rightly cooked, not overly done; whereas the soup was a perfect match to the fish paste and bouncy vermicelli noodles. They were also generous with their toppings!

Priced at RM9 for a small bowl, it was served with a generous amount of tomatoes, fried shallots and spring onions as toppings. The soup is available, with or without milk (I'd suppose it's Carnation Milk). We preferred the creamy kinda soup base, and mann, it tasted of natural sweetness! Y'know the kind when you've boiled then double-boil it further to optimise the fragrant from the pork/fish. 

Also, a point to note is that they only have one type of noodle, i.e. thin vermicelli. I personally prefer the thick kind, which is available at Goon Wah! ;)

Overall, portion wise was fantastic! The BF even thought this was the big bowl that he was savouring. lol!

Verdict: 8/10

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On to my order... I had the Woo Pin Fried Fish Head Noodles.

Typically, I do not mind spending time picking out fish bones during my meal. But I requested for fried fish parts that have more meat instead of the fish head. More worth it...

Verdict: The soup base chose was the same as the fish paste's. Overall verdict: 6/10.

I personally prefer to have my fish head noodles with fresh fish. When asked whether fried or fresh fish was recommended, the waiter recommended the "fried" one immediately. This gave me an impression that their fish are not fresh, hence, prioritised recommendation would be fried ones to cover up the unfreshness. To further prove my point, I've ordered their fresh fish head noodles before and the fish had hints of fishy-ness.

Even after I was done with my meal of fried fish noodles, I could feel the fish stench on my lips. Major turn off. Heh!

This is why I'd dub this as second best. 

Also, I requested for them to separate my pieces of fried fish from my soupy noodles in order to preserve the crisp. Unfortunately, the fried fish pieces were served IN my noodles causing it to be soggy. I immediately asked for a bowl to separate the fishes.

It took me 20 minutes to finish up my meal whilst the BF took only 5-10minutes to finish his bowl of fish paste noodles haha :D

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What's a noodles dish without some kick-a$$ chilli??

At Woo Pin, they have their infamous spicy sambal that's grinded with bird's eye chilli (aka chilli padi). The spicyness was acceptable for me, but overall taste, Goon Wah's remain the best!

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Woo Pin is evidently catered for fish lovers as they serve only fish dishes, some of which are fried fish cake or fried "fu zhuk". I'm not a big fan of such, hence I stuck to my usual orders. What a bore... :P

Woo Pin's opening hours amd food prices according to sizes of order

This shop is located one row behind the famous Korean BBQ restaurant, Seoul Korea.

Along Old Klang Road, just follow the sign board towards Taman Desa. Once you're in the area, turn left when you see an abandoned school. The school will then be located on your right. Then, turn right at the first traffic light and immediately after that, turn upwards to your left. Woo Pin will be on your right at the end of the row of shophouses.

If my instructions aren't helpful enough, you can always google map/Waze your way there! :D

Woo Pin Fish Head Noodles:

Jalan 1/109F, Taman Danau Desa, 58100 Kuala Lumpur

Till then, let's fish our way through the coming week... Looking forward to the next weekend already. Meh!

Mexican Food: The Shepherdoo Restaurant and Lounge @ One City Mall

Hola!

In case you're wondering, I am working towards making my passion an even better and more useful passion - pairing my love for food with my passion for writing. :)

Today, I'mma be writing on a Mexican eatery where we had dinner at 2 Sundays ago - The Shepherdoo Restaurant and Lounge.

The outlet that we dined at was located in One City Mall. FYI, they also have an outlet at Centro Mall, Klang.

Some shots of their interior deco.
Basically, it was quite dark in the restaurant. I did edit the brightness of the photos below so that you won't be looking at nothing. lol

View from outside in

View of inside out. You get the picture. -.-

We got to the eatery about 6:00PM as we had a dinner slot booked at 6:15PM. Dinner crowd was fairly mild with only a handful of tables occupied. Also, from the pictures above, you'll see that they've got capacity for a huge group of diners as they have a section upstairs. Plus point! But it wasn't open when we got there due to the many available seats downstairs.

The menu looks rather torn heh.

As we were rather unfamiliar with mexican dishes, we took long enough before deciding on what to order individually.  Thankfully, food was served approximately 15 minutes later.

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Mum's order: Mexicana Gourmet Fajitas (Combo, i.e. all-in-one) - RM34.80

Dish description

Served traditionally on a sizzling hot skillet with mixed peppers and onions, tossed with The Shepherdoo's blend of spices. Served with sour cream, guacamole plus homemade salsa along with warm flour tortillas.

Verdict: The combo includes mixed wild mushrooms, chicken strips and flame-grilled beef. We were forewarned that it was gonna be a spicy order. Indeed, our tongues were flamed. LOL Portion of the fajitas was aplenty, and the 4 tortilla wraps (served in a covered flat pot which was a great idea to keep it warm!) was definitely not enough. We ended up picking from mum's fajitas to be savoured with our own orders.

The sour cream had a cheesy mashed-potato like texture. It was lacking in taste, but I'm definitely not complaining! This is because, when it is used as a topping for the fajitas and wrap, it worked well to complement the dish rather than it's taste overcoming the main. Guacamole was so-so, as it was lacking in texture. I'd prefer a guacamole slightly less smoothly blended and liquid. Also, the salsa was thumbs up!

Overall verdict: 7/10


Next up, it was the BF's order.
The Shepherdoo's Gringo Burger - RM23.80

Dish description

Juicy beef patty made from premium South American topside, turkey bacon, egg, lemon mayo and cheddar cheese. 

Served up in a toasted sesame seed bun with a side of cajun aioli, along with seasoned curly fries and crisp salad. 

(Note: For non-beef eaters, this is exchangeable for Chicken patties, upon request)

Verdict: I had a mouthful of this and thought it was quite a forgettable one. Portion wise was fine. But apparently their "seasoned curly fries" comes in the size of wedges. Heh! For me, a burger patty (be it, beef or chicken) should be juicy, thick and not dry. The Shepherdoo's beef patty was okay, nothing exceptionally juicy nor is it dry. Definitely incomparable to the excellent ones you can get at FatBoy's. ;)

Overall verdict: 5/10


Then came Daddy's order: Taco-Taco - RM23.50

Dish description

Fish wrapped in tortillas, guacamole, pico de gallo, chipotle aioli, sour cream and cheese. Served with a side of miniature nachos!

From the photos both above and below, you can judge for yourself on the portion for this dish.

I wouldn't be able to comment on the tortilla-wrapped-fish as it came only with 2 pathetic wraps and was definitely insufficient to feed Daddy alone, what more to share it with us. Heh But as you can see, the fish fillet was fairly small as compared to the reasonable size of tortilla wrap. The wrap and the fish fillet looked crispy-ly delicious though! Hmm, wish it was served in a bigger portion so we could all try!

As for the nachos, it was INDEED miniature as what was described on the menu. We couldn't resist from snapping up a piece or two each and Daddy was left with even miniature portion of nachos. :P

Overall verdict: For the price that you're gonna pay for this dish, I'd say, it's not worth the price at all! So, don't even bother trying. 2/10


Lastly, and the BEST ORDER OF THE DAY! Pasta ala Pollo - RM20.80

Dish description

Mexican rubbed chicken breast, char-grilled with caramelised pineapple and tomato relish on a bed of sauteed spinach pasta.

By the looks of the pasta, I'm sure your appetite is immediately turned on.

Verdict
Firstly, the chicken breast was well marinated and tender. It tasted like the good ol' Ayamas chicken (if not better) that I was very fond of during my primary school days where Sundays was always an Ayamas dine-in day. Whether or not it was Mexican-ly marinated, I can't tell. But one thing's for sure, it was tasty, VERY VERY tasty!

As for the pasta, it was pesto-kind. My parents were fairly unfamiliar with this pasta-style. But when they took the first forkfull of it, they couldn't stop nodding their head (indicating the extent of yummyness) lol. It was good, although when compared to the ones I've had at Italiannies (unfortunately they do not serve pesto anymore) this would be considered average. All in all, it was well al-dente. Good job!

With the salsa sides, it gave a tangy feel to this dish but it didn't boost any flavour to the dish; meaning, this dish would be great with or without it. Heh.

It was an instant crowd favorite. Daddy Mummy said that it was the most worth it dish that we ordered that night. Portion was great; even after generously sharing my pasta and slices of chicken breast with my parents and the BF, I had aplenty to feast on myself! A perfect way to say, "sharing is caring!" :P

Overall verdict: 10/10

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Food aside, I was pretty unimpressed with the service there. Well, not a surprising downside considering the country that we're living in doesn't really emphasize on a good-service culture.

There were no waiters to usher us into the restaurant nor anyone to help with getting us a table, or rather, checking with us on our reservation made until we walked way into the restaurant for someone to notice us.

Also, if you are an avid self-proclaimed food-photographer like me (ahem..), then this place is probably an eatery you may wanna consider bringing a spotlight. Otherwise, your food photos will not be Instagram-worthy and will turn out grainy. As you can see, the food photo for Mummy's order was extremely bright because we couldn't quite get hold of the angle of the flash (from the BF's Samsung S4) to shine towards the food. After a few shots, we finally got the angle right, and TADA! Pretty food photos for yall! ;)

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Location

A-GF-08, Ground Floor
Sky Park One City,
Jalan USJ 25/1
Subang Jaya, Selangor

Do not be misled by the "Sky Park One City". It is located at Ground Floor, NOT at the famous Sky Park area @ Level 10.

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Hungry bangry. Till the next time!

Cafe Hunting: Flat White in SS15

I am no coffee addict. Coffee keeps my heart rate at an increased rate that I can not cope. LOL In other words, coffee makes me feel sick.

Cafe hunting to me, is all about the breakfasts that they offer. Just last Sunday, we had a celebrative reason to feast, so we decided on Flat White as it was one that I've never been to.

"20 steps to awesome coffee. It's worth the climb!"

Flat White's cafe concept: Get the menu from the counter or lift your heavy heads from your phones to look at the menu on the wall.

Make your order at the counter and upon paying, you'll get a little tin box with your order number where food will be served later on.

Food was served within 15minutes. 

The BF ordered the Big Breakfast - RM23.

Verdict: Portion wise was fairly reasonable and filling. However, do note that they serve their bacons in beef and sausages ala chicken, which means, this is a NO PORK eatery.

It looked good, tasted great! Plus, their chicken sausages had some interesting tinge of spicyness to it that I like. Scrambled eggs and sauteed mushrooms were also thumbs up. Beef Bacon was fine. Their hash brown was a personal favourite by him <3 Overall verdict - 8/10

I ordered a Club Sandwich for RM18.

 

Verdict: Portion wise was good, with fries and salad as sides. The sandwich looked good, with ham, lettuce, tomato cubes, just enough mayonnaise and chicken thighs in between as fillings. 

BUT, as I sank my teeth into the first bite, I tasted fats in the chicken in the sandwich. A point to note, I, for one, cannot stand having fats in my chicken, or pork or whatever else. These fats send shivers down my spine and it gives me the feeling that the meat has not been cleaned properly.

Of course, I am not saying this about Flat White la. Just what I feel about "fats" on ma meat y'know??

Photo below is a shot of the amout of "fats" that I picked out from the chicken fillings in my Club Sandwich. And yes, I picked them all out, little as they may be, they are equally as disgusting for me. :3

Overall verdict: I spent too much time picking out the fats, I ended up with cold hard toast. 4/10

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Overall impression

The cafe was fairly quiet for a Sunday brunch hour. I liked that the crowd was mild and quiet kind with students coming in for coffee and study. But they have such heavy chairs, I ended up creating noise pollution whenever I was getting up to get serviettes, etc. LOL

Also, the barista and staff were not really friendly nor welcoming. It felt like my presence as a customer was not noticed at all. I am pointing this out because if you compare their service here with other Cafes, be it around Bangsar, or PJ area, or even Subang la... most cafes have really friendly staff who'd shout a loud "Welcome" as soon as you step into the cafe. :)

All in all, I would not be making a return visit anytime soon nor recommend it to anyone wanting to try out some good brunch place in my neighbourhood. But if I do make a return visit, Big Breakfast will be my to-order item. Also, I've read reviews that their Nutella Cappucino is real good stuff. Try it if you're dining here!

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Location

73, Jalan SS15/8A,
47500 Subang Jaya,
Selangor

It is located directly opposite Asia Cafe at SS15, same row as Starbucks Coffee. The sign is fairly easy to spot, a black and white "Flat White".  Also, it is located at Level 1.\


Till the next yum-yum, xx.

Thai Food: Bua Thai Cuisine Bistro (Damansara Uptown)

Those of you who follow me on Instagram/ Facebook/ (better yet) reads my blog would know that I have just gotten back from Thailand.  To be honest, food in Thailand was the least I expect to enjoy during my trip after a few research and feedback that I got from friends who recently visited Thailand. I expected right.

To my surprise, however, I was able to find much better tasting Thai food in my homeland, Malaysia.

So, here is my write-up on a recent visit to one of the many Thai eateries in Petaling Jaya - Bua Thai Cuisine Bistro; all thanks to a friend who got us a Groupon voucher. ;)

It was a weekday dinner threesome for us ladies. 

A shot of their entrance
(The bicycle is for delivery of food within the vicinity of Uptown, I'd suppose)

 An outdoor dining experience for those who smoke

The indoor dining area

Thankfully, we were the first diners there for the evening @ 7PM. Doubts filled our thoughts on whether the food would be good. Hmm

The lady owner approached us whilst we were still browsing through the menu at the entrance. Then we proceeded in and she helped with some recommended dishes in a friendly manner.

Ordering process was quick and she left us to decide on what to order for drinks whilst she keyed in our order and went off in to the kitchen to prep the food.

Decided on a Pandan Lemongrass drink - RM3.50

Verdict: Was soothing and refreshing but wished the lemongrass taste/aroma was stronger. Also, we couldn't spot any hint of pandan. Portion of the drink was just right. Lasted us until the end of the meal. Hah! 7/10

We were served with our food sooner than expected, which was a good thing 'cus we were all starved from work!

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First dish: Mango Salad - RM12

Verdict: The mango was sour and had a tinge of sweetness to it. This mango dish has a good mixture of crunchy raw onions, peanuts and had a nice deco of mint leaves. Definitely a good way to kickstart our appetite! The portion looked small initially, but as we dug into it, we realised that there was more than it looked. 8/10 :)

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Next up: Jasmine Rice - RM2.50

I'm a sucker for carbs. Chinese saying of "饭桶" is the perfect description for me. Can't imagine myself living in western countries where rice is considered a luxury. Thank goodness they've potatoes which I love.

Verdict: Ordinary plate of rice with a slight hint of fragrance. The eatery may have mixed normal rice with the aromatic Jasmine rice. Just my wild guess. 6/10

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Then came our star dishes for the evening.

Kangkung Belacan - RM12

Verdict: Compared to the Thai-style Kangkung dish that I had in Thailand which tasted sweet for some reasons; I am glad we picked this. The paste used to stir fry the Kangkung tasted just right for my tastebuds. But, I wished it came in a bigger serving or maybe because it was tasty to my liking I wished I had more to savour heh. Then again, if you are looking for a spicy kinda Kangkung belacan, I guarantee you, this is NOT. 7/10

Next, it was the Tom Yum Goong (Seafood) - RM18

Verdict: This was DA BOMB. I loved it! Loved the way it was served, the taste and fragrant, the tomyum-ness was top! BUT, yes but, I think their definition of seafood is somewhat distorted because what we found in the soup was mostly Oyster Mushrooms, handful of fishballs, some sliced sotong, tomatoes and 2 fairly sized prawns. Hmm, I'm assuming the chef expected the 3 of us to share the 2 prawns? Or perhaps one has to sacrifice for the enjoyment of the other 2. We ended up with the latter. Lol!

I was one of the lucky 2 that got a taste of the prawn. For the benefit of my friend who didn't get a taste of it, yes, it was fresh :P

Do note however, there was a slight fishy taste in the fishballs.

Photo below is our own serving of the Tom Yum Goong.

Each of us had at least 3 helpings from the huge pot which was *thumbs up*! This pot of goodness is not meant for the weak-hearted. For someone who enjoys and needs her daily spicy dose, the spicyness level for this pot of goodness is 8/10! Spot the dried chilli in my bowl of Tom Yum Goong. I was sweating whilst enjoying this dish! And yes, this is way better than the Tom Yum Goong that I had in Krabi, Thailand.

Overall verdict on the Tom Yum Goong (Seafood) - 9/10

Finally, the long awaited dish, Pandan Chicken - RM15

The last dish took quite a while to come out from the kitchen. But, the owners took the initiative to come to our table several times to inform us that it may take longer time for this dish to be served; understandably due to the fact that the chicken is wrapped in pandan leaves hence it needs longer time to cook?? Haha

Verdict: My dinner dates commented that it tasted like any ordinary chicken. For me, the chicken thigh was quite juicy although we couldn't taste the pandan-ness in the chicken, which very well means it defeated the name of the dish. Still, the chicken was well marinated and tender. 7/10

Also, when we ordered this dish, I requested for chicken breast but was advised against it by the lady owner as she had tried the recipe using chicken breast and it turned out less juicy and hard. I liked that she explained it rather than agreeing to my request and gave me chicken thighs instead when the dish was served. :)

When we were done with the above dishes, we were stuffed to the brim!

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Even so, it was dessert time! God made us ladies for a reason - to always have tummy space for dessert! :P

In our case, it was dessertS. 

First up, Red Ruby - RM6

Verdict: Loved the generous amount of Jackfruit slices. But we thought that the amount of ice shave in this dessert was too much causing the sweetness to be diluted. 4/10

BTW, can anyone tell me what is the red coloured little round balls in this Red Ruby dessert?

I didn't know that it was a famous Thai dessert prior to this. How did I found out? Through the handful of likes I got on FB (which I seldom get for food photos on FB) and also a comment from a friend telling me it is her favourite thai dessert!

Next, we also ordered the Pumpkin Glutinous Ball - RM6

Verdict: We enjoyed this dessert more as compared to the Red Ruby. This is a hot dessert filled with LOADS of Sago. The amount of coconut milk in the dessert was just nice. But the pumpkin glutinous balls seemed to lack texture. It was too soft and perhaps a lil more pumpkin taste would have made this a perfect dessert to end our night. 7/10

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Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience here at Bua Thai Cuisine Bistro. The prices are reasonable and the portion of its dishes are satisfactory. The total bill came up to RM95+ for the 3 of us. We definitely over-ordered but it was worth the bloated tummies because we got to try a variety of their dishes. All thanks to the Groupon voucher! :D

Bua Thai Cuisine Bistro
70G, Jalan SS21/62, Damansara Utama

It is located at the same row as Jojo Pan Mee at Damansara Uptown, i.e. facing the road from NKVE headed towards Sprint highway's direction. It is located at the row behind OCBC bank. Also, this shop is next to QQ Noodle House (if this serves as any help lol). 

Dinner crowd comes in around 7:30PM to 8:00PM. But fret not, as the crowd isn't big at all. It is a cozy place for a nice catch up session with friends/ family, or even a simple Thai dinner date.

Got my tummy growling after drafting this post. Time to head out for dinner! ;)