APOM STALL @ MING TIEN FOODCOURT, TAMAN MEGAH

Accompanying WMW for a late dinner one fine night, I stepped into Ming Tien Foodcourt in Taman Megah for the very first time. Despite living in SS2 for the past 2 decades which is just a stone-throw away from Taman Megah, somehow when I go food hunting, this place always doesn't make it into my list. Anyway, once you are in Taman Megah, one would not miss the Ming Tien Foodcourt, situated just right next to the futsal court. Using beach as a theme and surrounded by lush greenery and wooden hut, I really felt like entering into a beach resort. And not forgetting the canto-pop blasting in full volume, no wonder this place is so popular among the youngsters.

The food court offers both local favourites as well as international cuisine such as Italian Pizzas, Taiwanese snacks, Vietnamese noodle, Japanese delicacies and many many more. A quick search in the internet and found that they even have a website. So do click here for more information as I am going to jump straight into the main topic: APOM!

WMW walked straight to the APOM stall and immediately the husband and wife team greeted her like an old friend. While they were busy catching up, I too was busy snapping away.

There are two types of the pancake-like snacks available: Apom which is the crispy version versus the Apom Balik which is the softer and thicker version. The crispy apom is cooked by placing the batter into individual miniature wok and placed on a stove to cook till the batter turns brown.

Issit cooked yet??
The cooked Apom is immediately taken out from the wok and folded while it's still hot.

Tada, a stack of freshly made crispy Apom ready to be eaten.

While the boss was busy with the Apom, the wife too was busy with her Apom Balik which comes in either corn or banana flavour. Quite unusual as I normally buy those with crushed peanuts fillings. Instead of using miniature wok, a hot mould is being used and it can produced up to 9 Apom Balik at one go. Once the batter is poured in, either creamed corn or sliced bananas will be added as fillings.

The Apom Balik is then folded into half while hot. The texture of the Apom Balik is much softer, almost like eating pancake. Very economical to ease your craving for snacks as the Apom is selling at RM2 for 5 pieces whereas the Apom Balik is priced at RM2 for 4 pieces. Personally I prefers the Apom as it was really light, crispy and eggy flavour. Boolicious and I were initially worried we might not be able to finish our serving as we just had a hearty dinner and before we realised it, we finished all without leaving any for WMW. LOL!! As for the Apom Balik, I would say I still prefer the traditional fillings of crushed peanuts and corn. I find the portion here is too little, barely can taste the corn nor the bananas.

WMW said the vegetarian mee goreng next to the Apom stall is not too bad too. Ok, noted and I will definately be back to try out the other stuffs here.

Ming Tien Foodcourt is located at:
Lot 10991, Jalan SS24/8
Taman Megah, Selangor
Tel: 03-7806 4991

Also check out Boolicious's review on the Apom here.

KK Day 3 - WHEN WILL I SEE YOU, AGAIN?

On the last day of our trip, we had a few hours to spare since our flight was in the late afternoon. While live2talk preferred to sleep in, Missy6ft and I got up early in the morning to visit the markets located at the KK waterfront, just opposite our hotel. We left the hotel at 7.00 a.m. and off we went to explore the markets. The first market was the open-air wet market which offers a lot of strange products from the sea which I have not seen before. I might be wrong, but it seems to me this market caters for the Malays and Sabah tribes. Rarely can find Chinese (except two of us) here.

Paku pakis; a type of fern.

A kind of seaweed

According to Missy6ft, this is called Underwater Grapes.

Next we ventured into the Pasar Ikan Masin or literally translated as "Salted Fish Market". Here you can find all sorts of dried stuffs such as salted fish, dried octopus, dried shrimps, dried ikan bilis, dried abalone, dried scallops, etc. I have no idea if it's cheaper than KL, but since we are here, both of us grab a few packets home as souvenirs. Bargaining requires but of course if you are buying a lot, your bargaining power will be much stronger. Hehehe...thanks to Missy6ft amazing bargaining skill too.

We then proceeded to the indoor wet market. Selling pretty normal stuffs here so it wasn't as exciting for me.

The night before during our seafood dinner at Ocean View, my Sabah Branch colleague told me that since I love hot stuffs, I should grab a bottle of the hot chili sauce which is found in almost every stalls! Brandless, so it depends on luck whether the bottle you grab is good or not. But believe me, it's super duper HOT!!

After we got what we wanted from the market, we went to the Fish Market which is located just next to the indoor wet market. We walked in and were amazed to see the place bustling with people. The catch of the day were all proudly displayed. Extremely fresh since all the fishermen just came back from the sea.

PORCUPINE FISH???? I found some really interesting information about this Porcupine fish which is also known as Blowfish. Here are some of the interesting facts extracted from Wikipedia:

"They are sometimes confused with pufferfish . Porcupinefish are closely related to pufferfishes but porcupinefish have spines on their body.Porcupinefish have the ability to inflate their body by swallowing water (or air) and become round like a ball. This increase in size (almost double vertically) reduces the range of potential predators to those with much bigger mouths. A second defense mechanism is provided by the sharp spines, which radiate outwards when the fish is inflated. Some species are poisonous, having a tetrodotoxin in their skin and/or intestines."
Assorted deep-sea fish....I saw a man paid RM5 for 3 big fishes. Some looked just too colourful to be eaten.

We made a last stop at the Filipino Market to grab some nice seashell bracelets as souvenirs. No photos were taken since both my hands were full with bags of goodies.

Without realising it, we already walked for more than 2 hours. Started feeling a bit tired and hungry already. The night before, our colleague told us that there is a very nice Kuching Laksa place nearby our hotel, situated right behind Le Meridien Hotel. Since it's on our way back, we went hunting for it and EUREKA! We found it quite easily. It's actually a stall inside Kedai Kopi Soon Chuan.

This is the stall. Caters for only breakfast and lunch; big bowl for RM5.50 and small bowl for RM4.50. Hmmm...not cheap huh?

Our bowl of laksa came with coarse vermicelli topped with sliced prawns, shredded chicken, sliced egg omelets and beansprouts. Out of my expectation, this bowl of Kuching Laksa was really good! The curry broth was good, flavourful yet not too creamy and perfect after we squeezed in the lime juice.

We saw a Kolo Mee stall and so we decided to give it a try. Instead of the usual minced meat and bbq pork, we asked for roasted pork. Big big mistake! One bite and I couldn't bring myself to eat more. The noodle was so laden with alkaline, it became so bitter and creates an awful aftertaste. We should have ordered another bowl of laksa instead. Never mind, learn from mistake huh?

On the way back, we saw a bakery and since live2talk was still sleeping, we bought her some buns for breakfast. This bun looks yummy but live2talk said it tasted very normal.

After checking out, our Sabah colleague came over to pick us up for lunch before sending us to the airport. She brought us to Kedai Kopi Gunung Emas to have lunch. While walking towards the shop, I spotted a long queue in front of the chicken rice stall. Throughout our lunch, the queue continued growing.

We ordered a plate of roasted pork and BBQ pork. The roasted pork tasted fairly above average however, I didn't quite like the char siu. I think i have been indulging with too much 'melt-in-your mouth' kind of char siu nowadays, so my expectation for char siu quality has gone up.

Another plate of mixed roasted pork with roasted ribs. The roasted ribs were really yummy. Tender and well marinated but sadly, portion was too little, only a piece each.

Dessert came much later. After we checked in our luggage, we proceeded to the duty free shop to kill time. While paying for a packet of Sabah Coffeemix and Teabags, I spotted ice-cream potong near the counter. They even have icebox for you to carry back and the lady owner claimed it can last for 6 hours! Although am tempted, I was way too lazy to hand carry it so we decided to have one each on the spot instead. I tried the Avocado flavour since the rest such as red bean, cendol, corn, yam and etc were too normal. If not mistaken, it is priced at RM1 each

And that completes my journey in KK. Short but lots of fun. A special thanks to my colleague Stella and her husband for the wonderful hospitality.

So many more yummy places in my food guide not covered so I have decided....March 2008! KK, I WILL BE BACK!!

For my earlier post on my KK trip, click here:
Day 1 (Part 1) - Hotel and Afternoon Tea
Day 1 (Part 2) - Portview Seafood Restaurant
Day 2 (Part 1) - Poring Hot Spring & Kinabalu Park
Day 2 (Part 2) - Ocean Seafood Village

KK Day 2 (Part 2) - OCEAN SEAFOOD VILLAGE

After the tiring trip to Poring Hot Spring and Kinabalu Park, our Sabah branch colleague and her husband came to pick us up from our hotel for dinner. We went to another well-known seafood restaurant nearby called Ocean Seafood Village, which is also featured in my food guide. Turned out the restaurant is located the same row as our hotel, about 5-min drive away. This halal restaurant is popular among the tourists and it could accommodate up to 400 diners. Eventhough it was a Wednesday night, the restaurant was packed.

This place is huge, much much bigger than Port View Seafood Restaurant we went yesterday with one huge corner used to house tanks after tanks filled with seafood. After we have ordered, it's time to do some homework (taking photographs for my blog).

Although I very much wanted to show you how big the place is, it's impossible to fit everything in one photo. So standing on the same spot, the above photo was taken on my right side whilst the photo below is on my left.

The Giant Lobster was huge, afterall, it's supposed to be big since it's named as giant lobster. I wonder how much this fella would cost.

This tarantula lookalike creature is actually coconut crab. The name derived from its ability to crack coconuts with its powerful claws in order to eat the flesh. I heard that the coconut crab is really sweet and aromatic with coconut flavour. So miss my Hubby that moment cos if he was with me, am sure we will order it to try.

A funny creature known as Slipper Lobster. Anyone tried this before? How it tastes like?

Another photo of the Slipper Lobster
A kind of shell fish

Hubby's favourite Kepah aka Clams!Just look at the fiery fella on the middle left? He was all ready to give me a snap when I went near to take this photo. More shellfish: Mussels and Oysters Ugly looking fish with human face. SCARY!

Hungry hungry and food was served when we went back to our table. First dish was the Stirfry Venison with Sea Cucumber. The venison meat was tender while the accompanying veggies were still crunchy. Sadly, it requires a bit of luck in finding the thinly sliced sea cucumber.

A plate of Boiled Fresh Prawns...how can one go wrong with this dish? Tasted wonderful. Sweet, juicy and bounchy! You can give me a plate of this prawns ANYTIME, slurps!!

We also managed to try the famous mollusc found in Sabah water known as Siput Gajah (elephant snail?). It was deshelled and stir-fry in Kung Po style. Again, it need a bit of hunting here cos the plate was full of onions and dried chillies. Barely could find the sliced shellfish. However, I love the Kung Po taste very much and I just love eating the sweet crunchy onions coated with the gravy.

The 7-Stars Garoupa was steamed to perfection. The soya based gravy was well adjusted, not too salty nor too sweet, just perfect enough to bring out the sweetness of the fish.

We specially requested to have the Sabah Veggie which we enjoyed very much the night before. This time, we had it stir-fry with scrambled egg. Very unique indeed, am not sure if the local prefers this version. Tastewise, not too bad but we still prefered the sambal belachan version.

Lastly, a plate of Kam Hiong Crab which didn't get my approval. It's such a waste to have such big, meaty and fresh mudcrabs overcooked. *Shake shake head*
The meal came up to RM300+ for the 5 of us. Not cheap rite? But I guess if you don't have a car and happen to stay in the city centre and yearn for seafood, you may consider this restaurant.

Ocean Seafood Village is located at: 4 Lorong Api-Api 3, Api-Api Centre Tel: 088-269 701 Opens daily 11.30 a.m. - 11.00 p.m.

FIRST DAY IN SCHOOL

Pumpkin was exactly 8 months old yesterday and it is also his first day in school. I got Pumpkin enrolled in an obedience class for which I think he desperately needs it since he thinks he is the big boss in the house! The obedience class is held at Taman Desa Community Park every Sunday and that means for the next 10 Sundays, Hubby and I have to sacrifice our sleep to bring him to class at 8.30 a.m.!!

I was very excited over it, anticipating the great fun we going to have. I woke up extra early yesterday morning to make sure I packed all the necessities such as his water bottle, treats to bribe him and also plastics bags in case he poo poo. When we reached the park, I was very surprised cos the park was full of dogs of all sizes and breeds! It was just like the day at the Malaysia Responsible Dog Ownership Day! Pumpkin was super excited when he saw so many four-leggeds and immediately off he went to make friends, regardless big or small dogs.

Pumpkin's class consists of only 7 small dogs and guess who is the naughtiest in class? While I was busy listening to the instructor who is trying to teach us how to make sure our dog know its name, Pumpkin was jerking the leash I was holding on to cos he wanted to play with other dogs. And when we try to practice getting the dog to look at the owner when being called, Pumpkin was too distracted to listen. Sigh....like that how to teach?????

Pumpkin was the only one not performing in class. So embarassing! Pumpkin was also the only one who poo poo during class!!! Ooohhh.....he was also sexually assaulted! He was humped by a MALE silky terrier half his size. Hahahahahahahaha! Actually the instructor told us that the silky terrier was trying to show its dominance by humping on other dogs. If only Pea was there, am sure Pea would be laughing and rolling on the ground since Pumpkin is such a big bully at home. Hahahahahaha!

Pumpkin with his classmate and no, this rolling on the ground is not part of the lesson!

When the class ended, a dog owner came to approach us. He too owned a Pekingnese and it's a female! Seems like Pumpkin has got himself a prospective girlfriend. Such a pretty girl, isn't she?

Pumpkin was totally exhausted after the class. I wrapped him with a towel since I do not want him to catch a cold in the air-conditioned car. Throughout the journey home, his tongue was dangling out and I quickly took a short video clip of him to show you how tired he was.

KK Day 2 (Part 1) - PORING HOTSPRING & KINABALU PARK

On the second day of my KK trip, we decided to take a full day tour to Poring Hot Spring and Kinabalu Park for RM150 per person. It was still raining despite heavy pouring the night before and it really got me worried as the trail would be so slippery. The tour guide came to pick us up at 7.30 a.m. sharp and off we went to pick up another group of 4. It was a long long ride and finally, we stopped at Pekan Nabalu for coffee and toilet break.
After easing ourselves, we walked around the stalls selling all sorts of souvenirs, from handicrafts to handmade bags to Tee-shirts.
Only Missy6ft bought a tee here as live2talk and I made our way to Restoran Tokou located right across the road from those stalls.
As later part of the day requires lots of climbing, it only makes sense to fill up our energy level. Live2talk ordered a plate of fried rice which ahem, seems like rice fried with mixed veggie. She only took a few spoonfuls so I guess I don’t need to elaborate on the taste.

I was feeling a bit cold that morning cos of the rain and so I ordered the Soto Ayam. Smells wonderful, it was basically Vermicelli with Chicken Soup. Tastewise, bearable but it’s so comforting having a warm soup on a rainy day. Oh, forgot to mention that we were already half way in highlands, so it was raining and misty.

My meal was interrupted by this pitiful looking fella. He was staring at me with one of his eye closed. Gosh…with a soft spot for doggies, how can I turn him down? Ended up he had more chicken pieces than me! Well, I didn’t mind it at all as this poor fella doesn’t seems to have many opportunities to enjoy such luxurious chicken meat.

After the break, we traveled all the way up the highland and on the way, we stopped at the roadside to take a look from afar, the waterfall gushing down from Mt Kinabalu.


We continued our journey to Poring Hot Spring by passing the Kundasang valley which offers spectacular view. It was like a patchwork of fields, vegetable plots and settlements along the Kundasang highlands. Sadly, we didn’t make a stop here so no photos taken. According to my food guidebook, this place is quite interesting and famous for grilled chicken wings! If I have a chance to revisit KK, I will definitely make a self-drive trip here.

After what seems like endless ride, we finally arrived at Poring Hot Spring which is one of Sabah’s popular tourism destinations. According to wikipedia, Poring is actually a Kadazandusun word for a bamboo species found in the area.

Apart from the hot spring, there is also a butterfly farm, canopy walkway, bat cave and waterfalls inside. Our first stop?? Canopy walk!

We walked passed a stream via a very short canopy. Beautiful isn’t it?

There were lots of gigantic bamboo trees along the trail. We were lucky that the rain stopped so the air was cool and breezy.

Even though the signboard stated that the distance from the entrance to the canopy walk takes about 835m, which doesn't seems too far for me, the trail up the hill really kills!!! It was steep, slippery and like a never-ending road to me. I was so out of breath till I didn't have the mood to snap a picture of the trail. Gasp gasp gasp! Finally we arrived at the canopy trail ALIVE! YEAH! We did it!!! It was quite a short trail but still worth the effort.

Live2talk, Precious Pea and Missy6ft (picture courtesy of live2talk)

Photo taken from the canopy. So high up that I can't even see the ground.

Coming downhill was so much easier and the trail seems so much shorter too! We made a stop at the hot spring which is famous for its therapeutic properties and sulphuric minerals which is said to ease aching muscles. Highly recommended for those who just came back from the canopy walk.

The water source

You can either go for a dip at the public pool or individual tub. All you have to do is to select a vacant tub and start filling it up with the hot spring water according to your preferred temperature.

I was quite disgusted to see some irresponsible people who didn't bother to clean up after soaking inside the tub. They didn't even have the courtesy of releasing the water after used. Secondhand water anyone??

Lunch was provided but no photos as we were sharing a table with 4 other tourists. It started raining again after lunch but there was still another stop to go, the Kinabalu Park. Armed with an umbrella each, we stormed into the botanical paradise which covers an area of 754 sq kilometer.

OH NO! Have to climb those stairs again????

For nature lovers, this place is highly recommended as you can find many species of exotic plants here. I don't know much about the names so I am just going to post a few photos here.

World's smallest orchid...initially I thought it was some kind of moss!

Don't you think the upper-part of this flower looks like Mickey Mouse head???

There were lots of this berry like plants in the park. Some are blooming with flowers and some with ripe berry-look-alike fruits. I was told it's edible. I tried one...tasted like berry.

Same species as above but blooming with pink flowers. So pretty isn't it?

If not mistaken, it's ginger flower.

Pots and pots of pricey orchids

Necklace flower

Please enlighten me if you know what this plant is called.

And that completes our day trip. The journey back to KK town was again a long long ride but we were so tired, we slept almost throughout the journey back to our hotel.

Now now.....wonder what we had for dinner that night to replenish all the calories burnt???? Find out in my next post ok?!?!