Naughty Babe Dirty Duck @ Sri Hartamas, KL

I'm not lazy, just been really busy with work and cooking everyday after work.
How time flies, we're in the mid of July now, 2nd day of Raya to be exact.

Managed to meet up with my little sister yesterday for dinner and she brought us to this place at Sri Hartamas called Naughty Babe Dirty Duck.

We arrived about 6.30 pm and managed to get a table for 3. I heard that on normal days, people have to queue to wait for seats.

Hubby ordered the Hungarian Sausage served with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes with a dollop of mustard sauce by the side. The sausage was good, and I can't have enough of the sauerkraut. However, I prefer the mashed potatoes to be more buttery.

Hungarian Sausage ( RM 18.00)

I had the Dirty Duck Linguine which contains smoked duck slices on a bed of linguine. This is one fine pasta I tell you. The olive oil, herbs, chilli and parmesan brings out the flavour of the linguine. The smoked duck was superb and the entire dish was just awesome.

Dirty Duck Linguine (RM 28.00)

I found out that my sister loves burgers. She told me that when I gave her the stare when she ordered the Porky Burger. The bacon, cheese and pork patties were really good.

Porky Burger (RM 26.00)

Wait there's more. Most people come here for the signature Pork Ribs.
We can't leave without having that!
3 of us shared 1/2 slab of  BBQ pork ribs which were served with 2 sauces (hot sauce and tomato salsa).
Well marinated and oh so soft ribs which melts in your mouth...yums!

Naughty Babe Dirty Duck BBQ Pork Ribs - Half (RM 38.00)

To end our dinner on a sweet note (although we were stuffed to the brim), we had a slice of tiramisu.
The tiramisu in my opinion was rather lovely. Can't judge since I'm not much of a dessert person.

Tiramisu (RM 16.00)

The total bill came up to RM 146.90 including 10% service charge and 6% GST.

Giovino Restaurant @ Changkat Bukit Bintang

To celebrate our 5^th Wedding Anniversary, hubby made a dinner reservation at Giovino's. 

      

 I have always wanted to try out this place since their menu (from website) shows that they serve moussaka as well as other Greek delicacies. However, when we finally got to this place we found out that they no longer serve any Greek food (apart from Greek salad), but solely Italian food.

I couldn't hide my mega disappointment since I was craving for Greek food for some time.

Disappointment aside, here’s what we ordered for the night (for 3 persons).

The bread with dip (olive oil and balsamic vinegar) were served while we waited for our food.

Pan Fried Scallops (RM 48)

The scallops were fresh and the sauce which accompanied them was quite good, but not outstanding.

Rating: 4/10

Seafood Platter (RM 149)

I love the presentation of the seafood platter. The simple garlic and olive oil dressing compliments the seafood.

Rating: 8/10

Duck Ravioli (RM 46)

There was something missing about this dish, although I can’t put my finger to it. This dish was mediocre, not something I would ever order again. Seems like the best ravioli I’ve tested so far is from La Luna, Koh Lipe.

Rating: 4/10

Overall, the hefty bill came to RM 277.70 including a cup of cappuccino (RM 19) and 6% GST.

Note: You can opt to tip or not. We gave our waiter a tip for his good service.

Restaurant McKee D' Borneo @ Nilai, Negeri Sembilan

We stumbled upon this restaurant in Nilai one fine day and made a mental note to pay it a visit as  soon we can. The ‘soon’ was last week when we patronized McKee D’Borneo for dinner.

This restaurant, opened just 2 months ago serves non-halal authentic Sarawak food. 

The menu came with a list of dishes of the day. We ordered Kacangma (Ka Chiam Manok Langkau), Daun Ubi Goreng Lemak Babi, Babi Panggang Ala Borneo to go with the Nasi Bungkus Lun Bawang.

This is how the Nasi Bungkus Lun Bawang looked like. It's actually rice wrapped in a kind of leaf.

* Lun Bawang is tribe in Sarawak.

Nasi Bungkus Lun Bawang (RM 1.50 each)

Kacangma originally is a type of confinement dish very popular in Sarawak. Today, it is common to eat kacangma at any time of the season.  This chicken kacangma was just so-so. We wished they had added more langkau (distilled rice wine) to it.

Ka Chiam Manok Langkau (RM 8)

The daun ubi goreng lemak babi (fried tapioca leaves with pork lard) was good. If you haven’t tried daun ubi cooked this style, you really ought to try this.

Daun Ubi Goreng Lemak Babi (RM 5.80)

The babi panggang ala Borneo (Borneo grilled pork) was superb and absolutely yummy. The super spicy sambal compliments the pork very well. 

Babi panggang ala Borneo (RM 6.50)

We left with happy tummies. I particularly love the simplicity yet tantalizing home-cooked Sarawak cuisine.

Will we be back? You bet!

Our Completed Kitchen: By Intech Kitchen

I have been so busy lately that most of the time spent is on work (duh..that takes up 10 hours/day) and then housework. Anyway, here's a belated post about my completed kitchen.

We engaged Intech Kitchen (previously Artak Kitchen) back in December 2014 but due to our busy schedule, the move, and CNY our kitchen was only 100% completed mid March.

I initially wanted quartz top with 3G cabinets but after dropping by their showroom, we realized that the combination of tiles and melamine were equally nice. So, we decided to go ahead with concrete top with black tiles and melamine cabinets.

Let me walk you through my kitchen renovation journey. (p/s: I literally sat there to supervise the entire process). There were 3 sections involved:

a) The concrete and framework

b) Installation of cabinets

c) Installation of hob and hood

Here's the picture of our initially bare kitchen.

The concrete experts took 5 days to complete their portion of work. The work include removing tiles on the walls to insert steel bars, erecting concrete for the kitchen top and laying of tiles. This work was carried out by 2 men (brothers) who had been in the industry for 20-30 years.

I never knew hacking through tiles is such a tedious process!

Once the hacking was done, the men began laying bricks at each end to form the foundation. Once the foundation has dried, the men prepared the framework for the kitchen top and laid metal bars on the framework.  The next process was pouring cement on the framework and letting them dry.

Once the concrete top has dried, the men began to arrange tiles on the surface and worked on the cement for the bottom part of the cabinet. The next day, when the cement has dried, he placed arranged the white tiles along the U-shaped kitchen. Note that these men were very meticulous, they measured several times to ensure accuracy of their work.

Here's the completed kitchen frame. The men did a fantastic job!

There was a gap of a month (due to CNY) before our kitchen cabinets were installed.

On the 6th of March, the cabinet installers came to install our cabinets. The process took about 5 hours. I thought it was a simple process, but I was wrong. They had to measure and cut the wood to ensure proper fit on the concrete frame. They also installed two T5 lighting.

The following week, the installer came to install our hood and hob. This was supposed to be a simple job but because our exhaust hole was 7 inches in diameter, they did not have the coring tool to make the hole. They only had the one with 6 inches. So instead of coring, the poor man had to hack through our 5 inches thick reinforced concrete wall. He had to change 2 bits in process because he broke 1. 

To cut the story short, once the hole was made they installed the exhaust, followed by our Fotile hood and the hob.

May I present to you my kitchen:)

You can get more kitchen design ideas from Intech Kitchen's blog at: http://www.artakkitchen.com/

Jeff/Jessica will be able to help you achieve your dream kitchen at a reasonable price.

Seow Man Hot Soups @ Semenyih - Other noteworthy dishes to try out!

At my previous posts (read it here), I introduced Seow Man's famous Lart Thong.
2 nights ago, we brought our friend Olivia here to try out other dishes.

The fried lobak came with a crunchy outer layer with moist succulent and tasty meat filling.
The 3 of us loved it. The best lobak I've ever tasted.

Fried lobak (RM 11)

I initially thought that bitter gourd with salted egg will be presented the usual way; fried egg with hints of bitter gourd. I was wrong. This version was absolutely pleasing to my taste buds. The salted egg blended well with the otherwise 'bitter' gourd.

Bitter gourd with salted egg (RM 10)

One of the most talked about dish is none other than the Claypot Pork Belly with Salted Fish.

I heart this! Well-marinated pork belly cooked in claypot with salted fish opens up your appetite.

I would suggest if you have already ordered this, try to order other dishes which are 'sweeter' to balance your taste buds. Hubby couldn't take much since he commented that all the dishes were 'salty'.

Claypot Pork Belly with Salted Fish (RM 13)

Do note that the menu here is written in Chinese. If you can't read Mandarin but you speak Cantonese/Mandarin, there will not be an issue. However, if you can't read Mandarin, can't speak Cantonese/Mandarin...you will have to point at the picture of the food to order.

La Bodega @ Jalan Telawi 2, Bangsar

It was the 1st day of CNY and three of us were kinda clueless where to eat. I wanted to eat Spanish food, so our first stop was Nexo at Bangsar South. Unfortunately, they were close so we headed to Bangsar and found ourselves at La Bodega.

La Bodega needs no introduction since there were already many people (before me) blogging about this place.

Anyway, for my personal record I would like to just share with you what we had for lunch.

First and foremost, we ordered some appetizers: Lamb Meatballs (Albondigas) and Patatas Bravas.

I must say, the lamb meatballs were heavenly. I absolutely love them and personally I feel I could eat like 10 of them all by myself. The meatballs were well marinated and juicy.

We did not enjoy the patatas bravas. They were plain although there was a hint of paprika. There's nothing spectacular about the spicy tomato sauce and the aioli tasted more like regular mayonnaise.

Albondigas - large (RM 35), Patatas Bravas - small (RM 14)

Next up was the Mediterranean Soup. This tomato-based soup is rich with flavours and contains 3 types of seafood (mussels, prawns and squids).
The soup was served some cheese and croutons (not shown in picture).

Mediterranean Soup (RM 37)

What's Spanish food without having Paella? We were told upfront that this Paella Valencia will take a 1/2 hour wait. This was my 2nd time having paella. The previous paella I had was quite dry and had the burnt taste. This on the other hand was rather soft. I'm not sure which kind is considered authentic but I quite enjoy this version of paella. The Paella Valencia contained mussels, prawns, squid and clams.

Paella Valencia (for 1 person - RM 39)

The last dish that arrived was the Diavola Pizza (or Devil's pizza). This thin crust pizza was just awesome.
Bursting with flavours from the salami, cheese and red/green peppers, this pizza just ended our lunch with much satisfaction.

Pizza Diavola (small - RM 27)

Overall, we had a satisfying and enjoyable lunch. The bill came up to RM 189.10 including an Americano (RM 11), service charge and tax.

Lart Thong @ Seow Man Hot Soups, Semenyih

When you type 'famous food Kajang' on google, one of the keywords that pops up is Lart Thong (or Lat Thong). Initially I did not know what the 2 words mean but after a while I found out that they meant Hot Soup in Cantonese.

Basically, Lart Thong is actually a soup made up of white pepper and ginger, with meat (and innards) thrown in. The spiciness comes from the white pepper.

It was a rainy Saturday night and we were almost giving up on deciding where to eat when we accidentally stumbled upon this shop, located at Bandar Teknologi Kajang.

We ordered Lart Thong and a vegetable dish. Do note that the food portion here is big, so 2 dishes is more than enough for 2 people.

I noticed a framed article on the wall of this shop and did a quick check online. Apparently, they had been featured in The Star back in 2011. Click here to read it.

I also realized that there are other delicious food recommended by some bloggers so I'm pretty sure we will be back soon to sample them.

Stay tuned:)