Seremban Siew Pao & Seafood, Era Square

Ever since I started working, driving down to Johor via NSE has been a norm for me. I would normally drive down at least once every 2 months and every time I drive past the Seremban toll plaza, I always notice Seremban's famous Siew Pao City or Era Square. Few weeks ago on the way back from Port Dickson, I finally had a chance to go in and have a look see around.

This place is relatively easy to find, and is mainly divided into 2 sections once you entered the building. One section selling Siew Pao or roasted buns and the other selling seafood for hungry passer-bys. Pork and crabs under one rook, Doggyjames very very happy :D

















I got some paos and sat down for some seafood goodness. Me and a bunch of friends decided to get the steamed Kirin Prawns & crabs with salted eggs.

Kirin prawns are rather unique creatures as they do not have the infamous "black guts" along their backs like other prawns do. Just a sharp clean taste that would leave your mouth filled with the smell of the ocean. Simply light yet flavorful. Strangely enough you might find traces of fresh blood inside the prawn head which taste unpleasantly iron-ny. Deep the prawns into the soy sauce provided to get rid of the taste should that happens.

































The crab with salted eggs were wonderful. The shells were fried till a crisp brown and after mixing in the salted eggs, you could bite into the shells and devour them just like light prawn crackers. OK I was over-exaggerating but you get the point right? The white meat inside were wonderfully flavours with just a hint of saltiness from the eggs and smells really great, courtesy of the eggs too.


































Seafood was really good, and the bills came to around RM80 for 4 person with tea. Its good, but somehow I prefer the seafood prepared in KL, dunno why.

Next, the siew paos.

I bought some traditional pork siew paos and some rather interesting durian tarts home. Not one with patience I immediately stuffed a siew pao into my mouth the minutes I reached home. F-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-freaking wonderful!!! Underneath the light, crispy skins lies the most-awesome-smelling (I know its not a word don't care) meat ever! Its cold yet the smells absolutely amazing...I could have just fainted right there and then. 30 seconds in the oven and this little baby would immediately send you to 7th heaven. I just got back BTW :D

































As for the durian tart...you can ignore them. Too sweet and not much hint of durian also...bluff people one.



















The siewpaos cost RM1.20 per piece, same goes with the tarts. The best RM1.20 you'll ever spend.

Here's a map and details for you readers. If you are coming down from KL, the place is right on your right. Just go to the next toll plaza and follow the signage. Roughly 5 minutes from the toll plaza only.



















Tasti East (M) SDN BHD
No.26 Jalan Era Square,
Era Square Seremban.

Tel: 06-7687 385/387

www.sbansp.com



Doggyjames says...The siew paos are to die for...and the seafood restaurant offer tired drivers a place to chill out, take a rest and enjoy a satisfying meal...would definitely be back very soon :)

Chinese New Year FOOD!!! :D

Happy Chinese New Year dear readers :D

CNY is definitely one of my most anticipated holidays of the year.Not only because of the super-uber delish food, seemingly unlimited supply of beer, great "open table" sessions and the pocket full of ang-paos, but more importantly this time a time where everyone of the families are united under one roof, as most of my relatives are scattered all around the world. This is when we get to sit down and have a good meal together. Really, whats better than that?

And speaking of sitting down and have a good meal, this is what I had over at both my grandparents side...Nothing beats granny's cooking :D This is one of the few occasions in the year where granny gets a great chance to go full swing into her extraordinary cooking skills and stuff all her labour of love down our throats and boy, do they look and taste absolutely wonderful!

This spread of yummy goodness is taken from my maternal grandparents side, which includes steamed kampung chicken, fried prawns (fresh and bountiful :D ), sea asparagus with vegetables, roasted duck and sea cucumber pork hock stew (yummy yummy yummy). Best meal of the year? without a doubt ;)


































































































And from the paternal grandparents side, more like a potluck and all granny's work (there are over 30 of us over this side, granny would faint happily if she were to cook for ALL of us). Nonetheless still awesomely terrific and of course, super uber yummilicious :D


































































And also mum's buy-everything-from-outside-preferably-with-plastic-containers-so-no-washing-required-and-mum-can-rest concept. Not what I love what hey, what the heck. Times are always great with food and family around :)

















































OK now, time to hit the gym after the past few days of constant glutinous intake :/

Again,

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!




Doggyjames says...With all the posh and famous restaurant I visited throughout the years, nothing beats simple home cooked meals with family and friends, that, for me IS the ultimate cuisine :)

Happy Chinese New Year

Doggyjames would like to wish everyone

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

GONGXI FATT CHAI!

WAN SHI RU YI!

SHEN TI JIAN KANG!

HONG BAO NA LAI! :D

Sarpino's Pizzeria, USJ 1

Feeling hungry one night after going out with friends, we decided to try this new pizza place in USJ 1, which is alright because most of us live in and around USJ and we were around the area anyways. This would be my first time trying a franchised pizza place for almost 2 years since I've banned myself from eating pizzas from the 3 main pizza shops in Malaysia for being, simply untasteful...

Sarpino's definitely looks better than the 3 other main pizza shops here, with a hint of Italian flair in their shopfront (yes, I am a sucker for traditional Italian cuisine). So I thought, this might be different from the others, maybe we would be able to have a little taste of Italy while we are here hehehe.


































A flip through the menu and you will find lots of items similar to major pizza outlets here. The normal pizza, salad and lasagna and of course, lots and lots of soft drinks. We decided to go with some "special" garlic bread, peperoni pizza and seafood pizza. Oh and Kokwai did ordered a chicken lasagna for himself, which of course was sapu-ed by the rest of us before he even had a chance to touch it :D


































The garlic bread and lasagna came first. The garlic looks really special and different from the ones we are used to, rather its shaped like a flat bread with heaps of herbs and spices on top, and came along with some nice sour cream. The bread and cream matched really well for me and is really a must try over here. The lasagna however, lacked taste ans was just poorly done. Its like they took some pasta sheets, threw them into a container with some ketchup and just cincai baked them. BAD.


































The pizzas followed shortly after. Looks damn good right? Surely something which looks this good must be super-uber yummy right?


































WRONG.

The bread was too thick and tasteless. The sauce was not powerful enough and minimal cheese was given. There are only a few pieces of peperoni and prawns on the pizza and really, they werent being generous at all. Heck they didn't even gave out enough capsicums. Really wasted sigh...just look at the size of the base...this is not pizza, just bread with sauce in my mind.


















The bill came to around the RM100 mark for 8 person. Pricing was still OK and really, cant expect much with the price really...just really really hope someone could bring in a decent pizza chain into the country for us pizza lovers to grow fat on...for now, its back to Italian restaurants for me...

Heres a map for you readers. just turn into USJ Sentral if you are coming from Summit USJ, facing the main road and really easy to find.



















Sarpino's USJ Sentral
Jalan USJ Sental 1
Persiaran Subang
47600 Subang Jaya
Selangor

Tel: 03-8024 4577 (delivery available)

Malaysian Website & Outlets


Doggyjames says...Despite the negative comments about their food, I would think this place has the potential to take over at least one major pizza chain in Malaysia. They just need to put more effort into food QC thats all...will we see any changes soon?

Chung Wah Kopitiam Chicken Rice Balls, Melaka

Whats the first thing one thinks of when Entering the town of Melaka? Old buildings, history or streets full of guai lous? For me, Melaka means one thing: Chicken Rice Balls!!! :D

When it comes to chicken rice balls, there is only one place I would go again and again without getting bored of their food. It is of course, Chung Wah Kopitiam, situated just next to the famous Jonker Street in Melaka Town. Why? History, yumminess, friendly folks, this place has all the reasons for me to go again and again and again. I made it a point to visit this place whenever I had work in Melaka and, this time I had a rare chance to visit Melaka NOT on work trip, again me and a bunch of friends were there again.

































If this is your first time visiting Chung Wah, its best to prepare yourself for the long Que under the hot sun just to get a table. Yes, business is great everyday and theres always a long line come meal time. We were there around 1pm on a Sunday afternoon, and was really lucky to get a table after 10 minutes of waiting. Not so lucky for these guys (bwahahahahaha *evil laugh*).


















The workstation for this place is rather small, And I could only managed to snap a picture of the chicken chopping station manned by the boss from the outside. If I were to venture into the workstation itself sure kena chase out of the restaurant and got beaten up by my pals. Heh.

















OK enough chit chat. Lets go onto the food.

There are basically 3 main ingredients in a good chicken rice. Firstly chili sauce. The chili sauce here is simply great. Just the right spiciness to compliment the chicken and enough sourness to send your taste bud into a crazy feeding frenzy. Smells wonderful and absolutely not hint of busuk-ness I sometimes get when visiting mt neighbourhood chicken rice stalls. Must be made fresh daily their sauce, fantastic stuff here. Make sure you add a few spoons full of this when eating.


































Second: The chicken. Chicken here is fresh, fragrant and really tender. The rough chopping style courtesy of the boss somehow made the chicken look and taste even better. Theres no need for super fine presentation and sushi chef grade cutting knives and skills over here. Just simple good ol' chicken rice made just like how they did decades ago.The sauce at the bottom of the plate is super fine too, mixed in perfectly with your meal.

The first picture is one I curicuri took from the next table. I was bored okay?


































Third: The rice, or rice balls here. The rice balls are compacted into a small portion, locking in all the fragrance and juice inside. They are very sticky and would hold well when your eating, a plus point in my books. Simply a great dish this is, tasty even on its own. I had the experience of having a dozen of these balls at one go and I recommend you to try doing that, its something you must try at least once in your life :D


































We really enjoyed our meal there, as you can see from the picture below:

















The bill came to RM42 for 1 whole chicken, 25 rice balls and drinks for four. Really cheap considering the quality of food you get.

Heres a map for you readers. The Chung Wah Kopitiam Chicken Rice Shop is located along Jalan Hang Jebat or Jonker Street next to Melaka River, opposite St. Pauls Church. And do visit this place before 3pm as the food would be finished by then.



















Kedai Kopi Chung Wah Chicken Rice Balls
18 Jalan Hang Tuah,
Melaka.

Opening Hours:
7.30am - 3pm daily



Doggyjames says...The undisputed No.1 chicken rice shop not only in Melaka, but in the country :D