Monday, May 30, 2011

Suntory Yamazaki 12 Years Single Malt Whiskey

I consider myself a whisky person and when it comes to whiskys, there nothing better than a good old single malt scotch or even a nice Kentucky bourbon for me with just 3 ice cubes or 1 ice ball. And when I heard of the existence for Japanese single malts I almost laughed myself silly, that's before I had the chance to try one a couple of years ago with a Japanese friend. Ever since then, I was hooked on Yamazakis.

I recently had the chance to taste the whisky again in a nearby bar with a few friends, well more like me paying for the whisky to honour our friendship in this bar which recently started serving Yamazaki whisky.






















According to Wikipedia, Yamazaki was first made by Shinjiro Torii, considered to be the father of Japanese whisky. He built the first malt whisky distillery in the ancient city of Kyoto in order to utilize its pure waters, diversity of climate and high humidity - the ideal environment for the maturation of good whisky. The distillery is the first of its kind outside Scotland and I could only imagine the taste being at least on par with those of the Scots considering the attention given by Japanese distillers.























On the nose, you will find a very pleasant honey and butterish aroma which is almost powerful to some. I like the smoothness when one smells into it and trust me, the aromas would beat any mixed whisky hands down (think Chivas & Mr. Walker). Just like scotch, there are only 3 ways of drinking: straight, on the rocks and with water & ice. I prefer to have mine on the rocks with 3 pcs of ice cubes or 1 ice balls when possible, as I find this compliments the taste the best.

On the lips, this whisky has a very pleasent mellow taste, not too dry with some distinct flowery and honey scent. The taste lingers in your mouth after you drank it, with some woody taste present as well. Pair this with a medium bodied cigar or light cigarette if you must, a heavier tobacco taste would effect the taste of this whisky in my opinion. Food wise, this would go very well with white meat or seafood. I would pair mine with a nice pork chop or even fish & chips :D

Will be trying the 18 years old next when I get a chance to. From what I heard and dug up from blogs, the 30 years is a must try for any whisky lover, definitely in my die die my try list!

For more information, please go here

Doggyjames tried Suntory Yamazaki here , but you can get Yamazaki at almost any good whiskey bars in KL.



Doggyjames says....a very good whisky, considering it's not even from Scotland. A must try for any whisky lovers out there!





Sunday, May 29, 2011

Soong Kee Beef Ball Noodles, Majid Jamek Kuala Lumpur

Ever since I have moved on to my new job located near Masjid Jamek, I have found that the area is a hidden haven for great food offering from the different cultures Malaysia has to offer. And one of the places that I am becoming a regular customer to is this place, Soong Kee along Jalan Silang, which offers a great meal of beef noodles, perfect comfort food for lunch :)

Located along Jalan Silang, near to the big golden building beside Majid Jamek itself, Soong Kee has been in operation for 3 generations already from what I heard from my new colleagues. With that kind of experience, you know that quality comes naturally.


















Meals here are quite simple, you get to order wantan mee-like noodles (which I believe is actually egg noodles) or loushu fun, a type of thick yet short noodles popular in KL dry or in soup. Minced meat with gravy is added to dry noodles, served with beef balls in beef broth.

After getting a call one day from a friend working in Shah Alam (snake), I decided to gather up another friend who works nearby for lunch at this place. We reached the restaurant around 2pm, which is located less than 5 minutes to my office and braced ourselves for the great lunch ahead. I ordered mine dry with extra tribe as usual and less than 10 minutes later, our noodles arrived.

The noodles, which comes with minced beef, was springy and you can certainly taste its home made authentic-ness. A faint scent of eggs was present and the minced beef with its awesome gravy definitely adds some much welcomes kick-ass-ness into the whole noodling experience. I usually add some broth into my noodles before mixing them up together, which I think helped mix the great tasting-ness together even better.


































The beef balls & tribe in clear broth were superbly awesome as well. Contrary to the usual rich broth we are so accustomed to in beef noodles, they serve clear broth here. Just nice I reckon after the rich minced beef and noodles. The clear broth also makes way for the beef balls and tribe to truly present their beefy taste for diners, which can be accentuated with Soong Kee's great chili sauce. the beef balls are really bouncy and full of great beefy taste, and the tribes were cleaned really well, and really fresh as well.































































Needless to say, the meal was really satisfying. A nice thing about Soong Kee is it is air conditioned, a welcomed environment for them hot afternoons, which is always full during weekday lunch hours. The cooking station is located at the back, and is open for all to see. I was too occupied with small chats but anyone is welcomed to take a closer look at how their food is being prepared and to snap some pictures. The station is unusually clean for an old restaurant as well, so it should be no problem for you clean freaks out there :D






















Pricing are as the below picture. Quite affordable for a meal in KL and comes with aircond!






















Here's a map for you readers. Parking is almost impossible here so it's advised that you park illegally (but park smartly, so you wont piss off everyone else) or just that the LRT!if you are coming from Masjid Jamek LRT station, look for a big golden building (Wisma Hamzah Kwong Hing) beside Menara HSBC. Soong Kee is just around the corner from the big golden building.













Soong Kee Beef Noodles
3 Jalan Silang off Jalan Tun Siew Sin
Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2078 1484

Opening Hours:
11am - 12am



doggyjames says...a really great tasting yet affordable in the heart of KL, perfect salaryman lunch food :)





Monday, May 23, 2011

HONDA Commercial...100% Malaysian!

Pretty funny yet informative Honda advertisement here, better yet, it's 100% Malaysian! :D

Good to know we Malaysians are capable of producing such a funny ad, and this definitely underlines what we can do locally if we put our brains together. And Doglas Lim's great too!




Go Hondi!!! (no its not a typo)





Burger King, Beefacon Cheese Stacker

Whenever I am busy working working in the office I usually skip lunch, and have a packet of Milo or just coffee and ciggies and work until I pengsan (actually happened before). So I frequent Mcdonalds and Dominos delivery quite often but the taste is of course...a bit off lah.

Today during lunch I had the cravings (a better word for no time for lunch) for deliveries again, but decided to go online to do some research before ordering the usual McD or Pizzas instead; which is when I found this:




















Intrigued, I decided to do some surfing on their website, and found this:


















Now, being a marketer I know that this could well be a very good shot of an otherwise really tiny burger, I decided to try it nonetheless. And its really convenient Burger King Malaysia now has delivery service, maybe I should not ignore the BK updates on facebook that much :p

Less than 30 minutes and 2 ciggie breaks later, my order arrived safely at my office.























Boyyyyy did the burger smell good or what! The cheese was just amazing, all melted and dripping down the burger and with the aroma of the meat pattie and bacon, it was just heavenly. The aromas attracted a small crowd in the office. It wasn't as big as what I saw in the advertisement, but superbly tasty indeed! Extra credits for the burger being hot despite being delivered as well.























Never thought 3 pieces of meat patties topped with american cheese and bacon could taste this good when delivered :)























For RM19.90 for a triple stacker meal, it does sound a little bit pricey for a burger but I do think it's worth every single penny. BK has single and double stackers for a cheaper price for those with a smaller stomach too :)

No maps this time, but here's BK's website for delivery and meals information for you readers.



Burger King Website


Burger King Malaysia Facebook



doggyjames says...A great alternative to the usual fast food deliveries out there, great to know one of my favorite burger chains now has delivery service!!! :D





Sunday, May 22, 2011

Las Vacas, Shoplex Mont Kiara

I have been having the weirdest cravings for a good slab of steak lately, and had always wanted to try out this place in Mont. Kiara, Las Vacas after several recommendation by friends. An in the true spirit of friendship/pure food-loving-ness i got a friend to join me right away.

All I could think of on the way to Las Vacas, this is all I could think of:






















Hmmm mmm yummy yum yum

Right after we reached we ordered ourselves 2 slabs of steaks for ourselves, a rib eye and a nice sirloin, weighting about 200-250 grams each, just the right amount of beefy goodness for me. The steaks took about 20-30 minutes to be done, as it is a full house that night. That gave us more than enough time to admire the surroundings and got into some (food-related) small talks.

This is one of the typical butchery/cafe settings one would expect in this area, premium meat products, ranging from choice cut steaks to hearty sausages on one side, relaxing and homely cafe setting on the other side. A really nice ambiance for any small family or loving couples.

































And after the 20 minutes wait, our lovely steaks arrived :D

The meat was prepared perfectly, medium just the way I love it. The middle was pink and juicy, yet warm enough to release its pleasant aromas. The chef definitely did justice to this good piece of meet. I didn't care much for the salad as it was covered in thousand island sauce, not really my favorite sauce of all time, but the bread was perfect to suck up all the lovely steak juices.























































We ordered ourselves a nice bottle of Shiraz from McClaren Vale for good measure, and they paired really well together.
























The steaks we had cost about RM60-80 per serving, they go by the weight of the meat instead of one fixed price. The wine cost about RM150. A good enough price for a good night of steak and wine if you ask me.

Here's a map for you readers. Las Vacas is located in Shoplex, Mont. Kiara, just beside Baskin Robbins. Do call for reservations if you can as seats are limited.














Las Vacas, Shoplex Mont. Kiara
Jalan Kiara, Mont. Kiara,
Kuala Lumpur

Opening Hours:
10am - 11pm daily except Mondays

Tel: 03-6205 2258



doggyjames says...a really good family run butchery/cafe in the middle of Mont. Kiara. A really should try for any meat lovers out there :)





Sunday, May 15, 2011

Funny Malaysia & Our Funny Job Adverts

Saw this funny comic online a few days ago, pretty funny stuff especially when you consider that we actually see this almost everyday on the daily newspapers, no matter what race you are!















This is quite sad actually, despite the comic being funny. When can we TRULY be judge by how we WORK, instead of how we LOOK?

Sad really...sad.




nuffnang ad