Down & Dirty: Win Seng Heng, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

There are not many great hawker food places left in KL, the rising costs of rent coupled with a labour shortage make it a tough business.

Win Seng Heng is where I was introduced to Malaysian street food after the customary Jalan Alor.  

My favourite kopitiam in KL is hand's down Win Seng Heng and the one one must have dish is the Pork Noodle Soup. 

Actually I would just come even just for the blood sausage which comes with the Pork Noodle soup. You can have it wet (ie all in one bowl) or dry (soup on the side). I prefer to have the dry version and add the ingredients together as I go.

The dish is simple homemade noodles topped with minced pork, fish balls and blood sausage. But that is really selling the dish short, the complex combination of fat, hint of pepper and umami from the meat (and/or the sausages) with a dash of dark soya makes this dish complex. I also like to add the green pickled chilli with each bite for a bit of acidity that completes the dish. 

Pork Noodles, Fish balls and blood sausages for brekky! 

Siew Yoke (Roast Pork)

If you haven't had enough, you can try their Roast Pork, while this is not the best in KL you are already here so might as well try some. #YOLO

Savory Pork Buns getting a shellacking!

The savoury pork buns are baked fresh but save some space for the mini egg tarts which are awesome. Probably the best in KL!

Mini Egg Tarts are the bomb!

Beware: the Eggs Tarts are addictive!!! (you've been warned)

Win Seng Heng is located on Jalan Imbi which is just behind the famous Jalan Bukit Bintang.

Address: 183, Jalan Imbi, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Down & Dirty:Salahuddin Bakery, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Down & Dirty Bakery on Jalan Dhoby 

If I were not currently on a quest to find down & dirty eateries in JB, I would have skipped this place.

Just down from the more popular Hiap Joo bakery. No queue here and no tourists either and that suits me just fine. 

This is where the locals buy their coconut bread and their famous Bengali Curry Puffs!

You heard it here…. ! 

It is now very difficult to get good quality old style curry puffs but locals here are spoilt for choice. 

Coconut Bread better value than across the road-just as fresh!

“If I had but two loaves of bread, I would sell one and buy hyacinths, for they would feed my soul.”

Now this is old school-down and dirty!! 
All the breads are done in this wood fired oven. 

Ready to roll! Floor looks clean trust me its dirty as S@#T!

The bread here is "all that it is stacked up to be".

The glorious Bengali Chicken curry puffs! 

Mutton Curry Puffs for the more adventurous!

Sardine Curry Puffs

A good variety of breads and pastries no time to try them all.

Salahuddin Bakery

Address: 26, Jalan Dhoby, Bandar Johor Bahru, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

Facebook: are you kidding?

Instagram: wot?

Twitter: In your dreams...

Kin Hua Kopitiam:Dirty Dining in Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Kin Hua Kopitiam

Part of getting to know the culture of a new place is to experience breakfast "like a local"! In Johor Bahru, there is no better place to do this than Kin Hua. 

It really ticks all the boxes for Dirty Dining-it has a good mix of locals and visiting Singaporeans from accross the border, it is packed from early morning till way past lunch. Everything is prepared & served "old school". The toast is done over coals, the coffee is filtered through a "sock" (figuratively speaking), eggs are boiled and timed to perfection manually. (no immersion circulator here)

I will have to take more photos and update when I have more time.

Look at them buns!

Fresh buns toasted with butter and kaya (coconut jam) were absolutely delish. 

Eggs-cellent!

The eggs were free range and you could tell from the colour of the yolk. The yolk was a dark orange vs the typical yellowish colour we have become used to with industrial eggs.

A dash of pepper and soya sauce and I was all set. Just like the locals did I dunked the bread in the eggs and slurped the remainder of the eggs straight from the bowl.

In Malaysia soft boiled eggs are referred to as half-boiled-eggs. 

Kopi!

Mastering the art of ordering coffee in a Malaysian Kopitiam (coffee house)

Coffee=kopi (koh-pee)
Coffee black with sugar=kopi-O
Coffee with cream =kopi-C (C= carnation evap milk, they dont have regular milk) and they will automatically add sugar unless you specifically mention otherwise.
Coffee with cream no sugar= kopi-C- kosong
Coffee black no sugar= kopi-O -kosong
Stronger coffee =kau

Therefore my coffee is kopi-C-kosong-kau which translates to coffee with cream, no sugar, served strong.

If you want a cold coffee same as above but add "peng"

X = Paid!

They have a unique billing system here. Grandma will come over ask you what you ordered (although she already knows what you ordered). She will then add the bill up using a calculator (although she already has the total amount in her mind). She will show you the total to verify the amount. Pay that amount and dont question grandma!

Once she collects the cash she will mark the table with an "X" to let the others know that you are good to go. 

Remember Grandma is watching so you dont want to get caught out-you dirty,dirty boy.

Brilliant!

Kin Wah Address: 8 Jalan Trus, 80000 Johor Bahru 

Open: 7am to 12pm

Dirty Dining in KL: Heritage Food Village-Brickfields Kuala LumpurSentral

 

Dirty Dining in KL!

 

Getting down & dirty in KL and I mean that in the most positive way. 

This place serves simple home style cooked meals. 

Which translates to great cheap eats!!!!

Spoon, fork or chopstick..choose your weapon?

Go figure... does not seem like chinese food if I dont use chopsticks, but I see all the locals grab a spoon and fork.

Quattro Stagioni?

Four Seasons= Wok fried mixed vegetables with belachan (shrimp paste) Okra, Eggplant, Lima Beans and string beans

Pork Belly with salted fish

Pork Belly with Salted Fish -I have been here a few times to try this. The preparation is inconsistent a visits ago it had tad too much salted fish. Today it was spot on!

Deep Fried Squid with chilli sauce

Deep fried squid with chilli sauce.. ho hum.. will give this a miss next time.

Fish Head Curry

This is my go to dish at Heritage Food Village-the fish head curry!  

Address:
80-82 Jalan Tun Sambanthan
Brickfields 50470
Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur

OMG! Wagyu Japanese Beef Restaurant

Another hole in the wall restaurant that specializes in Wagyu beef. 

We were here to try the famed Omi beef which is a rarity outside of Japan. 

Beef Tataki

While this was a nice dish it paled in comparison to the next two courses. The dish was light & fresh, a good way to start a meal.

Steamed Wagyu 

Thin slices of Omi beef were steamed on top of  vegetables in a dim sum basket. The result was  a very  buttery beef which was surprisingly light, the vegetables were delicately cooked and deliciously coated with the juice from the meat.  The dish came with a sesame sauce with the right amount of acidity to balance off the fattiness of the beef. This was their signature dish and was well worth it. 

Ishiyaki-Stone Grill

Omi Chateaubriand

The Omi Chateaubriand had the perfect balance between fat and meat. We did not get the "foie gras" feeling.  I suspect that this is what makes Omi unique, you get the best of Wagyu fattiness but still get to taste a great piece of beef. The dish was served with three types of salts to dip the cooked pieces of meat in.(plum, lime and salt & pepper) I chose to stick to salt & pepper because it best kept the integrity of the dish so you could still taste the beef.

The Skinny: budget a total of about 100 grams of beef per person. You can always order more. Save up because it's not cheap. 

Wagyu Japanese Beef

Sunvar Plaza, Amorsolo Street legaspi Village, Makati City Philippines

Phone: +632 808 9508

Open 10AM to 10PM

Here is a more detailed explanation of Omi:

Omi is produced in Lake Biwa in Shiga, & is being hailed for health in being lean despite its tender texture. Farmers of Omi strictly adhere to natural methods of raising their livestock & do not interfere with the development of the cows. The calves are fed by their mothers & the cows are only given home-grown rice & wheat to eat. No antibiotics or supplements are given to the cows, either. The downside of their delicate meat is that Omi actually melts in warmer temperatures & thus presents a preparation method foreign to most chefs. The beef has to be cut quickly into slender slices for serving of sashimi, shabu-shabu or sukiyaki, which is an art form in Japan & can take years to master. .

source: http://foodists.ca/2009/08/29/omi-beef.html

Sweet Ecstasy Burger : Jupiter Street, Bel Air, Makati, Philippines

The BAD- there is no Air-Conditioning, which may seem acceptable on a cool evening, but on the day that I visited, the forecast was for over 40˚C so it was sweltering HOT! 

The Good - the burgers are made to order here so be prepared to wait! Read the posters, take a selfie or have a milkshake because it will take time. 

 
The Anatomy of the SWEET ECSTASY Burger!

X-marks the spot!

I ordered a Cheeseburger with caramelised onions and about 20 minutes later this is what I got. She ain't pretty but what I got was pure ecstasy. The brioche bun was toasted perfectly, soft on the outside and crusty on the inside, with a thin layer of butter or beef lard? Then a layer of classic American cheddar slightly melted, a crisp lettuce leaf, the patty was all beef and only seasoned with salt & pepper. It has a great crust and they must keep a higher than usual fat to beef ratio because it was oh so juicy. Followed by their special ecstasy sauce. 

The Skinny: Get your ecstasy fix now! It's cheap and it's hot! Currently the best value for money burger in the metropolis. 




Missed out on the Adult Shakes will have to try this on my next trip here.

Sweet Ecstasy Restaurant- 
10 Jupiter Street, Barangay Bel Air, Makati, Philippines

Operating Hours: Monday -Sunday 11AM to 12 Midnight

Twitter-https://twitter.com/sweetXmanila

Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/SweetXManila/info?tab=overview

Instagram-https://instagram.com/sweetxmanila/

Sea Urchin is like cannabis? : Seryna, Legaspi Village, Makati Philippines

All abuzz in little tokyo..

Little Tokyo in Manila is alive and well.  

Got a chance to try Seryna and it was worth the effort. Seryna serves up good solid japanese food sans all the fanfare. What they lack in presentation they make up for in quality and quantity. 

Uni(sea urchin) is like cannabis?

According to a study, Uni has a euphoria causing chemical similar to cannabis. 
No wonder I can't get enough.  

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9150253

The flavor was crisp, with hints of nuts,a creamy-buttery taste reminiscent of the flavours of the sea.

Oo-toro

The prime cut of Japanese blue-fin tuna belly. This was melt in your mouth with crisp & cream texture and oo-so-good!   

Maguro Tuna

I have not forgot about this dish its just that after the Ootoro I have nothing much to say about this dish. It was fresh and it was good.. how was that?

Tenpura

Prawns were good but the the batter was a bit too thick for my taste.

Tofu Salad

Its tofu and salad dressing can't say much more than that. 

Fresh Oysters

I forgot to ask where they were from. They were definitely not Kumamoto oysters. But my guess would be Pacific Northwest oysters because they reminded me of a time in Hama-hama Washington when my friends and I sneaked onto an oyster farm to help ourselves to a "free sampling" of the Pacific's best oysters. (but that is another story) 

The oysters were large, very firm and not light flavoured very little brine.

Squid

These were little gems! Served raw, it had a sweet and salty taste combined with the crisp texture. 

Insider tip:

Seafood is flown in fresh from Japan every Monday. 

one note samba : Locavore Kitchen x Drinks Kapitolyo, Pasig, Philippines

 ONE NOTE SAMBA…& its fat, fat, fat

The Great.. an ambitious MO-FI (modern filipino) restaurant, farm to table, organic food and mid priced.  

The Good.. Modern industrial design and good  MO-FI food presentation.

The not so good.. read on…

The dishes we ordered were all recommended by our server… who also very oddly asked us to sign the order slip to confirm our order.

Sisig Sausage

While one expects to get a relatively fatty sausage when one orders a "Sisig" sausage, this was fat wurst (no pun intended) laden with fat, stuffed with fat and garnished with fat. Great if you love fat. Otherwise, the highlight of the dish was the Sweet Potato chips.  

Gising Gising

This dish was the best of the lot, good use of local organic vegetables sigarilyas (winged bean), french beans, shallots, garlic and coconut milk. One would think that a restaurant that would expose organic ingredients would make the effort to use fresh coconut milk for this dish but this was not to be so on this day.  The use of fresh coconut milk coupled with a bit of spice and  citrus would make this dish perfect.

Sisig Fried Oysters

The fried oysters seemed fresh and were sufficiently moist and plump underneath the batter, the sisig lacked the crunch and missed the acid to off-set the heavy handed fatty gravy. Again pet peeve but the gravy tasted like industrial demi-glace (not a good sign). I can even tell you the brand ;)… 

Sizzling Sinigang

This was the one dish that I had very high expectations for but was seriously disappointed, same note on heavy handed fatty gravy as above with the addition of instant sinigang mix from the same company that shall not be named. 

Boneless Lechon Belly

Any dish that places Cebu before lechon sets the bar high. After  all, the great Anthony Bourdain in 2009 claimed Cebu Lechon as the greatest pork ever.  The dish presentation is also stunning and pictures very well. So this dish again over promised and under delivered. The pinakurat (coconut vinegar) & bagoong (fermented fish) sauce did not hold up to the overbearing stoutness of the pork. The skin also missed the signature crunch of a lechon. The meat also had an overbearing medicinal taste.. star anise? 

Turon Con Leche

The puff pastry was crisp and delightful, the leche flan was more of a pastry cream. Not bad... 

The Skinny: 

Props for spearheading MODERN FILIPINO dining, I so wanted this experience to work out and tell the world that MO-FI = LOCAVORE & this is the best place to experience it. 
But I am NOT quite ready to do that yet. 

Ho hum till the next one.

website: http://www.locavore.ph
Facebook :https://www.facebook.com/pages/Locavore-Kitchen-Drinks/400958036723741