Thursday, December 31, 2015

Awesome chicken satay burger from Big Hug Burger @ Subang Square, Subang Jaya

Subang Jaya has been a main spot for gourmet burger shop to open their outlet here. With a high number of college students crowd nearby, the business in these burger shops are very encouraging. One of the burger shop which I went recently is Big Hug located in Subang Square. They have many kinds of special burgers which you can't get it somewhere else such as unagi burger, soft shell crab burger, satay burger and they huge signature chicken XXL burger. They also have pasta as well if you don't like to have burger. First of all, I never been a fan of burgers. The burgers which you get from the fast food outlet are mostly from grounded meat and they mixed with a lot of flavorings and flour. However, the burger from Big Hug is different and change my perception about burger as they are using whole piece of chicken thigh grill as patty for satay burger set. I would say it's a healthier version burger.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. I ordered their satay burger set. The chicken were grilled perfectly without burned parts and not overcooked. The meat was very tender and juicy. The satay sauce is delicious and the burger was sauced up nicely. Since I ordered their set meal, I have free flow of either soft drinks or lime juice and fries or sausage. Their lime juice and sausage were good as well. The sausage is huge, nicely cooked and tender).
Price:5/10(Near expensive. Their burger is almost double the price of normal chain restaurant burger. But you get what you are paying for better chicken which is whole piece of meat without batter, special burgers such as satay burger and the ambience. They have both ala carte for burger and pasta. With combo, you will get free flow of drinks and either fries or sausage. I took their combo satay burger at MYR24.00. If ala carte, its MYR18.00).


Big Hug burger. The cute bear as their mascot.

You need to go to the counter to order your meal.

My table.

My satay burger set.

You can choose either to have sesame bun or charcoal bun.

Thick piece of burger. Its contains thick layer of satay sauce, grilled chicken thigh, cheese, raw onions, cucumber, mayonnaise and lettuce.

After a few bites. Cross section of the burger.

Chicken sausage with cheese sauce.

Cross section of the sausage.

Table with foreign sauce.

Free flow of soft drinks and lime juice.

Nice environment in the burger shop.

Gathering place for college students nearby.

GPS/Coordinate: 3.077246, 101.589494
Address: CT-G-03, Subang Square Corporate Tower, Jalan SS15/4G, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor.
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday. 12.00 p.m. – 4.30 p.m. & 6.30 p.m. – 10.30 p.m.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Good but unimpressive festive dinner set by Skillet@163 at Fraser Place, Kuala Lumpur

Skillet@163 which is located in Fraser Place in Kuala Lumpur has been operating for less than a year and started to gain reputation of serving good food among food bloggers. I like their concept of serving fine food without the need of formal/casual dressing and tablecloths. I was actually came here to try out their braised Australian brisket, full set of chicken mile-feuille and their famous chocolate dessert. Unfortunately, both brisket and chicken mile-feuille was not available as they have different set of ala carte meal for festive season. I took their festive Christmas set instead as to try out something new. Their festive Christmas set will be available until 1st Jan 2016. Service here were fast and good. The waiters did explain the techniques and the ingredients used on each meal. I do recommend to come here to try out their ala carte main course and pick what you want but not their dinner set menu. Need to be selective in the appetizer and dessert as well as not all is good.

Taste:8/10(Good. There was one menu that I tried here worth "excellent" rating. The main course 36 hours wagyu beef cheek was excellent with unthinkable combination of traditional chinese fermented beans "nam yu". It is one of the best beef that I tasted so far. The "nam yu" slight sweetness and fragrant did enhance the taste of the tender juicy wagyu beef. However, the dinner was not completely flawless. The soft shell prawn was a bit soggy as it may have soaked the water from compressed watermelon at the bottom of the dish. Signature mile feuille is good but the portion is rather small. I was expecting this meal to be full which also comes with asparagus and potato ball? The otak-otak were tasty and suits well with percik sauce. Dessert of peanut butter, banana and black sesame is just average).

Price:2/10(Expensive. Their festive 2015 set menu did have a high price tag of MYR220 exclude 10% service charge. The food portion were small and not enough for big eater. I would recommend to order their ala carte instead. I was expecting their promoted 5 course dinner set should contain their best dish such as their pan seared scallop, braised Australian brisket in chocolate and good chocolate dessert, but unfortunately it's not the case here. In my case, they served me with their peanut butter, banana and black sesame which is not their best dessert and mile-feuille in reduced portion. Also they don't accept Amex card as payment. As a restaurant in a hotel with many tourist, they should consider to accept Amex card).



The meal start off with an amuse bouche of salmon. Its tasty.


Next is butter and bread. The butter with slightly sourish lime.

Soft shell prawn. Soggy prawn and parmesan cracker. Compressed watermelon, lychee jelly, parmesan crisps and balsamic caviar.


Nice presentation.

The signature mile-feuille is Malaysian taste style but presented like European dish.

Juicy chicken otak-otak with cashew soil, acar and percik sauce.


Wild mushroom consomme. Very tasty soup with porcini mushroom flavour and delicious cheese tortellini.




The best dish out of 5 course menu. Its 36 hours wagyu beef cheek. "Nam yu" braised wagyu beef cheek, celeriac puree, honey glazed winter root vegetables, pickled shallot and ginger soil.

Tasty and nicely done beef.

Peanut butter, banana and black sesame. In the menu, its just mentioned Skillet's Christmas dessert. In my opinion, they should state what will they serve not up to their discretion. It can be anything here.


Anyway nicely decorated dessert. However, not able to taste the chocolate dessert which the chef supposed to be good at.

Mignardises. Christmas chocolate. Rich and bitter chocolate.

Wide variety of liquor and cocktail available here.

Cosy and nice environment.

Christmas decoration and best European food award from Timeout Kuala Lumpur.


Nice view from upstairs.

Relax area upstairs.

Skillet@163

GPS/Coordinate: 3.154443, 101.709066
Address: Lot 163, Fraser Place, Jalan Perak, Kuala Lumpur 50450, Malaysia.
Public transport: Raja Chulan monorail station.

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Impressive modern Malaysian cuisine by Dewakan Restaurant @ KDU University, Shah Alam

Dewakan located in KDU University in Shah Alam has been well received by independent reviewers and food bloggers although it's less than a year since its opening in April 2015. Darren Teoh who is the head chef and also the lecturer of KDU, has a vision of producing modern Malaysian cuisine with full emphasis of using Malaysian produce and ingredients. I am inspired with his creativity of using our local ingredients to enhance the flavour of main course. His effort to create modern Malaysian cuisine and highlight the usage of local produce to create such tasty cuisine is applaudable. Most of the fine dining in Malaysia are still dominated by European style of cooking and using imported ingredient. In Malaysian context, the word local does not sound good, but the chef at Dewakan has the bright mind of creativity to transform local ingredient dishes to higher standards. The service here were good and the staff here taking explaining the ingredient and the technique used on each dishes. I do recommend those who want to dine here to make a reservation as it's fully booked on almost every dinner.

Taste:10/10(Excellent. Impressive 10 course meal with additional snacks and dessert. It's a marathon dinner of almost 3 hours with variety of food items to try. Each dish is unique and burst of flavours. The chef uses local herbs and spices creatively in each meal. You will think that such a simple ingredient wouldn't be done it this way. Each meal is also an art by itself especially blue mackerel with raja ulam which the cured fish meat topped with edible flowers. Overall almost all the dishes were excellent except two which I don't quite like it. Details on the photos below. However, the food concept may not be for everyone. People who don't like the smell of ulam and spices may not like the overwhelming flavour of the dishes here. Also you also need to be patient and enjoying good time here of enduring 3 hours of eating session. The food here are even better than some of the Michelin star establishment).

Price:3/10(Expensive. Dewakan does not serve ala-carte meal. They only have 3 or 4 course meal during lunch or 5 or 10 course during dinner. Price starts at MYR80.00 for 3 course lunch and the dinner of 10 course at MYR209.00. I would say for fine dining, the price is actually quite reasonable with total of 10 course. However it's quite a challenge for Malaysian who are not foodie to fork out that amount of money for lunch or dinner. Malaysian is all about cheap eats and eat fast fast. Also do take note that they charges for mineral water at MYR21.00. Opt for other drinks in the menu if you don't want to be surprised. The wait staff didn't inform about that).



Dewakan located at basement of new KDU University in Shah Alam campus.

My dining table. Great location as it's the nearest to the kitchen. Can see all the action.

Nice table decoration.

Table decoration.


Roasted bread and butter. Their butter is so delicious. The leaf underneath the butter does enhance the flavour.

I am the first one for dinner. The restaurant is still empty.



Second snack is editable dehydrated sawi with seaweed. It comes with budu sauce. Its additive and delicious.


You must be wondering what is this. Its deep fried beef tendon with spinach with some spicy powder. Its taste better than keropok.

Frozen yoghurt with roselle wrap, cuttlefish bits, cumin and lime.


First meal. Blue mackerel. Cured mackerel, ulam raja, pomelo and local flowers. The texture is better than Japanese sashimi and the local flowers do complements very well with the fish and slight sourness of the lime juice.

Both chefs are very dedicated in preparing the meals. I can see that a lot of effort needed to prepare each meal.



Roast mushrooms. Mixture of raw and roasted king oyster mushrooms, green curry paste, yoghurt and dried mackerel flakes.

Raw mushroom with green curry paste with some bunga kantan.


Braised aubergine. Aubergine braised in mushroom stock, jackfruit seeds, black bean sauce and garlic emulsion. This is one of the dish which I don't quite like it. The green colour stuff which covered aubergine does not blend well and bored with the black bean sauce. This item is too dry and tend to stuck on throat.

Home made noodles. Steamed king prawns, brined radish, dried vegetables and cold prawn broth. The waiter pouring cold prawn broth into the noodles. I like the chewy prawn in the noodles.


Home made noodles.

Pike conger. Smoked pike conger, custard at the bottom, fermented long beans relish, roasted okra and clams foam. Delicious smoked fish.

They also put some salted egg flakes in pike conger dish.

Roast duck breast, duck leg rillette, beetroots and "blood" sauce. The blood sauce apparently made from duck liver. The rillette were delicious with some water chestnut in there.

Uncovered the rillette.



Lamb breast. Confit of lamb breast, spring onions, marsala and onion puree. The sauce make this dish taste like north Indian dish. Its good and the meat is very tender. First time eating rose petal.


Custard with some cinnamon.

The first dessert. Mulberry jam, cardamom ganache, cashew brittles, pucuk gajus and mulberry snow.


The white colour part is white chocolate.


Gula Melaka marquise, sour meringue and pulut ice cream. Brilliant use of pulut in making ice cream.



Smooth pulut ice cream.

Gula Melaka and some cookies underneath.

The food are prepared under the watchful eyes of Darren Teoh.


Warm chocolate tart, caramelised jackfruit and gandum ice cream.

Corn popsicle. I think the taste is rather blend without corn taste.

Menu book.

Environment in the restaurant after dinner.


Lounge area.

GPS/Coordinate: 3.092321, 101.559519
Address: Lower Ground Floor, KDU University College, Utropolis Glenmarie, Jalan Kontraktor U1/14, Seksyen U1, 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.