USJ 20 Dim Sum

Last Sunday, a couple of us got together and had dim sum in USJ 20.

We had basic stuff.


Some scallop dim sum.


Fu Zhuk Prawn Rolls.


Char Siew Pao.


Siew Mai.


Egg Tarts.


Pork Ribs.


Fried Prawn Dim Sum.


Yet more deep fried prawn in something.


No idea what this is. Not prawn again, I hope.


And finally, Har Kau, more prawn lah.

Just a comment about Dim Sum. In Australia, the act of going out to eat Dim Sum is called Yum Cha (which literally translates to 'drink tea'). I suppose its called that way because people sit there and drink chinese tea and chat, while eating bits of Dim Sum. In Malaysia, we don't call it 'Yum Cha', as I think our main purpose is to go and eat, not to drink tea. The moniker 'Yum Cha' is reserved for the act of going out to any restaurant or stalls just to have a chat and drink (non-alcoholic drinks).

Ok that's it.

Bye bye.

Slim River Bus Crash

While it is saddening to read of deaths in the news, it is indeed more saddening to read about how it occured. Personally, its difficult for me to actually feel the depths of emotion associated with the death while reading about it in the newspaper. Its easier for me to read it, note it, and then turn the page.

However, when I found out that the particular girl in mention was a girlfriend (I think) of one of my juniors in high school, the reality of it suddenly hit much closer to home. I feel myself put into his shoes, and wondering how it would feel. Sudden death is much harder to deal with, I think, compared to a death that you have time to prepare for. When my mum was struggling with cancer for a year, I had that year to sort of steel myself for her death. As much as I did not want to think about it, sometimes, the thought does sometimes come unbidden to the mind, and in that way, I was sort of prepared to accept the inevitable, if and when it happened; and it did happen.

In this case, a life is taken suddenly, and it all just seems so wasted. That's why my thought goes out to the families and close ones of those who died on the bus.

Which brings me to another issue. With no disrespect to the girl in question, I'm wondering why she got so much more coverage that the other people (peoples?) who died in the same crash. I'm also not sure how many people actually died in that accident. I vaguely remember reading that there were 3 deaths, but then, looking at other reports, there were only 2. The first time I read about the accident, they were reporting that a girl died. A google search on her name turns up the said newspaper report, plus 6 or 7 other blogs on the same issue, all condemning the driver and the bus company, and wishing the girl's family well, and everything, but the same google search on the guy's name (obtained from Jayelleenelial) turns up nothing related.

Why is this?

Is it because she is a JPA/PSD scholar? Is it because she's studying medicine, or because she was a straight A student, a state swimmer, or an accomplished Girl Guide? Or is it because she has more friends, who all have access to blogs and therefore have more means to spread the news?

I hope I don't sound like I think the wide coverage on her death is a bad thing. No it is not. I too hope that the bus driver and the company would have action taken against them. I just want to know, who are the other person (or was it 2) who died? I'm sure their lives are no less valuable compared to the girl's, so where is the coverage on them?

To read more about this, just go to clink on the link to Jayelleenelial's site and there will be other links from there as well.

Face to Face Noodles House

The Star had an article on this restaurant called Face to Face Noodles (sic) House (information retrieved 14/1/08) last Wednesday. With the next day being a public holiday, you'd expect a massive number of people going to the restaurant the next day, and you'd expect the owners of the restaurant to be prepared for that, but however, they didn't seem to be and we had to wait nearly an hour for the food to arrive.

Anyway, this restaurant sells all kinds of Pan Mee, from your original type, to different flavours of Pan Mee. Here they are:






In all honesty, albeit interesting, the Pan Mee there wasn't that spectacular to make me want to go again. Quite ordinary, the best being the original one, and quite small as well. The other flavours just did not go too well with the Pan Mee.

Apart from Pan Mee, they also sell Sarawak Mee, which I think was also better than the Pan Mee.


If I'm not mistaken, this is what Kenny Sia always refers to as 'Kolo Mee' from Sarawak. Its just that they can't call it Kolo Mee here in KL as that name has been taken by another sort of Kolo Mee, thus the moniker, Sarawak Mee. But its a personal favourite of mine. I think its much better than the KL sort of Kolo Mee.

In addition to their traditional sarawak noodles, they also served the same noodles but with dark soya sauce mixed into it. I didn't try that though, but I don't think I would've liked it.

What we did order instead was some fried wontons.


Basic stuff. And also, a drink: Cincau with milk.


That's right. Its not soya bean, but milk. And it was a very interesting twist on the drink as well, one I enjoyed immensely. Couldn't really place what milk it was, but I think it might have been evaporated milk diluted with water. This is good.

So, Pan Mee here, for me, not so good. If I were to eat Pan Mee, I'd just go to the shop in nearby Taman Desa and eat it there instead. Cheaper for a much bigger bowl.


And more condiments as well. :)

Jiamean's Birthday at TGIF Sunway Pyramid

Its been a long time since I've put up pictures of people so I'll put some up today.

Yesterday we celebrated Jiamean's birthday at TGIFs at Sunway Pyramid, and it was quite good catching up with some people that I haven't seen for over a year.


That's the birthday girl, Jiamean, with Shingyee who organised the whole thing.


Xinyu and Kityan, both of whom I haven't seen in well over a year.




And Yufoong. Weishen and Yufoong I see quite often. Ha.


And Rockee and Shizhou, both of whom seem very preoccupied.


And finally the World Famous Mushroom Swiss Burger that was recommended by Jon Sum.

After the meal, in the tradition of TGIF birthdays, the staff of TGIF came and sang Jiamean a song, but unfortunately I did not take any pictures of that.

In the end, some of us ended up going to Mongkok in SS2 and played 'Bang!' until 1.30am. Till now, I'm still surprised at the number of people that I've introduced to the game that actually, really, like it.

Happy days.

Cheras Pasar Malam

Supper has never, and will never be, my kind of meal. Considering that I eat a huge meal at dinner which is at about 8pm or later, I'm always too full to eat anything after that. And I tend to not sleep late as well, so I don't have time to get hungry.

That's why, I never used to go to the mamak stalls at night to eat, why I never used to eat Ramli burger on a regular basis, and also why I've never actually been to the pasar malam to eat.

So last week, I actually planned to skip dinner at home and go to the pasar malam. Roland claimed that Cheras had the longest pasar malam in KL, so that's where we headed to, we being Roland, Pei Vern, Mei Sze, Jian Ming, and I. The idea was to eat whatever that caught my eye, with no hesitations whatsoever.

First, I had a China Burger, which I did not get a clear picture of as I was walking. They used a heavy egg base to make the buns, and had minced pork in the middle. It was about the size of a Ramli burger, and only cost RM 1.40.


Jian Ming got some takoyaki. I personally think that takoyaki everywhere is the same. Even the one in Takashimaya in Singapore doesn't taste that nice anymore.


I got 10 pieces of dimsum for RM 4. It used to be RM 2 for 7 pieces. Bah.


Had some Taiwanese sausages which were good, albeit slightly expensive, at RM 1.60 for one sausage.


We also got some bubble tea.


Nothing much to shout about. I have eaten all these things before, but the only reason I wanted to go was I wanted to eat with impunity, without having a care at all.


This here is Mei Sze, barging her way through the crowd.


We also sat down at a stall, hoping they had asam laksa, but alas, they did not, and so we settled for curry noodles.

And then it started raining.

Luckily someone had the presence of mind to bring umbrellas, and we continued our meal in the rain.


Roland got some Chow Tau Foo (Smelly Tofu) for us to try (didn't get a picture of them), and I tried one, and it tasted like deep fried tofu that had been dipped in drain water, literally. Not my thing, although there was a long queue for it.

In the end, the only thing that was needed to make the trip complete was for my car to be double parked by another car, but, that didn't happen.

Oh well.

=)

Sushi Groove, Sunway Pyramid

Sometime near the end of the previous year, I went to Sushi Groove in Sunway Pyramid. From the name, you can tell that Sushi Groove is a Japanese Restaurant (lol! yes indeed it is!). The place specialises in special 'rolls' or 'maki' in plates that cost about 15 ringgit, plus or minus 2 ringgit. The problem with this is that if you order one plate per person, there's no way you can get full.

So the 3 of us picked one plate of rolls each, plus another bowl of some burger meat in rice. I apologise for totally forgetting what each dish was called. And I only have 3 pictures.


Here we have the bowl of rice, with a sunny side up egg, and the burger peeking out from under the egg. I do love sunny side up eggs. :)


This is the Lion King Roll (at least I remembered one dish). Contains some spicy tuna and other stuff. Definitely the best of the lot. And there were 8 pieces as well. ;)


The soft shell crab roll had soft shell crabs in them. Sorry I'm not at my very best with wordplay this morning.

Anyway, I was not very impressed with the place. Too expensive for too little.

I'd rather eat this. (Click on the link)