The Makan Sisters with other 'Chee Muis' @ De Foodland

Satuday 23 June It was a girls' night out. Having ditched husbands and kids, our group decided to adjourn for dinner at a nearby restaurant after visiting our friend who recently delivered a new baby. Oohing and aahing over new born works up an appetite. I couldn't wait to tear away to sample the crabs again at De Foodland.

Despite it's rather insipid name, De Foodland serves pretty good food. It specialises in crabs dishes. With 30+ different crab dishes, one is spoilt for choice. But we decided to stick to their 'chew pai' or classic - Creamy Butter Crab. Yummy. It was finger lickin' good. I liked that they cracked the crab shells before cooking, so the succulent white meat inside was infused with the butter cream sauce. Plus it makes it easier to eat. No need to hammer at the shell and risk splattering your dining partners with sauce or worse, have the piece of crab airborne and land anywhere else but on your plate. The sauce is thick and creamy with a hint of 5 spice powder. The chopped spring onions which was liberally tossed in was a nice offset against the 'jelak creaminess' of the sauce.

We ordered fried man tao to go with the crabs, but we didnt like the man tao at all. It was too greasy, the oil had soaked through the bread and it has a rancid smell. Urgghh.... But despite that, we were hungry enough to eat most of it.

The guiness pork was good too. Pieces of pork marbled with fat, deep fried then sauteed in the guiness sauce until it caramelizes on the meat. Yumz.

On recommendation of the Maitre'd... ( ok la captain, since this was no pretentious upclass French restaurant) we had the Special Taste Venison. She explained that it has a salty, sweet, sour, spicy taste. Wah liao, sounds to me like a potential assault on the taste buds. Expecting a burst of clashing flavours, I must say it tasted alright. I detected dark soy sauce and pepper with lashings of sugar. If they have added any seasoning for the sour taste, it must have been subtle, I couldn't really taste it.

The other dishes we sampled were the 'Four Heavenly Kings' vege and the '3 mushroom tau foo'. The vegetables still retained its crispiness, which I liked, but it was way too salty. There were times we unsuspectingly crunched on salt crystals. It was as though someone threw in the salt as an after thought. The tau foo dish had pieces of soft tau foo fried, then drowned in lots of gravy with bits of mushrooms. The mushrooms were chopped really fine. I thought it would have been nice to leave the mushrooms in bigger pieces for the dish to have some bite.

Overall, we found the food flavourful, but the chefs were too heavy handed with the salt and the oil in the cooking. Total bill came up to RM156+ for 6 adults and 1 child. Fair value for money I would say.

P/S: We forgot to take any pictures of the food. Again! As usual we were too intent on digging into the food on arrival. Yeah, I know, food blog ain't much fun without pictures. Must remember that on our next eating spree.

De Foodland Seafood Restaurant
25 & 27, Jalan 3/62B, Bandar Sri Menjalara, Kuala Lumpur. Tel No: 03 - 62744796

The Makan Sisters Strikes @ Mizu, Bangsar Village

Ok, let's get cracking! It's time to work through Da List. AnnG read about Mizu and suggested we try that first. No arguments from this quarter, being a fan of Japanese food myself.

So Friday 22 June, we trotted along to Bangsar Village. Mizu is located on the first floor, right smack in front of the elevator.

The restaurant features a zen like, minimalist decor, with stone walls and flowing water. Like many of the modern restaurants, it has an open kitchen concept. AnnG remarked that there seems to be quite a number of chefs for a small restaurant. I would have expected the food to be served much faster, but is was not so.

Having had a huge lunch that day, I wasn’t very hungry, so I settled for a single portion of hand rolled Soft Shell Crab Maki and a plate of Salmon Sashimi to share. AnnG ordered the Mini Chirashi.

Salmon Sashimi dish came with 6 thickly cut slices of slippery smooth salmon pieces served over a bed of ice. No complaints there.

AnnG enjoyed her vinegar rice with the Chirasi. The tuna and butter fish pieces she shared with me were firm and fresh. I’ve always enjoyed sashimi for its simplicity. If it is fresh, it needs no further condiments to enhance the flavour beyond a tinge of soy sauce.

They messed up my order of Soft Shell Crab Maki. Mouth open, I was all ready to tuck into my maki, when I noticed 'Hey, where is my soft shell crab?' The maki was quite a disappointment. The fried soft shell crab was very oily, I've tasted better. And the rice in the maki is not as compact as I would have liked it to be.

For a place that is touted as fine dining, I really don’t see anything fine about it except the prices. The bill came up to RM95.46. Quite steep, the quality of the food was ok, but nothing spectacular, but service was generally not satisfactory. I stuck my hand in the air and waved for about 5 whole minutes before anyone took notice of it. Considering they had quite number of staff and it is supposed to be a ‘fine dining’ restaurant, it was unacceptable. The captain spied us taking photographs and came over to re-arrange AnnG’s bowl of Chirashi just so. Weird. I would rather she paid more attention to serving customers.

Would I come back here to dine? Perhaps for lunch. Bangsar Village is a stone's throw away from my office and they do pretty good value sets. But suffice to say that for a place that is labeled as fine dining, I’m not particularly impressed.

Mizu Japanese Fine Dining
LotF6, First Floor, Bangsar Village, No1. Jalan Telawi Satu, Bangsar Baru, KL. Tel: 03-2283 6988

Da List

Ok, here is Jaded's choice of must tries. (In no particular order of preference)

1. Niji Teppan Sushi
45G, Jalan 1/6D, Medan Putra Business Centre, Bandar Menjalara

If you want to eat a decent Jap meal without busting your budget, this is a good place to try. I love their Salmon skin maki and the cripsy fried softshell crab. The sashimi is also good value for money, RM19.90 for 6 pieces of fresh thick salmon cuts that just glides down your throat.Don't take my word for it, read other people's review of the place
http://www.shaolintiger.com/category/foodeating/page/4/

2. Checkers
19, Lorong Setia Bistari 2,Damansara Heights, 50490 Kuala LumpurTel: +603-2095 3304 Operating Hours: 6pm ~ 10pm, close on Monday

Tucked in between a row of shophouses in the quiet and affluent neighbourhood of Bukit Damansara, is this real gem of a restaurant if you want a hearty carnivorous meal. They serve generous hunks of pork, beef, lamb or whatever is your order. Vegeterians and dieters, forget about going there. The meat is well marinated and flavourful served with mash and gravy and various condiments and sauces to enhance the meat. I've tried various dishes courtesy of my fellow diners and my fav is still Porky's Best. Best ever pork ribs this side of town. For RM39++ you get 2 huge slabs of pork ribs, corn on cob, salad and mash. Forget about going to Tony Romas at Sunway Pyramid. Beef ribs? Bleh! Oh, and remember to call them up to make reservations. Otherwise, you can forget about dining there.
http://pasankia.blogspot.com/2006/04/checkers-bukit-damansara.html

3. Mizu
L6, First Floor, Bangsar Village I, Jalan Telawi Satu, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. Tel No: 03 - 2283 6988

Walk on water here! Ok, I am not refering to their food but their deco. A glass pane walkway over water leads into the dark interior of the restaurant. I had the lunch set there, my recollection is hazy at best but overall impression is good food for a reasonable price. Lunch came up to RM30++ per person. Not bad. Will try it again and be more specific in my comments.
Here is what masak masak has to say about Mizu
http://masak-masak.blogspot.com/2007/05/japanese-food-mizu-bangsar-village.html

Here's the AnnG's list.
Mine generally is "i wanna try list" (also in no order of particular perference).

1) Champs
Centre point
What caught my eyes after the Japanese buffet at Momo was Champs banner. The exact words were "Baby Pork Ribs" and I told Jaded we must try this place. I hope it wont disappoint us. When I read "Pork Ribs" i imagine succulent juicy pork ribs ala Tony Romas maybe???

2) Korean BBQ
One Ampang
Actually I dont know the name of the shop but there are many Korean BBQ restaurants at One Ampang area. Both Jaded and I wanna eat Korean BBQ, so the best place is to go to the hub.... at One Ampang. There are Korean mini market here, Korean pubs, Korean "Western Food'?!! .....except I havent seen any handsome Korean men at One Ampang ..... And this Korean BBQ opens until late at night. The last time I went there at 10.00pm the kitchen is still not closed.

3) Red the Japanese place
Jalan Kasah, Medan Damansara
Read once somewhere, that this place serves modern, fusion Japanese food. Food is on the steep side I think. Well this place we will go when we wanna give ourselves a treat. Maybe when we have slimmed down......that would give us long enough time to save up some ringgits!!!

How it all started

We decided that a "List" is needed so that we dont need to crack our brains the next time we wanna have dinner together.We are great at finding and talking about all the great places for food. DYC would read about great food in her favorite blogs and I would have checked out the Saturday Star. But everytime we end up eating at the same old places to namely Chilis ....... boring.So the birth of this personal blog for the "makan gang" namely...... DYC and me...... ha ha ha!!!..... This blog is meant for our "LIST"!!!