Her Belly says: Acar Buah

One of the reasons why I'm so excited to attend my mum's best friend's son wedding tomorrow is because of the: Acar Buah

It is essentially a fruit chutney of preserved fruit slow cooked in spices to result in a sweetish, spicy mixture that’s really good, and it is even best when it is being cooked by:
yanna.lyana *heh*

Yes, I would say this is my ‘mega’ project as I’ve been asked to prepare the Acar Buah for 700 guess. Thanks to my late Opah. It is the most ‘valuable’ skills that I’ve learnt from her and to my surprised, none my aunties or cousins become heir to her undeniable lip smacking acar buah cooking skills.

And I believe none of you are made known off that I’ve sent my Acar Buah every Ramadhan (for consecutive 3 years now) as a consignment in a restaurant near to my house and a must thing in the hampers ordered from Ennesie Ideas (my mum’s design house) for all the corporate hampers. (Extra duit raya la!) But all of them were cooked in batches. For this so called ‘mega’ project of mine, for 700 pax, since it was quite a short notice, I’ve prepared it in 3 BIG batches!

Tiring. But as far as my depleted meter concerns, I never feel tired cooking. It is just my passion.

Just as some of you may know, Acar is commonly served as a condiment to be eaten with a main course such as Nasi Minyak and Beriyani. It’s called Acar Buah for a reason; imagine Dried Food dipped within massive curry taste gravy. It tastes Sweet, Sour and yet also Spicy. And the best part is, this type of Acar can be stored up to 3 months.

I still remember last month when i were asked to prepare the acar buah for 500 pax in Terengganu, it was supposed to be served to the guess as well on top of the acar rampai prepared by the caterer. But, since the ‘overwhelmed’ respond received to the acar, they decided to just keep it and distributed it among the family members as a ‘buah tangan’ from the wedding host. And none of them belief that it was actually being prepared by a 25 old me! (tak nak buat menantu ke? Ha-ha) And I received a request from a shop owner who attended the wedding for it to be sold at her shop! (To send it from Shah Alam to KT? I don’t think so, (for now la))

Hey! It’s not ‘masuk bakul angkat sendiri’ okay! Most of them complimented that they have never tasted such a nice acar like mine!

k.e.m.b.a.n.g

Tak kenal maka tak cinta right? Anyway, if you are interested, just simply request an order directly from me and rest assured, *chewah* satisfaction guaranteed. Ha-ha

Acar Buah

Love plumping the loved one(s) with my cooking. And it is with 99.9% successful rate!

Her Belly says: Puti Bungsu Batam

After a long tiring 3 hours gift hunting session for the twin’s birthday and we are still moving in a circle of no where, we decided to have a ‘break’ for our lunch.

“Let’s Puti Bungsu Batam!”

It is an Indonesian export hails from Batam Island (that is how the name Batam came from anyway) housed in a breezy bungalow next to Restoran Nasi Kandar Kampong Pandan. This restaurant has now made a name for itself in Kuala Lumpur for serving delicious Nasi Padang food.

An array of dishes is available to tempt your tastebuds for lunch and dinner. You can opt for two ways to be served; a selection of each of their special dishes to be placed on your table by them or just pick and choose what you want from the counter directly. And we prefer to have it to be served on the table. What they would do is to bring out little plates of dishes and lay it all out on the table. However, you don’t have to eat it all. You only choose the ones that you want to eat. Now the rule is, as long as you don’t touch the other food, you are not charged for it.

Although everything was very tempting, we had to resist and only take a few dishes. We decided to have Bergedel, Dendeng served with red chilies sambal, Sambel Ijo, Ayam Gulai Minang and Pecal or some may call it Gado-Gado.

“See, that is the reason why they didn’t put 4 chairs for table-for-four table! We have occupied the whole table now!”, which is something i totally agreed to.

:D

Well, Puti Bungsu Batam’s version Bergedel, a minced potato and meat cutlet is larger than usual, but with an average taste. It is nothing exceptional and could be replicated in almost any Nasi Campur place in town. (3/5) Their deep fried dendeng tossed in a dry red sambal sauce is addictive as it's very crunchy with just a prefect hint of chili. (4/5)

One of Puti Bungsu Batam’s specialities is the Ayam Gulai Minang, (4/5) cooked in thick rich coconut milk. Eat it with the hot rice and their tasty Sambel Ijo (4/5) for a nice kick to the lunch or dinner. The taste of the Pecal however, sadly is totally disappointing. A peanut paste delicacy made from dried chillies and pounded peanuts, that is normally guaranteed to whet my appetite is not doing its job well this time. It is watered-down and was served with so limited choice of vegetable and tauhu. (2/5)

Overall, compared to other Nasi Padang restaurants in town, the prices here are reasonable. Although parking around the area can be a problem during lunch and working days, but it is within walking distance from the nearby offices along Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, so tumpang-tumpang la! *huhu*

Puti Bungsu Batam


Bergedil, RM6.00


Dendeng, RM10.00


Ayam Gulai Minang, RM10.00


Sambel Ijo, RM2.00


Pecal, RM5.00


Hand eaten, tanda excited!


Empty plates, tanda seronok!


Happy me

Thanks Orang Kaya itu, a,k.a Encik Rainbow. hee.

Her Belly says: Makan-Makan Shah Alam

What is nice to have in Shah Alam?
Read what a true citizen of Shah Alam answers…

Best, nice, yummy, delicious, scrumptious, tasty, appetizing, mouth-watering and flavorsome of:

• KUEY TIOW
Restoran Char Kuey Tiow, TTDI Jaya
Giant food court (Kay Jay aunty gemok’s sister!)

• MURTABAK
Restoran S.Subhani, TTDI Jaya

• FRIED LOH SEE FUN
Anggerik Deli, UiTM Shah Alam
Kedai Kopi, Tasik Shah Alam

• TOMYAM
Restoran Santai, Section 11
Restoran Teratai, Section 13

• ABC
ABC Coco Bubble, Section 2
Penang ABC, Giant Food Court

• NASI LEMAK
Restoran Gembira, Section 3
Pak Ayob, Section 6
Shell, Section 9 (morning)

• LONTONG
Restoran Lontong Klang, Section 7
Restoran Jayati, Section 7

• SOTO
Restoran Soto, Section 8

• KUIH
Pasar Section 6 (Kuih Kemboja, Variety of Talams and Apam Balik; morning)
Masjid Negeri Stall
Restoran Azira, Section 10
Restoran Hatinie, Section 10
Restoran Soto, Section 8

• YONG TOW FOO
Pasar Malam Section 7 (every Wednesday, stall with the colorful dishes baskets)
Restoran Home Town Yong Tow Foo, Section 7

• NASI CAMPUR
Sri TTDI, TTDI Jaya
Masjid Negeri stall
Restoran Azira, Section 10
Restoran Hatinie, Section 10
Restoran Soto, Section 8

• NASI KANDAR
Nasi Kandar Raihan, Glenmarie

• GORENG PISANG
Stall in front of TTDI Jaya surau
Restoran Sri TTDI, TTDI Jaya
Goreng Pisang Azmi, Section 19

• AYAM GOLEK
Ayam Golek Resipi Ibu, Section 20

• WESTERN
Pine 38, Section 9
Pick n' Brew, Glenmarie
Seed Cafe, Glenmarie

• ROJAK
Rojak (lorry behind Concorde), Section 9

• NASI AYAM
Stall, Section 6
Gerai Pak Mal, Section 11
Restoran Azira, Section 10

• CENDOL
In front of Section 16 mosque

• NASI BERIYANI
Restoran Azira, Section 10
Restoran Tambak Johor, Section 11
JM Beriyani, Tesco Shah Alam

• LAKSA PENANG
Lorry by the road side, Section 7-Bukit Raja
Lorry near ESSO, TTDI Jaya

(You are more than welcome to add more recommended entries)

I am just the story teller who is missing her food hunting partner terribly.

Her Belly says: Casa Di Napoli

Casa Di Napoli, beautiful and catchy name of an Italian restaurant located at Bukit Raja, Klang. Casa Di Napoli, flavors of Italian, use green and red as the dominators of outlet’s interior, carrier on the legacy of amalgamation of various flavors of the origin.

Italian’s restaurant in Klang?

So we decided to just give it a try, to test how Italian can it be and knowing the love that he has for Italian food. (kan?)

The moment the two welcoming waitresses opened the door; we were stunned and impressed with its really dim nice romantic interior and its Italian ambiance. I loike!

LOVE IS IN THE AIR! ha-ha.

As it is just 6.30 pm, which is too early for a Malaysian to have dinner, it answers why the restaurant is still empty. (This is of course, an advantage for me as the dinner can be served faster, to fill up my hey-i-just-get-back-from-office-and-im-hungry belly.)

Casa Di Napoli, a restaurant not only for food but also to meet and entertain people, where people can enjoy the food and sharing the love with the loved ones! (Thanks to its nice romantic Italian songs background)

Casa Di Napoli includes appetizers, soups, pastas, pizza and main course. Menu offer a wide range of seafood and salads mixture of squids, clams, mussels, fish slices and prawns. Popular dish, thin crust pizza serve with seafood is highly recommended in Casa Di Napoli. As recommended by the waiter since .he. wanted to have something hot, (refused to be named, yah rite!) we ordered the Volcano’s Pizza. It is margarita topped with roasted chicken, turkey ham, green pepper, mushroom, pineapple, olives and lotsa chilies! It is a merit trying. Enough for 2 if it’s ordered as a side dish, (the same size as normal regular size pizza) and both of us just can’t stop praising the scrumptiousness of the perfectly baked and rich topping pizza. 4.5/5

Seafood remains at the core of the cooking heritage of Italian food. Spaghetti Vongole – olio style spaghetti cooked with clams, broccoli, black olives, and fresh tomatoes and served in garlic sauce is his choice of the evening. The blend of the garlic and the olive oil brings up the nice aroma of the dish. 4.5/5 as well.

I ordered for myself Tagliatelle Casa. It is flat pasta cooked with turkey ham, mushroom and eggplant in oregano tomato sauce. It is lovely (great for a sour lover). Giving it the same rating, 4.5/5. The pasta served here is pretty good so it depends on what you feel like having; the portions are pretty large so I recommend a shared order. (Remember the romantic ambience? Complement it with suap-menyuap session, perfecto!)

As for desert, we ordered their Tiramisu. Love the bittersweet chocolate bits in between. Try it and you just might like it. Yummy. But since I have tasted something nicer before, I give it 4/5.

Casa Di Napoli is a restaurant that serves nice food with reasonable price. It is for those who want to try out something different whilst enjoying a nice setting to dine. If you are, Casa Di Napoli is the place.

Casa Di Napoli

Nice Interior


Spaghetti Vongole, RM18.90


Pizza Volcano, RM24.90


Tagliatelle Casa, RM16.90


Tiramisu, RM7.90

increment! increment! *syukur*

Her Belly says: Pulut Kapit

“Yanna, nak tengok tak atok buat Pulut Kapit ni?”

Pulut Kapit?

“Nak!”

Soon as the ‘news’ settled in, I rushed to the kitchen and nenek was so busy boiling a huge pot of glutinous rice while atok patiently cleaning a 75 years heavy slab of Cengal mold (Yes! You read it right!). Once the rice was cook to perfect, she'd leave it aside to cool awhile. I gave her a ‘helping’ hand in preparing the wrap, cutting the banana leaves.

Later the rice was poured and spread onto the wooden mold, pressed and covered with the banana leaves. According to atok, this is the most crucial step as we have to compact the rice firmly to ensure that the rice will be really compressed and compacted and once cool and hardened it is easy to cut into small squares or cubes. And to finish, he then put a heavy Cengal block like the big grinding stone on top of the rice, and leave them for a night.

And there it had stayed until the Eid morning when a miracle unravels before our eyes. *heh* Carefully nenek unwrapped the rice that had be compacted overnight into a huge slab of cake, and cut it into little cubes and the balance of the compacted rice was again wrapped into small parcels to ensure that the smell and the taste of the banana leaf stays.

And that is actually how this traditional dish of the Terengganu Malays got its name. "Kapit" in Malay means to compress or to compact or flatten, and various means are used to achieve it anyway. :D It is being served with either kuah kacang or the ever delicious chicken or beef rendang. But I just love to have it with nenek’s daging masak hitam. *sedap*

The cooked pulut


Pressed and compacted onto the mold


Covered with banana leaves


The pulut was left overnight for the miracle to happen and...


(the 75 years old Cengal mold)


ta-da, the Pulut Kapit

saya kekenyangan! dan akan menjadi gemok (bertambah) disini...

VII days - To Eid ul-Fitr [minus 1]

Dear Readers,

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you “Selamat Hari Raya” ahead of the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration tomorrow. As Hari Raya Aidilfitri means “A Day of Great Celebration”, I wish all of you a joyful celebration with family and loved ones. To everyone, I trust you will take advantage of this holiday period to have a good rest as well.

If you are travelling, I hope you will continue to make safety your top-most priority as you embark on your journey.

Love,
yanna.lyana

My first Eid celebration in Terengganu

My last calorific break fasting session in Pasar Chabang Tiga

Nice spongy watermelon Creme Brulee

Nyummy Roti Goreng

The sweet Akok (to sweet to my savor though)


ha-ha 'pior' fruit juice

ETD SBG at 0715 hours and arrived safely at TRG at 0815 hours. (tengok nenek buat pulut kapit! ape tu? saya pon tak tahu!)

Her Belly says: A Fung Baso Sapi Asli

Choosing for the break fast place to dine has always been a hard time for me. So after cruising around Sunway Mentari .kami. decided to break our fast with Indonesian delicacies in A Fung Baso Sapi Asli restaurant, tugged in the same row as Jaring and Dominos.

This place proclaimed they are famous for its Baso or Bakso which is basically beef balls which they serve in a few varieties. To test the different varieties, I had the Baso Tahu (Tofu stuffed with Baso). For the price of RM9.90, it is quite pricey as the portions are not huge and you might have to order an additional food (you will get only 4 beef balls and one Tofu stuffed beef - tad pricey for the portions they served right?) and it is tasteless!!! (Literal translation: Ajinomoto soup) and the only thing which is acceptable to my taste bud, sadly, is only the beef ball. 2.5/5

To really feel the ‘Indonesian’ mood I ordered the Teh Botol. But of cause it is not the ‘original’ Teh Botol, but this is packed in Tetra Pack, Teh Botol Sosro. The must have drink with your Baso. Anyway, it’s basically just an ice jasmine tea.

Nasi Beef Teriyaki may sounds delicious, but it is just an adding disappointment. As it is not well garnish and the dull looked dish just didn’t look nice as the name carries. Serves with Telur Mata Sapi and owh-so-boring lightly gravied soy sauced fried beef, I give it 2.5/5 rating as well.

Overall, the service is awful, *heh* nothing to brag about the food, apart from the fact that they are specialty shop selling Indonesian Beef balls noodle.

Baso Tahu - RM9.90


Teh Botol Sosro - RM3.50


Nasi Beef Teriyaki - RM8.90

.kami. lapar lagi dan terus ke Uptown makan Steak Lanun (review later!) :D

Her Belly says: Food Foundry

Kokopelli? Food foundry akhirnya…

Finally, after a really mind-boggling decision for buka puasa eating place we went to Food Foundry, Petaling Jaya. It is really a nice place, cozy environment in a not too crowded area. I'm kinda surprise when locating this restaurant, if it is not because of Asni's hmm.. Fling? The only 'map' that we have, we will definitely not expecting a restaurant like this in the middle of flats in Happy Mansion. And thanks to the closed Kokopelli, *hee* otherwise we wouldn't be here anyway!

I tried the Chicken Cordon Bleu. Their Cordon Bleu had the usual ingredients of bits of cheddar cheese & a slice of ham in it with its crispy outer shell and I just love the lightly cheesed topping and for that, I give it a 3.5/5 rating.

We later had our swapping session (sharing is caring! and we just need a round table with the rotational server!) And in only one visit I’m able to taste their Carbonara with Mushroom & Chicken (Asni’s and I give it a rating of 2.5/5), Pan Fried Fish with Pepper Marmalade (Elle’s. Recommended! 4/5) and the Thai Sandwich (Farah’s and for its nice spicy taste, I give it 3.5/5 rating).

We already quite full after finishing up all the dishes, but just cant resist to try their Mille Crepe (20 thin layers of French crepe layered with fresh, smooth custard-crème) since this is their signature dish.And its lips smacking!!! The sweetness and the creme is just perfect - 4.5/5

The food is really completely average but I will definitely still consider Food Foundry as a good place to hang out with friend, with its reasonable price, comely surrounding and nice food
menus. And true to the description on its website which said, “We’re not situated anywhere fashionable. We’re not sandwiched between a hip bistro and a swanky bar. You probably won’t see anyone famous having an over-priced cup of coffee here. And you definitely won’t overhear any of our customers speaking in inconsistent accents or exclaiming “dahling” while blowing air-kisses. Thank goodness, we say, because we’re not into fake or flashy, and we’re certainly not into charging the earth. What we do like is a little peace and quiet, excellent service and good food at affordable prices,” Food Foundry was exactly what it is – the friendly neighbourhood food provider!

Chicken Cordon Bleu (RM14.90)


Carbonara with Mushroom & Chicken (RM15.90)


Pan Fried Fish with Pepper Marmalade (RM16.90)


Mille Crepe (RM8.90)


Thai Sandwich (RM11.90)


blowing air-kisses in Food Foundry

asni, slumber party please.

Her Belly says: Silver Pot

"hey, I cooked this myself”.

Lets dine in Silver Pot Chinese Muslim Steamboat, TTDI as you can eat and have fun, claiming that you can cook even for those without any culinary skill. As you can actually control of what goes into the pot, you need not have to worry about having to eat something you don’t like. Just control the heat with a knob that turns on the induction cooker of your own mini individual pots and dump whatever you want into the hot boiling broth.

And at the moment the waitress filled up my pot with my choice of broth (the clear ‘chicken-ish’ soup and he chose the tomyam soup) you can call it "love at first sniff". I was just instantly hungry.
(counting time for the break fast..hehe)

We ordered the Lover’s set. It is a set for two pax with a perfect portion of surimi, fish balls and fishcake, tofu, prawn, vegetables and noodle, complement with your own choice of broth (tomyam and clear soup) and your own dipping sauces (garlicky chili sauce and sesame sauce). I just love the heavenly yummy dip and both the soups.

But their Chinese fried rice is just average and it has nothing to shout about.

Overall, the Lover’s set for two is a steal and you should order this as it is not only worth every single cent you will spend. I'm sure this ain't the best steamboat, but for its price range and choices on the menu and a very quiet and nice ambience, Silver Pot got yanna.lyana's thumbs of approval.

The Lover's Set (RM29.90)

garlic chili sauce and sesame sauce

great deal!!!

.kami berdua. were practically stuffed when we left. And we just couldn’t have any breathing space to eat the popiah bought at the near bazzar ramadhan before we came.