Little Chair: Something different

It had been ages since I last blog about food. Although I had tried nearly all the shops in my new workplace, there was lack of variety with nearly similar menu everywhere. Whenever I return to Kampar or Ipoh, I am too tired to eat out or even if I do eat out, I am too lazy to try new place.

Then, there was mid autumn. Since I am bringing my parents out, I need to find a decent place, with better food, comfortable, and easy for my dad who need a walking frame. When Little Chair is in Tin Village (the small complex which housed Econsave), it is less convenient. But now they had relocated to the row of shops near MH Unilodge. Going along the main road, along the same row as Bank Rakyat, it will be easy to spot the white bill board.

The setup is definitely less posh than it used to be. Currently it felt like a simple Chinese restaurant but it does not mean it is less comfortable. With ample car park and spacious seating, dining here is rather enjoyable. Service is attentive and at least the waitress know the dishes. Comes the menu. It is a mixture of mainly Chinese, with Vietnamese noodle and some Indonesian rice dish. To be fair, I had not try the real dishes from their respective countries so I would not know how authentic they were. But at least I enjoyed my pick for the night.

Pho Ga or vietnamese chicken noodle (RM7 for set with herbal drink) is rather localized. The broth felt very similar to any chinese chicken noodle stall but with a tinge of different herbs or spice. The noodle itself is nothing to shout about though. My nasi uduk is supposed to be Indonesian rice cooked with santan. The whole dish felt like nasi lemak with different accompanying accompanying curry. The cumi cabe ijo, curry sotong, (RM9 for set) surprisingly taste spicy without being too hot. The spicy sotong goes well with the sambal served with a tinge of citrus taste. Dad's nasi uduk with curry chicken (RM9 with set) taste equally as good. Although I expected local version of curry with lots of gravy, it turned out to be rendang ayam instead.

It was a good dinner, with both parents enjoy their food. Of course, comparing to simple stall, it might be slightly pricey, but it is way more reasoble than some hyped up restaurant. With the quality of food, I would definitely come again to sample other selections.

ratings: 3 half poink~!
comments: a good breakaway from the usual chinese/ malay/ indian offering locally. Least we can find some vietnamese/ indonesian selection in Kampar.

Restoran Little Chair
No. 2, Jalan Siswa 2,
Taman Kampar Siswa

Cendol Padang Ipoh: new twist to favourite cendol

cendol with durian

 I  love a good bowl of cendol. I could still remember enjoying a nice bowl of cendol pulut in Klang or sitting in Donald n Lily for cendol with gula melaka. Of course, the usual day by day cendol is good enough to withstand my cendol withdrawal symptoms, and once in a while we would find a cendol gem here in our backyard. One of the stall which remain my favourite is the one near KK Pasir Pinji, just beside the road. However, more often than not, we will always find the usual mediocre ones or worse, the ones with expensive price with just a mouthful of cendol.

So, one fine night, while cruising around in the area of Ipoh field, me and Colleen chance upon this small shop. The weather was super hot, so we could not resist the temptation of a bowl of cendol although the place appeared deserted at 8pm. Cendol Padang Ipoh is just beside the Ipoh field near St Michael school. These shops used to be office to lawyers, engineers and so on before the renovated the place for eateries. Situated in old town, in the same row as Hong Kong bank, this is the row of old shops which face the field directly. The same row of shops accommodates Old Town White Coffee, and used to hold a famous steamboat shop. This row of shops, once upon a time, is very happening, busy with many people. Some person must have meddle with the fengshui which led to the place changed into a quiet row of old shops.

Back to the cendol shop, my guess this shop used to have banana leaf rice during in the daytime, while the cendol opens from day until night. Eating cendol here is as if eating roti canai in the new mamak shop which offers 71 type of roti canai. There are no 71 flavours of cendol here, but enough choices to have me wishing to try everything. There are the usual cendol pulut, with kacang or jagung. There are also some premium cendol which the combination is creative. I would love to try the cendol with Oreo, but since there are cendol durian in the list, my choice is obvious. The cendol itself is nothing to shout about. It is definitely not the best I ever tasted. The cendol amount is rather average, but more than some places which charges sky high price. The taste is not bad, but the sugar is left me rather unsatisfied. Nothing beats a cendol with good gula melaka. However, the combination is the one which is nice. The durian meat is generous, blended rather well with the cendol. I have to say, they should promote more cendol durian in other places as well as I could see this combination being a favourite among locals.

cendol with corn

To be fair, if I am a purist, this would not even be my top ten place for cendol in Ipoh. However, given the new creative new twist to cendol, I would love to come again. At least until I finish trying all the cendol in the premium selection.

ratings: 3 poink!
comments: cendol durian, cendol Oreo. What else could I ask for?

Gunung Rapat Ramly Burger: home version of FatChoy burger

Few things some may notice on me.

1) I do not really like black pepper sauce (especially on my chicken chop). However, I really like to buy FatChoy burger from McD every year, even though its more of a gimmick to make them fatchoy instead of us.

2) I do not usually blog bout burger stall, although I had been a fan of road side burger ever since my student days. This is due to a simple reason, though most of them are good, only few are

exceptionally brilliant, and most are similar to each other.

By coincidence, we bump into this superb burger stall. Situated in Gunung Rapat Ipoh Jaya night market site, exactly in front of 7-11, is this simple burger stall manned by a young Malay chap. The stall is simple, there was not even a name on the cart, just simple Ramly burger. Yeap, there are least 3-4 burger stall along the same road, but just look for the one exactly in front of 7-11. ( the one further down the road near the specs shop is also good as well).

The burger patty is the same Ramly burger. Once grilled, the size shrunk, and the taste is good, though one can get the same taste by buying the same patty from any hypermarket. The way the patty is cooked here is not exactly the best. I had seen those who skillfully split the burger in the mid into 2 piece and grill it separately. This chap did that but rather simpler.

The bread is cooked nicely. Bit on the crispy side, so the consistency on the first bite was good. What life the burger above the rest is the sauce. Instead of the usual chilli-tomato-mayo sauce, the chap has a whole box of his own secret recipe style home made black pepper sauce. The girl in front of me even added: " bang, tambah banyak sikit balck pepper sos, OK!"... since it is much in demand, this should be good. As expected, the sauce really blend well with the whole burger. It really remind me of the McD version which comes out every year during CNY. The pepper smell is not heavy to cover the whole meat but enough for me wanting more.

Price? Rm6 for a chicken special + banjo, both "black pepper sauce tambah banyak-banyak". Good for a satisfying supper.

ratings: 3 half poink! (minus poink due to the fact much improvement can be done for the patty; and the fact I am not a fan of black pepper)

comments: gives me idea.. maybe in the future there are burger with sweet sour sauce, sweet corn sauce, white sauce....

San Chong Seng: out of this world satay

I had noticed that I seldom wrote review on my hometown Kampar. Probably we seldom eat now nowadays, and even when we did, we only frequent a few joints we were used to. And we put diversity over taste, so as long as the choice of food is a lot, even though it tasted just ok, we dun mind putting up with it. Practicality, not something I am proud of, as a food lover. Another thing that I seldom reviewed is bout stall food. Why, most of them are so medicore, I cant find anything nice (or nasty) to say bout them. However, once in a while, there are exception.

In the old town of Kampar, just behind the old bus station, the same side road as the post office, at the corner, you would find San Chong Seng coffee shop. From the outside, it is a normal coffee shop, with a few stalls, around 6-8 stalls functioning, ranging from clay pot dish, fried noodles (dai chow), chakuetiao, HK chucheongfun, wantan mee, curry mee, and some stalls I had not seen them open before. Operating in morning and also night, this is a frequent joint for the elder generation, especially on weekends for certain reason. The food here is average to the most, but there is one stall which stands above the rest.

Did not see whether there was a name to it, but the satay here is simply awesome. Simple menu, it is either chicken or beef satay, cost RM0.40 per sticks. The stall is run by a modest middle age Malay couple, who are rather friendly. Opening from 6pm, they sell until the satay is sold out, which is rather unpredictable at times. The satay, given the price, is definitely not as big as the satay kajang, but the normal satay you would find in most satay stalls. However, the meat is so juicy, not as dried as the one we tried in Serai. In comparison, those in Serai felt like the satay was harvest from Ethiopia, although the size was bigger. It was marinated so well, that the taste was equally good in every bite. The satay was cooked just nice, with minimal charred, and the meat did not stick to the stick. Even by looking at it, you would know this is definitely a A class satay. The only drawback was the sauce. Although it is filled with nut, I preferred mine hotter. The satay is served with cucumber, minus the onion, which is fine with me, cause I dont eat raw onion anyway.

Overall, this had been one of the best satay experience we ever had, second only to the ones in Cameron Highlands, Brinchang. The taste is rather consistent, making this our staple food whenever we visit this coffee shop.

ratings: 4 half poink!

comments: the sauce not enough, and not hot enough. Put those Satay Kajang wannabe to shame.

Serai Satay Kajang: huge disappointment

I used to remembered the days when we, while in uni, would drive all the way to Kajang for their satay. true to the legend, satay Kajang is one class on its own. the meat is HUGE, juicy, and just to take a few would be suffice for a dinner, even for someone as big size as me.

it had been years, and multiple satay kajang wannabe had sprouted everywhere. the one we tasted in Uptown, PJ was rather similar though the size had shrunken. similarly one satay kajang had open in Ipoh, near Tesco. however, the service was rumoured to be bad, the waiting time was exceptionally long, causing us to stay away from this joint.

imagine my surprise that one satay Kajang outlet was open recently in Gunung Rapat. just opposite MacD, KFC this shop is tucked at the side road. just go around, and u wont miss the SATAY KAJANG billboard. although the name of the shop SERAI was easily missed out. the deco is clean, with the smoking zone outside the shop. not bad, so thoughtful.

then again, the most important thing is the food. come the satay, it was rather fast, compare to the other counterpart. alas, the size is just as same as the other satay. the taste is not exceptionally good. it cost RM0.80 for a normal chicken, beef satay. rather expensive, the size is not bigger at all. it is rather dry, with some burnt meat. the sauce was bit on sour. which was bit odd. like authentic satay kajang, the sauce comes in 2 bowl. the usual kacang sauce with the hot sauce for u to mix it with. the sour part was bit turnoff. not good.

we tried something on the side dish. nasi lemak ibu...hmmm, that sounded different. but when it arrived, it is just a normal nasi lemak. RM 4++ for a normal plate of nasi lemak. without any chicken or beef or sotong. the taste was normal, not too bad, but for that kind of price and restaurant, i expect something better. heck, even tesco nasi lemak taste better.

the trip was rather disappointing that after that, we went to pasar malam for some better food.

ratings: 2poink!

comments: unless desperate, or u wan to bring someone to a decent place for satay, avoid this place. totally forgettable.

Restoran Haji Ghani: candidate for the best roti canai!

Roti canai: one of the most forgettable food, always taken for granted. maybe its because of the cheap ingredients? the low price? BUT the simpler the food, the more difficult to master it...

mamak joint had been the fav hanging out place everywhere, so again, it will be taken for granted. and then again, there was so many around, in all the corners, the most inconvenient to the most convenient place. it had become part of our lives.

so rarely would i want to review any mamak joint for its roti canai.... it will be like reviewing bowl of white rice. ... then again, would it? roti canai had come a long way, from the humble beginning of roti kosong to the modest roti pisang, planta, bom, tisu, to the slightly more extravangant roti salad (which actually is coleslaw) to now, tens of tens of different variety.

here in Restoran Haji Ghani, in Bandar Baru Kampar, which boast so many types of roti canai that they practically had few pages on the menu just dedicated to rotia canai... until i cant recall the number. was it 70? it is just behind the Grand Kampar Hotel. if u r turning in from the main Kampar-Ipoh main road, just turn right after Petronas. the crowd will show u the exact location.

it is an extension to Restoran Ghani, i presume, which situation more deep in Bandar Baru. service here is the norm for any mamak stall. few fellas running around taking order, settling the bill. the ordering part is ok. but it takes relatively long time for the order to come, n even longer for the fella to come to settle the bill.

however, the roti canai makes the service bearable. the range would be from slightly more than RM1 to Rm 5-6 depending on the type of roti u order. it could be the simple roti to the usual fare. feel free to be more adventurous and order some roti like roti vietnam. my personal fav would be roti masala with masala potato wrap in roti canai. took roti maggi the other day, with practically maggi mee wrap in roti canai, cut into bite-able size with mayo on top... well, the possibility are endless. n wat it makes it all out of this world is the roti canai. its one of the best one done. crisp, not so oily, and the consistency is perfect.

wat about the other food? forget about it. its not worth it, u can definitely find better ones.

ratings: 4 poinks for the roti canai, but if u r here for the other food, it will drop to 2 poinks.

comments: the roti canai is just out of this world. must try.