[ closed ]Little Kitchen: nice average simple meal

We were really stumped where to find decent dinner at times. Some wanted comfort aircon, some wanted chinese, some wanted western tinge, so it may not be easy to find a size to fit all. Considering the comfort, usually it would be those fusion kopitiam style of joints, with the normal Chinese taichow style of dishes with some chops, pasta, and even with sometimes some japs/ korean mix.

Since, Bandar Baru Kampar is currently

mushrooming this kind of joints, we just

drove around to see which one was not tried

before. Tucked in the square near KamJing, Purple Forest, 21st; Little Kitchen is just in the same row as KongHin, the dimsum shop, next to the dentist. You can enter the shop via the front door, or the backdoor, which is exactly opposite Grand Kampar Hotel. You wont miss the red billboard with a pair of fork and spoon. Nicely design board, if you ask me.

The shop itself is rather compact. Small. Crowded with students most of the time. But this itself gave a cosy homely feel to the shop. The kitchen is in the middle of the shop. Service was rather fast, despite the shop is full of patrons. Aircon is not cold enough though given it is always full.

Menu: what can I say, the usual chinese variants of dishes. Really extensive list of Chinese dishes. Like the usual taichow. There is a decent list of western fusion type of dishes as well, the usual chops and rice. There is no beef served though. Most of the set cost RM5-6, and the dishes cost less than RM10. You can tell that it is geared towards students.

Overall, the dish is not bad. Mine was Mandarin style (Jingdao) pork slice with rice. The sauce is rather nice. Bit sour with more sweet, like the pork rib king style of sauce. The meat is rather generic as you can tell. Simple meat deep fried with flour. It is the sauce which save the dish. Dad's sweet and sour fish slice with rice was bit of a letdown as the sauce is not tasty enough. Felt like a cheap tomato sauce. You cant really taste the fish either, more of flour. Mum ordered HongKong style pork chop rice. Basically it is just sweet and sour sauce, which again, did not impress me. The meat was marinated better this time though. But still generic. Aunt's Mandarin style chicken chop was rather small. The sauce was good, which was the saving grace.

Overall, the food is on par with others, average at the most, but sometimes, less is more. It felt simple, decent if not asking for more. The price and the patrons would already tell you that you would expect the same chicken or pork readily fried, and served with different sauce for different dishes.

ratings: 3 poink!

comments: feeling generous today, food was average, but service is nice, shop is cosy. That help the dinner to be rather simple and nice.

Tammys Kitchen: hidden little gem

Sometimes, you would find gem hidden

somewhere. This is how it felt when we went looking for food around. We were driving around the area of Ipoh Garden East to Tambun, near where Citrus is. Tucked in one rather abandoned row of shops, was this little shop. It used to be some shop called Lavender if I was not mistaken which was not so good earlier. No wonder it didnt withstand the test of time and gave way for new shop. So, you can imagine my

reluctance to enter the new shop which took over Lavender: Tammy's Kitchen. Just drive all the way from JJ/ Tesco towards Tambun, passed Citrus, and you would find the restaurant on your right.

First, the shop is rather simple, with just few posters of food on the wall, and few tables and chairs around. There are not so many people around either given probably this shop started business not so long ago. Service was rather swift, given we were the one of the 2 patrons here.

Menu is typical western, not so much fusion. Pasta, chops, steaks, bread and some of the cheese baked dishes, plus some local favourite. Impressive lists actually given the many many so called fusion or kopitiam style shops mushrooming everywhere. (Old Town was nearly every corner of the street where you turn to. )

Not many people around, so was really imagining whether would be a good choice to stay and eat here. Then came the starters. Mash potato was the usual powder made ones, which initially not impressive at all. Still, noone had surpassed Williams mamak in Kelana Jaya in that sense. However, the first bite proved my impression wrong. The gravy was nicely done, with generous herbs in the taste. It just felt good in my mouth. Drawback, for RM5, I would expect more scoop rather than one.

Grilled chicken chop was rather simple. Costing RM 10. 50, it was simple piece of chicken served with fries. Nothing to shout about though. The chicken was typically done with mushroom sauce. Average tops. The third dish to come out was my cheese baked chicken rice. The chicken was not generous, neither was the amount of rice. Not much of cheese either, unlike the ones I found in Airport which was flowing out. The rice was fried first with herbs, making the whole ingredients blended together so nicely. Not too cheesy, but the herbs really brings out the fragrance of the rice with a tinge of cheese. That itself is worth the visit. The price was not exactly cheap though at RM 11.90.

Overall, the food was average at some, and surpass my expectations at some. Comparing to lots of the newly opened joints, this certainly is a gem. One of the better western food joint around with reasonable price. Hope the jinx will not stay and this shop will last longer.

ratings: 3 poink!

comments: I am a sucker for anything cheese baked dish, so as long the shop made it well, I would give it higher ratings.

Tammys Kitchen

7, Hala Bandar Baru Tambun 18,

Desa Tambun Indah

017-4873728

Xmen first class: not exactly top, but still first class ride

I am always biased when reviewing super hero movies, especially the ones which I knew. Ghost riders sucks bad, since I used to followed Johnny Blaze adventure. I love Xmen the first movie as it really capture the essence of Xmen although it does took some liberty with the story. However, it went out of control and really kill the premise by third movies.

Like comic book, no death stay dead for long. Take Xmen first class for example, this work not like a reboot but rather like a prequel. I was not exactly familiar with the origin story, but some check online showed that this definitely is NOT the true origin story. The character did exist, everyone was there except that I did not check up the Darwin guy and the pixie. Not interested at all. Even the CIA agent checked out (but in the real comic, she ended up being a doctor rather than an agent).

OK. The story basically followed how Charles Xavier met Magneto and teamed up with CIA to go against Kevin Bacon who wanted to start World War III by pitting Russia and US. Throw in some side story of character development for some depth. I can accept that Prof X was a bit flirtatious, probably that is more logical considering he can read peoples mind. If I were to have that gift, I would use it to my advantage in reading the female gender. Magneto is trying to control his anger and revenge for his mothers death. And how he changed to someone who champions mutants right is still acceptable, but bit farfetch. Mystique was portrayed as someone who is confused is also not too unbelievable. The younger mutants, Havok, Banshee was not too irritating either. So overall, the side story development was not too revolting making the whole origin story believable.

Of course, the action was not too bad, but do not expect Transformer kind of CGI here. The drawback was they try too much in developing everyone, that it still lack the depth of the story. The 2 main character was nicely done, but somehow, you eager for more when leaving the cinema. I would also prefer the angle where mutants were treated as outcast to be explored, which was shoved down our throat abruptly in the end. Not good.

Overall, a good movie, compare to the current summer offerings. However, I expected more for Xmen, then again, after Xmen 2, Xmen 3, this is clearly first class.

ratings: 3 half poink!

comments: no gambit no good. however, if they do gambit like the way they portray him in Wolverine, I rather not having him in any movies.

ChanSiewHeng: interest renewed

I kept on having friends asking me where to get nice claypot chicken rice in Kampar. Yeap, it is one of the famous export Kampar is proud of. I was reluctant each time to give my comment. 2 reasons: one, there is so many claypot chicken rice here and there, everywhere, some even boast of Kampar origin, and they really taste rather well, surpassing some stalls in Kampar as well. The one came to my mind was the claypot chicken rice near Atria, PJ. Then again, the shop was a descendant from Kampar anyway. second, most of the chicken rice taste similar, with subtle differences, and it is this subtle differences make or break a claypot chicken rice. Everyone has their own favourite so my cup of tea would not taste as good as for you. Then again, people still bug me for a name.

It is not usual to eat claypot chicken rice often, so we decided to bring mum and dad for a treat on a weekend. Though this is not the shop we frequently patron, but it still climb the list fast. Chan Siew Heng is situated in Kampar old town, Jalan Idris, parallel to the main road Jalan Gopeng. Somewhere mid of the town, it is just next to the old Bank Bumiputra or ZhongSan cinema. For someone new to Kampar, look out for the new TuneTalk corner shop, and just beside it, it is this shop. It may take some time to look for it, since it does not have the big billboard as other shops, but just an old Chinese board on top of the shop.

If memory serve me correct, this shop had been around since I was a kid. As far as memory bring me. Although I recalled there used to be lots of Indians to patron this shop. There still has a lot of Indian patrons here, but equally lots of locals and Chinese from other places come as well. The shop itself is rather old, remnants from the old kopitiam style. It is relatively clean as well, but I do prefer more lighting. There is only claypot chicken rice here, nothing else sold.

Now, lets get down to business, the chicken is cut to small pieces, which I prefer, but I have been to shop with more generous offering. The taste was up to par with others, not overly salty. The rice itself is one knot up from the rest, clearly more fragrant, the smell that can be only achieved via claypot. There is minimal burnt rice though which really take some skill to achieve. To strike a balance between not to overburn the rice and yet adequate "burnt" smell is not easy. The taste is good, and the best part is, it is not very oily. Clean, tasty, and nice. That is what goes through my mind. Big claypot will cost RM9 and the small one cost RM4.50. The portion of big pot is good enough to feed 4 of us. Not bad. Put in either salty fish or chinese sausages will set the price back for another RM2, which is reasonable for me. The vege, though not as tasty as others, is rather healthy without much oil there. Something my dad would like.

Overall, this is definitely one of the better offering Kampar can offer for claypot chicken rice. Not the best on my list, but definitely the top for some.

rating: 4poink!

comments: this shop has exist more than 2 generations, it does have its reason for staying so long.

Soon Lee Bakuteh

Sorry for the long absence, I had been away, for my annual trip abroad to Bali, of course, the review and itinerary will be coming up soon. So, once back, one of the first few things to do is to update the blog.

Of course, we still would stick to the food close at home. It was sti

ll nice to come out with colleagues on a saturday morning to enjoy early brunch. But bakuteh for brunch? Wouldnt it be too heavy. In addition to that, I was still trying to shed the weight I gained in Bali. Then again, was finishing the book Teohlogy, by Patrick Teoh, who always quote in " we always have better bakuteh than Singapore"

So, SoonLee, here we come. Situated in Pasir Pinji, near the main road, beside one of the school, the place is flocked with people in the morning. Eating bakuteh in morning is not unusual for me, since I stayed in Klang/ Banting, so eating bakuteh as breakfast is a norm.

The corner shop is usual, minimal in deco, the staff running up and down to complete everyones order. The main girl in the counter was coordinating the new patrons using mic. Very pro! Felt like KL already.

The menu, bakuteh of course, the usual traditional ones, and the dry version. Plus vinegar pork hand is on the list as well. First the bakuteh is normal, full of herbs taste, not too salty. However, it was still rather light for me. Still simpler than the ones you would find in Pandarmaran, Klang though which is fill with sotong and other stuff. The vinegar pork was nice though, still I prefer it to be more vinegar. The pork hand was nicely done, though my wife would scold me for the cholesterol level. It all comes to bout RM 10 per person, considering all the food we ate, plus the chakui, it was really worth it.

ratings: 3 poink!

comments: definitely one of the better ones, though still cant beat the ones in Klang town.

Soon Lee Bakuteh

1, Jalan Temenggong, Rose Garden,

Ipoh

phone: 05-2416718