Hot Jack: surprise little gem in Pasir Puteh

Motormouth had been a reliable source of food guide. On my oncall day, where am too lazy to go far, yet yearning for some good western food, browse through motormouth website would be good for an idea where to go.

Tucked inside Pasir Puteh, along the the main road from MunChung towards Station 18 direction, the restaurant is at one of the corner on the right side of the road. If one would drive along that direction, the shop is before hitting on what used to be Shatin Food Court.

Hot Jack, a name which really belittle its food. I would have thought this would be one of those kopitiam food joint with few chicken chops as pseudo-western food. Surprise, surprise. The place is rather comfortable, staff are ample to entertain any request. The shop has more than enough air-conditioner to keep the place cool. The tables are placed in a way the shop appeared spacious. There is a continuous flow of customer, and there is a reason why.

At first, the menu came, which is just a few piece of A4 photostated paper. Ouch. Not good, but once I browse through the choice, it was a surprise. There is only very limited Asian selection, mostly rice, which is only limited to one page. The rest are rather western, mostly chicken, fish, lamb etc with the usual pasta. True, they do not served more exceptional food such as pies, or lasagna etc, but the selection of steak, chops are more than enough.

Food finally arrived, in HUGE plate, making the dish look small in comparison. But in actual fact, it is rather adequate even for someone as big as me. First, my Italian chicken chop with lemongrass (RM13.90) is really an eye opener. The meat is rather tender and juicy, not chewy at all. The taste is nice, and the sweet and sour sauce elevate the taste even further. Served with the usual coleslaw and mash potato and fries, the dish is really filling. Wife's pan grilled fish with cheese and spicy tomato with parmesan (RM 14.90) is even more impressive. The fish meat is rather thick, though the dish appeared small. The chef is never stingy with the amount of cheese, and even more parmesan on top of the dish. Each bite itself is cheesy, but not too much to cover the taste of the fish. We were so impress that we added mash potato (RM3.90) to our order. It is home made, rather than the machine made ones. It is nicely done, with some bite size chunks among the grind potatoes.

Overall, with the kind of mid range pricing, this is rather more than what we expected. The food here is definitely worth more elsewhere, and the taste is up to par with other more expensive restaurant. The food is more to mainstream though, unlike places like Tammys which rely heavily to spice and herbs (to my liking). Definitely will visit again.

Ratings: 4 poink! (additional poinks for the price), 3 half if just considering the food alone

comments: the final drawback was the 6& service charge.

Cafe Hot Jack

1, Jalan Pasir Puteh 1

New Pasir Puteh,

Ipoh05-3221090

Lunch & dinner

Pasir Pinji local burger delight!

What would you think when someone mentioned burger? Most of the time will be the burger of MacD. Some will think of the more expensive ones in Burger King. My own personal choice will be the roadside stalls, namely Ramly's Burger and its cousins. Very seldom you would find some other different ones, the last time we had one was the QQ pork burger which was rather a disaster. Also, sometimes, you would rarely get some different ones like Ninja Joes (i really miss Joes, that is why so many reference to it).

Imagine my surprise that there is this long running burger stall in Pasir Pinji selling pork burger. Wow. I must try it at once.

Deep in Pasir Pinji, just opposite Tuck Kee, beside the ChoyLeeFutt kungfu centre, is this small hut, manned by what I presume is husband and wife. Business is always brisk. You would not miss the stall as long as you find Tuck Kee because it is the only stall around that corner.

Both the pair is fast and systematic in taking order, and preparing the food. Beware though, sometimes, there is so many patrons there that one may need to wait for a while. The menu is geared towards western/ burger with oriental twist. Both chicken, beef and PORK burger. Fish burger too. Fries. Sandwiches. Basically that covers everything. Typically, one can add eggs or cheese or even double the meat patty in each burger. So far, so good. Like a typical burger stall.

Now, the food. Side dishes is ok. Tried the fries. Thanks to the oil paper, the fries is not so oily, making it one of the better ones. However, wife had been spoiling me with baked fries at home which tasted better. Then came the main heroes, the burgers. Each of the burger is prepared differently though. The pork and chicken burger is deep fried. Obviously it is home made making the taste different from the usual ones. The pork is still my favourite, since the patty is rather meaty, more like mince pork chop, nicely marinated oriental style. Simply nice! The chicken patty is made the same way too, I suppose. since it carry the same style as pork patty. The patty is obviously carry fresh chicken taste, compare to the patties sold in hypermarket. The beef patty is prepared the usual way, grilled. Tasted the same as the usual burger stall, I strongly believed it is Ramly or at least one of his distant cousin. Add egg and it really complete the package. Each burger is served with few slice of onion: really either 1-2 slice only. I am not a fan of onion so fine with me. Top it up with lots and lots of cucumber, which I do prefer over cabbage or other vege on top of my burger. Add bit of mayo, chili + tomato sauce and voila! Chinese oriental burger is served. Did not tried the fish burger so cant comment on that.

The taste? Pork burger is simply out of this world, simply because of the patty. Simply nice. The sauce and everything else on top of the patty is average tops. The bread is nice with lots of sesame but uncle really press it flat while cooking making it look like sandwich at one point. I still miss Joe's sauce on top of pork burger. The chicken burger is rather nice too, thanks to the patty but IMHO, still cant beat the pork though I do know friends who think it is simply awesome. The beef? better buy it in any burger stall near you.

Verdict? I had been here 2 weeks in a row. That would explain everything.

Ratings: 4 poink for the pork burger, 3 half for the chicken, 3 for the fries, 2half for the beef.

comments: decent and valiant effort. one of the better pork burger around if not the best in Ipoh.

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

WongKok: totally different wongkok

ipoh is full of restaurant that most of them noone had heard of. so during one of my wife's familly gathering, we went to wongkok...

wat? wongkok? aint thats the one in De Garden? .....hmmmm...rather unlikely...

so when our car turn into pasir pinji, it was to m

y surprise to find WongKok restaurant next to TuckKee. unlike the place with same name, this is a normal "fandian" or chinese restaurant. the one which cook you simple dishes to eat with rice. with pictures of abalone and aquarium of fishes, i was wishing for the star,.... this may be a gem...

then came the food....ouch. expectation comes with disappointment. the taufu consistency was too hard even though it was deep fried before. the sweet sour pork was total disaster. hard rather than felt meaty. the steamed fish was ok...... the vege was saving grace, belacan kangkung was just simply nice. the "dirty chicken" was also not bad, but after a few bite, it was rather plain.

price was ok, considering this was not a hifi restaurant. judging from the number of patrons during weekdays, probably some of them do enjoy the taste. And i dun get that... i definitely had tasted better.

ratings: 2 poink!

comments: dun take my word for it, go try it, probably if tuckkee is full, u can just walk next door.