Food galore.... on Jalan Alor!

Friends, Neighbors, Countrymen, lend me your stomachs! I come bearing news of great taste from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

This is my ninth month staying abroad at my home away from home, and my fourth time coming back to South East Asia to accompany my girlfriend/fiancee/wife Karen (other years 2006, 2008, and 2010) on an Asian excursion. For those last three years, I do not think she has ever offered to take me into the big city for some full day exploration, save a few trips to search for a phone (Sony Ericsson K850i, may you R.I.P). It took a letter notifying her family that electricity will be shut down for a whole day to coordinate temporary living arrangements in light of the tropical humidity and discomfort of sleeping. For this reason we decided on a nice hotel located right on the main strip of tourism in the city center of Kuala Lumpur - Jalan Bukit Bintang (translation: "Road Star Hill") as opposed to just picking one near my workplace.

Our choice of the Royale Bintang was quite a find, as it provided Karen and I the opportunity to explore with more flexibility as opposed to trying to catch the LRT back home before it got too late. Being in a prime location right on the strip, we found navigation around the city very easy and convenient, and also very safe. During our booking process, there were conversations to sample the food on a famous street known for it's scrumptious street food called Jalan Alor (translation: "Road Alor"). Some research online gave us a glimpse of the better hawker stalls within the "dai chow" (translation: "big fry", 大炒) restaurants at night. We slimmed down our choices and decided on the more frequently mentioned ones...

Our first foray into the foodie trip was a hawker stall called "Ming Kee" (明记) apparently known for its bbq pork ("叉燒"), and boy did it satisfy our pork cravings...

Karen and I enjoyed this meal which consisted of the following:
1) One serving of 叉燒 - bbq pork
2) One serving of 白切鸡  - steamed chicken
3) One serving of 炸蒜生菜 - Boiled lettuce with fried garlic
4) Two bowls of 油饭 - Oil rice
5) Two bowls of 湯 - Soup

The best part was the 叉燒, which came very fresh as the chef had just brought it out of the roaster. The initial cuts provided a fragrant aroma of sweetness and barbecue. The meat came right off when you separated it with a fork and spoon, and the taste was like "buttery softness with crispy sweet caramelized charred skin" (as detailed by Karen). The chicken was was typical of your chicken rice varieties around Malaysia, but my wife said the texture was "too slippery" (跣) for her. I guess the seven years with my parents and family didn't prepare her enough for meat done just right....

The rice was nice, not too oily for its namesake but with enough fragrance that you could have one more portion if you can take it. Finally the broth was a 猪骨 ("pork bone") variety and provided a balance to the savory sweetness of the main dishes. Overall the cost of the meal for two people was RM33 (~US11), and together with a cool Soya (豆奶) and a Cincau (仙草), we paid RM37 (~US12). Not bad for a very filling meal. 

Next up, we had ourselves a great dinner experience in the later hours of the day, and after some more searching and analysis, came to decide on a place called Restaurant Cu Cha (粗茶) since that was where the reviews, as well as the crowds, were heading. At this establishment we experienced a hybrid hawker/大炒 experience - usually at a hawker station you would order a la carte from individual vendors, and once the food came you would pay at that moment, for the 大炒 level, you ordered all your food, ate, and settled payment after the meal. Apparently this restaurant combines various vendors together and provides you with a fairly comprehensive menu. 

Restoran Cu Cha signboard along Jalan Alor	Cu Cha menu cover to invite passer-by's to browse offerings
Lemon Cream Spareribs 三味香酥骨(RM19/US6)	Fried Rice 炒 饭 (RM7/US2 per head)
Fried Brinjals (eggplant) w/dry shrimp 蝦米茄子(RM10/US3)	Crispy beancurd 招牌豆腐 (RM13/US4)

 * Each dish was portioned & priced based on amount requested. For instance, all our small portions served 2-3 people, and prices adjust accordingly 

The fried rice contained chinese sausage (臘腸) some type of beans and shrimp. They charged per head so there is no worries about over ordering, as they usually know how much to prepare unless you specify otherwise. The fried brinjals provided a fairly greasy interpretation of healthy eating, and was drowning a bit in that bad stuff, the taste was not too bad though. The crispy beancurd was not an ordinay tofu dish - Karen and I think there was some seafood mixed into it for a more rugged consistency. They gave mayonnaise and some sweet chili sauce for condiments. Finally the highlight was definitely the lemon cream spareribs. A small order contained six, which was ample for two diners. they deep fried some pork ribs and then smothered it in some lemony sweet dressing. There was a good portion or meat on the bones (with all due respect to the anorexics out there) and the sauce complimented very well.

At the end we also ordered a Malaysian specialty dessert called "Air Batu Campur (ABC), which is a localized shaved ice serving with various toppings. All you do when you get it is mix up the toppings with the shaved ice and syrups, and then enjoy after a hot meal to cool your palette Altogether the meal cost
Total for the meal,  came to RM49/US16, plus dessert RM5/US1.5, came to just a smidgen over RM50 (US18). Not too shabby for a filling morsel with pretty decent service time and no-frills dining.

At night time, when Jalan Alor really heats up (in more ways than one), we had the urge to try the famous roast chicken wings that people kept raving about at Restoran W.A.W (initials stand for Wong Ah Wah). Again, this is a join venture type of establishment where multiple stalls make food for the patrons and I guess they share in the profits, while retaining their own share too (???) Anyways, we tried their chicken wings, and they were not too bad. You could buy a pair for RM5/US1.5, and they split the whole wing between the wing itself and the drum portion. We went double for RM10/US3 and we liked the nice roasting process they gave each wing. However upon eating at the hotel, we discovered some under cooking in some of the wings. Needless to say we didn't eat 100% of the snack. Overall not bad. It looks like they bathed it in bbq sauce or something, but in actuality they just marinate it, and let the mechanism do its just (although we wished it did a more complete job...).

Roasting the chicken wings at Restoran W.A.W.

Roasted chicken wings cut and wrapped in newspaper... with plastic lining too of course...

You can't really see it in the picture, but they wrap up your take-away order in newspaper... which caught Karen by surprise, and you could tell in her eyes that she was about to tell me "Kent, you eat it! I'm not touching that!". Fortunately, we discovered that they followed sanitation codes somewhat and actually wrapped within a plastic sheet prior to laying it into the newspaper. Good thing too, I wasn't going to eat all four portions myself.

Finally our KL-excursion came to an end on Sunday morning, first with an okay breakfast brunch provided by the hotel, and an last-trip to Jalan Alor for a sampling of the roast pork 燒肉, this time at another frequently reviewed hawker station called Keung Kee but I do not remember the Chinese name for it. We decided to give a comparison test of the 叉燒 as well to determine if they are better than the ones we had at 明记 the afternoon before.

Our impression of the 燒肉 was that it gave a moist texture and didn't suffer from over-roasting that plagues other establishments, especially closer to home (Petaling Jaya, not Boston, MA...) There was a good serving again, and the usual rice plus soup combination definitely helped to soak up the greasy goodness. On the other hand, the 叉燒 definitely needed some more work to match the quality of the initial stall. Taste-wise, there wasn't much differences, still sweet, still charred, and still flakes off... however the meat was not as tender and we felt that perhaps this guy is better off staying with the roast pork. We weren't too disappointed in the results and tastes, the meal per person came out to only RM6/US2, and multiplied times two, and it's still a good deal. We would still pay for quality though...

Keung Kee bbq roast pork... not as good as the ones from 明记

燒肉 from Keung Kee

All in all this was a decent trip for us. We got to discover the true Kuala Lumpur food experience, not just the local area that has besieged us the last nine months =). I actually was looking forward to this trip, and in the end we both came away happy and sedated with the coma that only great food can provide and instill. We hope to make another trip, and try out other delicacies along the way after the year, as we have some other things to look forward to, and one of them is named... well... I guess you will all have to wait and see... here's to September 21, 2012 (+/- 2 weeks...). In the meantime, as Andrew Zimmern once said, "If it looks good... eat it!"

Kent 2012 August 12

Long overdue blog post....Osaka, Hong Kong and Macau

This next blog entry is long overdue. I blame it on a combination of work and pregnancy related issues. In anycase, I do want to share with you our recent travels around Asia.

Our first stop would be in Osaka, Japan. We arrived on a blistery and cold February Friday afternoon in Osaka. Kent was to take his CPA exam the next day so we just spent the day getting used to the subway system and exploring the local eats. Since Kent and I are rather food-centric souls, the blog would include pictures of food.

Our first meal in Osaka was at a Japanese Curry Restaurant that we stumbled upon. It was good but somewhat lackluster compared to the ones I have had in Boston.  I might just be saying it though given the fact that I was about 2 months pregnant and was experiencing significant amounts of nausea and fatigue.

Dinner in Osaka


It was not as easy getting around Osaka as I would like since most street and subway signs were all in Japanese. Thank goodness Kent knows some conversational Japanese! Despite our limited ability to converse and interpret the language, we did manage to sneak in some sightseeing, namely to Osaka Castle which is really beautiful, even in the start of winter. We also had the opportunity to dress in some traditional Japanese garments and saw some Bunraku puppets. And of course, we ate! Here are some pics of our Osaka visit.



The moat surrounding Osaka Castle



More scenes of Osaka Castle



Kent and I in front of Osaka Castle





In traditional Japanese wear.....not the most comfortable..especially those wooden clogs!



Lunch At Yoshinoya, a fast-food Japanese chain



Kent eating some Japanese mochi balls




A Bunraku puppet



Teatime!

Kent happy with his meat platter (with Wagyu beef)

Fast forward a few months and our next trip included Hong Kong and Macau. I was around 5 months pregnant at that time and the nausea and fatigue were mainly issues of the past. Of course, nausea and fatigue may be from days yonder but then bloating and ill-fitting clothes were my next visitors. I didn’t take as many pictures in Hong Kong since both Kent and I have been there before. The Hong Kong trip was mainly to visit relatives from Kent’s side. We did, however, make a trip to a coastal town in Hong Kong called Sai Kung and had really good seafood there. And we got to pose with some critters from the sea!

Sai Kung Seafood Galore

Posing with some critters from the sea

Next up on our travels was Macau. In a nutshell, Macau was a down-sized,  less glitzy version of Las Vegas. While I was not impressed with their casinos, I did enjoy the Portuguese architecture that was scattered around the city. It sort of reminded me of my jaunts around Europe after med-school (I simply must visit Europe again someday).  And of course, I did enjoy those yummy morsels called Portuguese egg tarts.

Walking the streets of Macau

Architecture around Macau

In front of the ruins of St. Paul.

Baked rice for lunch

Portuguese Egg Tarts

So there you have it, our travels so far. Would we have traveled more? Absolutely….but life threw a different plan our way and our travels are on hold while we await the arrival of Baby Wong, whom, as I speak, is around 30 weeks and kicking up a storm!

Untl next time, take care!



Semi-annual clearance! semi-annual freakout!

Hello all,

So I have hit the six-month milestone for living abroad. I left shortly after Thanksgiving last year from Boston, stayed a few days in Los Angeles before finally departing on the last day of November. By the time I reached Asia, it was already day 2 into December. Quite some things have happened along the way, and hopefully you have following along somehow (no particular order, with some significant highlights of course).

1) Inter-Asia travel - I finally have the opportunity to make trips to some destinations that were reserved for long haul trips across the Pacific, but having lived in this part I find that the jet lag is not noticeable much. Karen and I made a visit to Osaka, Japan, mainly because of my exam taking restrictions, and it definitely was an experience. I wish there was more diversity of travel though (see below)
 

2) Local culture/customs - ...and I thought Boston traffic conditions sucked... here in the valley, basically EVERYONE drives, and not in a professional well trained manner. You have speed demons hitting sleeping police, dangerous navigation of curved roads, and lack of road manners. Boston seems mild compared to this. The public transportation is years behind even the most primative systems in the US, and the government here takes money for pet projects. Malls are very big here. They recently opened one literally in our backyard, and it's an eyesore and a poorly planned piece of development. It just makes the current bottlenecking worse, since it's essentially right off a major highway artery. Karen and I joke that they should just rename the country "Mall-aysia", and that's not supposed to be a humorous pun. 

3) Food - It's a Muslim culinary dream, and a pork lover's nightmare... why do I say that? Unless you are in a Chinese food court, "kopitiam", then you will not find anything related to pig, or alcohol for that matter.

I have had to adjust to the fact that pork ribs are few and far between in shopping areas, and that there are no guarantees you will even find US standard quality at the fast food places.

When you think of this country, you think of a food mecca, which is true, but you factor in that much of the food is lacking in a particular oinky essence, and you have to wonder, "why???" Still, when it comes to local comfort food, nothing beats Chicken Rice or Banana Leaf Rice. You still have to wonder how they make the chicken "cha siew bao" taste rather true to the original pork version though.
 

 4) New faces, new places - Of course I still miss everyone back home. There's nothing more important than seeing some familiar personalities from decades long relations. Yes, it has been more than ten years for most of you, hope that your life includes some new bonuses, or news you can share. As for me, I've managed to round up a decent bunch here, and they are all fairly local, which I find funny at time since I try to understand their sense of humor. Very good folks though, not extreme in any sense, but have a strong sense of opinions much of the time. Also have some church folks from the services my in-laws attend for community outreach and development. But that damn LDP... oh my goodness...

  

How is everyone doing, by the way?
 

 5) Drum Roll please - So the biggest news, and newest news, is probably the fact that Karen and I are expecting in September. We are excited, and just took the first major step in parenthood with the purchase of a play/sleep pen. It was not totally unexpected, as we were intending to start a family of our own in due time... our little one will experience Asia first hand although she probably won't remember any of it by the time we are ready to return to our true home. As a form of subtlety, it will be a girl.

 It also has nothing to do with the year of the Dragon hehe.By the next year, we will be looking forward to almost two years in the country, and for Karen it will be two plus, and for the little one, maybe one full year to celebrate a birthday???
 

...Yes, I admit that Malaysia is a nice place, and it truly is Asia, but nothing makes you feel more comfortable than a house you can claim as yours, a culture that doesn't depend fully on building malls all over the place with monotonous and redundant products, and the simple fact that Karen has already adopted Boston as her place to be going forward, and for me to help make that happen, along with the upcoming attraction. Here's to the first six months, and hopefully a quick passage of time for six more plus.
 

Kent

UPDATE: April showers bring May flowers... and welcoming a new water dragon!

Hello all from Southeast Asia!

It has been a long and tedious process (in more ways than one), but finally have hit paydirt! Let's start off with some important announcements and recent developments on our side of the globe:

After a long and somewhat drawn out process due to administrative beauracracy, I have finally made it to IBM Malaysia as part of the Asia Pacific Accounting team! My responsibilities will involve management and review of the financial controls process associated with all transactions dealing with the clients around the Asia-Pacific region, and it will definitely be a challenge I look forward to surpassing over the next year. In addition, I also managed to network with some locals who all seem fairly friendly and helpful. I learn from them, and at the same time they look to me for a different perspective on how to manage business and social queues. This being my first week, they loaded our itineraries with orientation related tasks and general familiarity with the IBM culture. Coincidentally IBM Malaysia just celebrated their 50 anniversary in 2011, and for the next 50 years they hope to make alot more value added products and services to cater to their clientele. Wish me luck in being part of that team to make things happen!

So as most of you know, I am currenty pursuring my US CPA licensure, but as a unique case I am doing it from overseas, and the closest location to where I am now is Japan to offer the testing facilities required for certification policies. As this is the case, I need to fly to Japan every so oftern in order to fulfil the requirements of the licensure steps. My window of complete fulfillment on all four parts of the examination before I become certified is 18 months, and it started back in October 2011. That means I have until April 2013 to make good on the remaining three sections. I have one trip scheduled for the end of May, after Karen's birthday, and hoping that will be a success. Of course with my new found position with IBM, and the rigors of a demanding work schedule coming my way over the next year, it will definitely be something I have to take to task.

 

Finally, I know many of you were wondering before I left New England, about where life would take Karen and myself over the next two years or so. Well, to start off, it was a moment to reflect on those who we would miss hanging out with, seeing family, and reminiscing about the local flavors that would be in short supply while we were overseas, to mention just a few. Next we had to deal with the matter of future planning, in the grand scheme of things - especially starting a new life in a semi new country/culture. While we don't want to provide spoilers to coming attractions, it is important to stress the fact that none of you should worry too much about when we intended to start a family of our own, and to make sure you have some extra space in case we do come around to visit again in the near future... and for those with what I call 小朋友 in your households, I do hope that they are in the mood of sharing hehe.

So in a nutshell, I finally have a job in Malaysia, still studying and preparing for certification, and at the same time trying to manage everything around a new bundle of joy. Things are falling in to place, it's just a matter of us getting used to all the changes surrounding. All of our worldwide family and friends, as well as past colleagues are in our hearts, and we definitely hope to see all of them again sometime in the near future. Whatever life brings all of you in the coming months, just know that we never forget, and that we look forward to reconnecting.

A note from Karen: Sorry to have been so quiet lately but lots of things have been happening. The past few months I have been plaqued with fatigue and nausea (for good reason) and was really in a real apathetic mood.  I did not want to do anything or go anywhere because of the constant feeling of tiredness and the nausea. To make things worse, I developed an aversion to eggs and anything dairy related (and I do love my yogurt and cheese). However, now that second trimester is here, I've been feeling loads better with those dreaded symptoms gone. Won't say much now since Kent already spoke but we are eagerly awaiting our Baby Wong (aka Wonglet) to arrive in September.

Chinese New Year 2012

So here it is...a better late than never post of Chinese New Year in Malaysia. It's long overdue for me at lieast, since it has been 10 years since I last celebrated CNY in Asia. On the eve of the festival, we went over to my grandma's house for the reunion dinner.

The pic on top is a dish that is eaten once a year during CNY particularly in Singapore and Malaysia. It's called yu-sang and it's essentially a mixed, pickled fruit salad. Because my grand-aunt and grandma do not eat raw fish (which is traditionally eaten with the salad), we opted for jellyfish instead. The tradition is that the salad is tossed by everyone in the family, with everyone proclaiming a wish for the new year and the idea is that the higher the toss, the better. So as you can imagine, it becomes a very noisy and even more messy ritual.

Here's Kent and I posing with the yu sang on a very big plate!

Mixing the yu sang:

The rest of the food served that day during the reunion dinner. From the top row, left to right, we have stir-fried leeks, asam prawns, brocolli with "tunku" and "fatt choy". At the lower row, we have roast duck, a version of the Nyonya "Pong Teh" chicken and sweet and sour fish.



And of course, the new year wouldn't be complete without a pic of the two "golden oldies"; my 96-year old grand-aunt (left) and my 94-year old grandma (right).

Have a good water dragon year!!

A day in KL

We usually do not venture into Kuala Lumpur (or KL as it is fondly known) simply because the suburb where we live has basically everything we need. But occasionally, we do venture into KL for the museums and if we want to do something "artsy-fartsy".

Kuala Lumpur is the federal district; surrounding Kuala Lumpur are various towns and cities that make up the Klang Valley (a population of roughyl 8million inhabitants). Think downtown Boston surrounded by the various towns and cities that make up Greater Boston.

http://www.wikitravel.org/

Above is a picture of the Klang-Valley Transit System. As you can see, it is a busy conglomerate of different transit lines taking one to the various towns and cities all over the Klang Valley. If you follow the pink line, you will see that one of the final stops is a place called Kelana Jaya. This is where we live. Follow the pink line further and it will take you to a stop called KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center). And where does this stop leads you? Well, right into the Petronas Twin Towers.

The Petronas Twin Towers is the tallest twin-building structures in the world (yes, even taller than the ill-fated World Trade Center if it was still standing), with over 88 floors of occupied office space. At the botton of the Petronas Twin Towers is the famed, glorious shopping mall called KLCC. This is like fifth-avenaue in New York packed into one. Think Tiffany's, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Faberge and the likes. The mall is also home to Petrosains, a science museum and Aquaria, KL's aquarium. Beyond the towers and the mall is a green oasis of trees and grass which provides a nice retreat from the afternoon heat. One can even bring your kids and wade in the public pool.

The pictures above shows you the Chinese New Year decor that is present at all the shopping malls in the Klang Valley and likely the whole nation. And being the year of the dragon, dragon decor is abundant!

So, of course, being geeks that we are, we decided to check out the Petrosains one weekend. And of course, being Chinese, Kent wanted to see if he could get us free entrance to the museum. He realised that by being a member of the Museum of Science in Boston; the Petrosains in Kuala Lumpur allowed complimentary admission. Woohoo for us! We were not allowed to take pictures in there and hence, no pics. But we do recommend a visit should you are ever in the area. While most things are catered to children, we did find things to do as adults.

Later, we went to have lunch at a new eatery called Pepper Wok. At this eatery, you choose the meat and the seasoning and you basically mix the food up in your own sizzling platter. I had curry chicken with cheese platter while Kent had some rice and beef dish.

Waiting to dig into our lunch

After lunch, we walked around the mall a little bit and then went to try a new Hong Kong dessert shop called Tong Pak Fu. We have been wanting to try this place for a while but never found the time (or parking spot!). Plus this place was always packed! We were glad we gave this place a try. The desserts were very good. I had a chilled mango soup with grass jelly, sago and pomelo while Kent had milk shaved ice with tapioca pearls, grass jelly and honeydew balls.

So there you have it, a nice day out in KL. Good company and good food. Drop by sometime, and we'll go galivanting as well.

Next post will be about CNY (chinese new year) in Malaysia. It's been getting very busy over here with all the festivities and preparations. Hopefully we will be able to post a blog before January ends. Till then, have a good week and see you soon.