Sundays at Sassorosso, Jalan Yap Kwan Seng

Sassorosso, a not-so-new, cute little Italian joint, is tucked in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, a bit unassuming on the outside but lovely once you enter. The good folks here (who also run Giovino's) have a Sunday lunch deal that we finally got around to trying.

We went for the semi-buffet deal (includes appetiser & soup buffet, ala carte mains and dessert). Had a hard night prior so sadly, the booze option was wasted on us (top-up RM50++ for free flow of prosecco and wines).

Here's what we missed. If you're thirsty and you know it, clap your hands!

Buffet spread of salad...

... tortilla, pasta, clams in wine broth...

...cold cuts, grilled vegetables and fresh greens. We were well stuffed by the time we worked through this. Missing in the pic was a steaming cauldron of fresh green pea soup.

Hui's Grilled Jumbo Tiger Prawns. Jumbo awright!

My Pan Fried Sea Bass with potato crust. Truffle butter sauce was a lil' weak but not a complaint really. This was well-executed.

Mei Shean's main, Pan-seared calf-liver, was a formidable deposit of vitality, oozing juice, blood on a bed of mash. Too rich for a single sitting and half of this had to go back to the kitchen.

The sweets, (clockwise from top: Millefuille, Pannacotta and Creme Brulee) went largely under-appreciated as we simply were sated beyond negotiation.

Enjoyed our afternoon at Sassorosso, and during this time, eyed plenty of families enjoying a slow, lazy ala carte lunch. The deal does come in huge portions, with great service at RM118++ per head (without the booze but with free flow of fresh juices; RM168++ with the booze, totally recommended!)

Sassorosso Italian Restaurant & Wine Retailer

9 Lorong Yap Kwan Seng

50450 KL

Tel: +603-21166 6428

http://www.sassorosso.com.my/

Dynasty Dragon, SS Two Mall

Turned away by Imperial Garden Restaurant's opening hours on a Saturday (we wanted dim sum at 10AM, they were only open at 11.30AM), we drove sulkily around the area for a dim sum joint with the unspoken caveat that it not be a Jin Xuan or a Hong Kee.

Upon reaching the gleaming anterior of SS Two Mall, we spied Dynasty Dragon and swung right in. Open at 10.30AM, with a healthy queue of families lounging about the entrance waiting to be ushered in, we brimmed with profuse confidence and self-praise for having found the place.

Early birds didn't quite get the proverbial worm here though. The orders took forever as most of the staff were actually tucking into early lunch in the main dining area. Big ups to the employer for feeding the staff properly before they tackled the lunch hordes but perhaps, they shouldn't have let the early patrons in until they were absolutely ready.

When the first of our orders finally arrived, we were off to a watery start when the century egg porridge arrived, bland, more gruel than porridge.

The Prawn Dumplings (Har Gau) did much better and reassured us that we would be taken care of, one way or another.

We liked that the Shanghai Dumplings (Siu Long Bao) came in little individual saucers to catch the precious scalding hot soup spilling out upon chopstick contact.

BBQ Pork Buns went down a treat. I'm no connoisseur but anything steaming hot and fluffy with lots of pork within is a no-brainer really.

Now THIS, Deep fried Yam puff with Scallop, variation of the classic Wu Kok, was something else. These were quite the exquisite parcels of seasoned yam with a whole fresh scallop encased, deep fried to a golden crisp and finished with a sprinkle of roe. Luscious!

Ended with a miss though... the Loh Mai Kai was way too sweet and oily to recommend.

So despite a rough start, I guess we didn't do too badly, although we could have done without the initial wait. Fairly priced at around RM46 too.

Dynasty Dragon Seafood Restaurant

Third Floor, SS Two Mall

Petaling Jaya

Tel: 03-79546328

Or their full deets, together with the five other branches' here.

Seeri Authentic Thai, SS2

This post shall serve to remind me to never repeat this recent string of weekends pretty much wasted in recovery from too much of a good time. Spent most days struggling with motion sickness at the slightest movement and remorse. Too much remorse.

Following this maligned period of time, I wanted to reward Fat Tulip for being so patient in my many hours of need, save for a truncated lecture or two about my excesses, and so we checked out Seeri Thai in SS2.

The Sambai petai prawns bowled us both over. The amount of juicy, putrid beans perspiring in perfumed gravy got us good. We couldn't stop even if we knew that the sensible thing to do was to leave some to take away for dinner.

Equally happy with the Tomyam Seafood, a heady, satisfying concoction. One of the better tomyam I've had of late.

Despite it being barely noon, they had apparently "run out" of chicken so we made do with pork to go with its Green Curry. Not disappointing enough to complain but I think they could've done the dish greater justice with fresh(er?) coconut milk.

Pretty happy with this though and well deserving of a repeat, unlike the feeble weekends prior. There is no good EVER to be had from that additional shot of liquor!

Seeri Authentic Thai
Jalan SS2/10 (Same row as Okay kopitiam and Super Kitchen, Chow Yang, SS2)
Petaling Jaya

Pure Life Organic, Kajang

Suppp Kajang!! I come this lovely Saturday not to ravage your satay supply. Nor have I travelled the distance to appraise the merchandise at Billion. I come to learn to eat and dispose, in the friendliest possible way Mother Earth could wish.

Truth is, we consume a lot of crap outside. What you don't know about the food preparation in the back end won't hurt you, but it sure makes you feel pretty damn nasty after. Pure Life Organic's proposition seems pretty straightforward and hard not to like. No preservatives, no additives, all natural, and as much as possible, they practise the concept of sustainable consumption. The menu varies everyday of the week and Saturday's greets us on the chalkboard as we arrive.

The converted residence makes for a casual cafe setting. We could sit and wonder why our tastebuds respond so differently to our bodies - what may taste like heaven to the tongue may very well be the source of some benign, but nevertheless aggravating, physical reaction in a few hours' time. But instead, we grab a staff member and make sure food is on the way.

Pure Life's organic food store in one separate wing of the establishment is busy and frequented by staunch regulars. The friendly and enigmatic owners appear to know most by name, and are always genuinely ready to engage and help. I'd like a store like this in the neighbourhood very much! Somehow, my current fresh mart/ beer guy opposite where I live isn't scoring high points for customer retention.

We have the deceptively-named Caesar Salad to start. Caesar dressing typically goes down all wrong with me. However, no such worries here because the salad is fresh and crisp and lovely with a balsamic vinegarish dressing. It's anything but Caesar!

The Mee Mamak order is a mild, almost better-groomed version than its original street counterpart. The noodles (of the buckwheat variety, I think) are buoyant to the bite and the abundance of crunchy greens and organic tofu uplifts what would have been a muted affair.

What did stay muted unfortunately was the Curry Pan Mee. It comes across as having tried too hard but missing the mark somewhat. The curry broth was a drab watery concoction and anything submerged in it would have basically failed.

We have to give the banana-leaved triangles of Nasi Lemak a shot, even if the carbs, no matter how pure and unadulterated, were starting to weigh us down. The use of brown rice means Pure Life does end up compromising the fluff factor but if we look past that, everything else, down to the sambal, makes for a decent little package.

We come to the last, and what's probably the most worthwhile part of the experience at Pure Life. Patrons are encouraged to clear their tables and take their plates through a waste-friendly 5-basin washing cycle. It begins with a rinse and scrub in the first basin, containing palm oil and coconut oil, before moving to the second basin of oiltea camelia seed powder, a cleansing agent. You repeat in the third and fourth basin before finishing with a clear water rinse in the fifth and final basin.

We think there's some way to go but Pure Life is doing something right here. It's not that hard for anyone half-sensible to appreciate the many reasons for greater personal involvement in changing the way we consume and dispose.

And guess what, the body feels great after. So great that I even pass up on Fat Tulip's offer to stop by for Kajang satay after!

Pure Life Organic

Jalan 1, Off Jalan Reko,

43000 Kajang

Tel: +603-8733 6189

Seri Petaling Seafood Village

The Boss decided she would show those willing and able a slice of neighbourhood seafood that was turning into a regular spot for her family.

Seri Petaling Seafood Village is located at an unassuming spot, on the road running somewhat parallel to the back of Carrefour. The place was brightly lit, open air and already nicely filled with diners - we switched our hungry blinkers on and listened, bright-eyed and bushy tailed while munching on peanuts and sweet potato chips and Boss helmed the ordering for feast.

Alas, Devastation befell us! The lady informed us that they had run out of crabs! What kind of seafood restaurant runs out of crabs at 8.30PM? A busy, popular one, evidently! We had to make do, and made do we did.

Green Dragon - as green as our colour, watching a neighbouring table suck down the claws of the last crab of the night. Oh we'll get you one day, just you wait!

Fresh, sumptuous, utterly finger-licking Assam Prawns - we downed two plates of these babies!

The Salt & Pepper Squid disappeared as fast as it came - crunch crunch, gulp, gone!

The Assam Fish is probably the best way to prepare the tilapia (fei chow yu or African fish) here. The second preparation of similar fish which came later revealed that maligned swampy freshwater taste.

Mud - lovely on skin, not so in my fish

And came our favourite part the meal - the Salted Egg sigh, everybody together, now! The prawns gleamed in golden grandeur and the squid shone supreme.

TV snack on its own, totally!

Not a fan of venison so gave the Stir-fried Venison with Ginger a miss. Probably a shade paler than the seafood stars here but the others had no problem wiping this clean whatsoever.

The meal fed seven of us too well, and bill total came to about RM350. A right steal, we felt!

And for those slippery lil' crustaceans, we must be back. To the crabs!

Seri Petaling Seafood Village Restaurant

Lot 24221, Jalan Merah Silu

Bandar Baru Seri Petaling

57000 KL

I'm Spicy Thai

Petaling Jaya's latest Thai offering I'm Spicy is located in the fringes of Section 17 bordering SS2, on the same row as Kanna's.

Green Curry Chicken Rice was a very moist, almost wet affair. We probably would have fared better ordering the curry standalone and loading up on white rice on the side instead.

The recommended Som Tam Tort (Deep Fried Papaya Salad), which was regretted. Appreciate that it's a different twist to the good ol' dependable Som Tam but just didn't see the point of dunking all that freshness and different textures of fruit, nut and vegetable into oil.

I'm Spicy did pass the Tom Yam Goong test - not good enough to be declared super awesome but it does get the sour & spice balance tick.

The menu is somewhat limited but the restaurant does serve pork and declares it a specialty, specifically the deep fried pork ribs (which we passed because in favour of the deep fried salad). Not willing to write this one off till we have a go at that.

I'm Spicy
1 Jalan 17/45
Petaling Jaya
46400 Selangor
Tel: +603-7954 2281

Better than Home Improvement at Chip 'N' Dale, TTDI

After years (yes, years!) of anticipation, the move into new home is finally done! But if I had envisioned for one second that the move meant the end of the chapter where I'm planning, deliberating, calculating and fighting pretty much every spare minute from work, I got set straight pretty much as soon as we moved everything in and started unpacking.

OK, so the work is never really going to be done, as are the squabbles over the most trivial things (like the function-assignment of different types of kitchen towels) and quick-and-nasty meals from the neighbourhood dai chow. Upon prompting from recent blog post at Eat Drink KL, we made it a point to drag ourselves away from home one evening to do what we did best, better than home improvement, at least - beer and pork!

Chip 'N' Dale is one of the new joints that's cropped up along Lorong Rahim Kajai 14, infamous suburban stomping ground for the thirsty.

Good ol' Tiger hits the spot, at RM35 per jug all night long. I (almost) forgive him for putting a hole in our newly-painted wall accidentally. There's Kilkenny and Guinness on tap too at decent guzzle-friendly prices. If beer's not your poison, there are plenty of other options from a clearly well-stocked bar.

Took cue from Sean's post and thought why not the Drunken Pork Chop? The sauce was definitely saved the dish from being too commonplace a pork offering - they certainly weren't sparing in the use of alcohol here!


We both liked the Pork Escalope better though, which while crumbed and pan-fried, still came light and moist on its own. Barely minded the meagre serving of the mushroom sauce accompaniment. If only we agreed about things at home as easily as we did with this dish.

The food took about 40 minutes to come, even though there were barely two or three tables occupied. Must be pretty laid-back in the kitchen, would need to step on the pedal more if they were serious about the dining crowd.

Not sure about how the look the place is trying for but I'm not crazy about it - for one dining on those rickety bar tables just isn't ideal, and the seats lining against the wall are way too narrow to be comfortable.

Would come back for the food menu and the drink prices the next time we need a break from home improvement. Hopefully they'll have more decent, derrière-forgiving seats then!

Chip 'N' Dale
Lorong Rahim Kajai 14 (towards the end of the row away from the junction)
TTDI

A Bowl of Calm at Aunty Lan's, Kota Damansara

Home renovation is tiring work. Scouring through brochures for endless options on fittings and other homely but not-entirely-necessary acquisitions, wandering through stores, listening to one sales spiel after another - bleeds you dry, no joke.

Of course, what utterly cripples you is writing the contractor cheques for progress payment. And hearing the frail plastic wail of the old credit card as the big ticket items get swiped. Why do things cost so much? Why do we need all these things?

Lest you think I'm less than ecstatic about how close I am to moving in, let me reassure you that it's all good, and I am very happy to have groped along this far, and very excited about the changes in store the next couple of months.

But while I deliberated the incremental damage to my measly estate and state of mind, I had to make a frenetic effort to go easy on the pocket and seek a moment of serenity, in an economical yet wholesome lunch.

Aunty Lan Diet Vege Noodles was a salubrious pick after yet another harried morning of deliberating options galore. Vegetables, anchovies, nuts - essentially ingredients of a Lui Cha -were served with choice of either noodles or vermicelli in a steaming bowl of murky, nourishing soup. Toto, who had been feeling somewhat feeble from eating junk lately, enjoyed this to the last drop.

I had some trouble deciding - the recommended soy sauce chicken noodles sounded good but I was all fowled out, having cleaned up two whole fried chicken legs the day before. Settled for the homemade mushroom pork ball noodles - cringed a bit that they got my order for the dry version wrong but the soupy bowl probably worked out better in hindsight with the hand-pinched noodles.

We picked the homemade bean curd as a side dish to share. This is difficult for me to rave about - I mean deep fried bean curd is deep fried bean curd is deep fried bean curd. It was easy enough to munch on but we could've done with a smaller order.

They have quite a selection of homemade desssert, from tong-suis to a staggering variety of cheesecakes. This cooling honeydew longan concoction too was super-fine for a hot day.

At just RM27 for a staggering meal for the two of us, I regained some sense of Sunday calm before the next wave of ka-chingsss descended.

Aunty Lan Homemade Noodles
Jalan PJU 5/10
PJU 5 Dataran Sunway
Kota Damansara

Post-Vacation at Bangkok Wasabe

Ever get the feeling while on holiday that it's not actually happening? That you're not actually away from your stinky work cubicle, that you're not actually having your first beer at 10AM, or having the day stretch before you to read on the beach and eat seven meals a day and do nothing else? All that disbelief and caution of getting too used to the idea messes with your head good and keeps you from fully living it.

And then before you know it, you're back at the grisly mob scene that is the low-cost carrier terminal, back at work, crushed by deadlines and people and all the horrible things that made you want to pack up and get away in the first place, bemoaning how you let yourself be disengaged during your time on the beach for even one second.

Koh Lipe, December 2010

Koh Lipe's a terribly easy getaway for city folks in Malaysia. Just a short flight to Langkawi, and from there a 1-hour speedboat ferry ride. The waters are still clear, the beaches are still relatively clean and snorkelling's still great, barring the current in certain hotspots.

The tiny island is heaving under over-development but for now, it's still a pretty chilled scene, back-to-basics style. Unfortunately, the food options too were fairly rudimentary.

So, upon return to good old KL, propelled by a case of major post-vacay blues, we hit up Bangkok Wasabe, a pocket-friendly alternative within the Kota Damansara commercial maze.

The restaurant interior is air-conditioned contemporary comfort, nothing like the mozzie-infested eating & drinking joints of Lipe. Dark wooden booths, check! I may consider installing one of these babies in my new digs.

The easy-win Som Tam (RM7) - hit all the right notes! Raw crab was missing though.

Also recommended by friendly server was the Tamarind River Prawns (RM25), off the menu. This turned out better than expected - prawns were chunky and flavourful and while I'm not exactly crazy about sweet sauces, this struck a sound balance with the ground peanuts and dried chillies.

The Tom Yam Seafood (RM15) was decent - more sour than spice, which works just fine with me. The Tom Yam available on Lipe didn't come close to this.

And to cap it all off, not quite dessert but the Pad Thai (RM8) was a tad sweeter than I'd like.

It's no Thai beach but the meal at Bangkok Wasabe was simplicty well-executed and took the bite out of the gruesome return to routine. And more importantly, it served the reminder that there is no time to overthink the holiday when on holiday. Every second of bliss counts!

Bangkok Wasabe
16-1 Jalan PJU 5/15
Dataran Sunway
Kota Damansara
Tel: 03-6156 7079