Restaurant Chang Rai Thai- Hidden Gem in Cheras

Thai food is something that I can't get enough of. The spicy and sour elements never failed to stimulate appetite. I love searching for good food at hidden gem places, it simply gives me a sense of accomplishment. Even better with great food served, along with great people from the OpenRice community. Let's see what dishes we had for that night.

 Thai Seafood Tomyam Soup (泰式东炎海鲜)

If you know me well, I love spicy food so much that my level of tolerance is quite scary A great Thai meal is incomplete without Tom Yam. We were served this as the first dish of the night, good enough to stimulate our appetite.Loaded with ingredients such as prawns, squids and oyster mushroom, the soup looks thick as well as dotted with dark orange oil in a moderate way. I like the texture of the soup- not too thick but just nice to uphold the small amount of fine spices in the broth. Sweetness is brought out in this dish, other than it being adequately spicy and sour.

 Thai Style Green Curry Chicken in Claypot 泰式瓦煲青咖喱鸡

What is not to love when you get a piping hot claypot curry to go with steamed rice? The inviting bright green colour made us look forward to have a taste of it. Generous amount of chicken and brinjals have absorbed the green curry spices, making them even tasty. The curry gravy would have been better if the texture is thicker. I don't mind if the taste of spices was stronger, as some people might prefer lighter taste from the spices.

 Thai Style Prawn with Cream (泰式奶油虾)

By looking at the presentation of this dish is itself very inviting and appetizing. The sauce is slightly different from the usual wet butter sauce, as this looks more creamy and smooth. The prawns are fried beforehand, thens smothered with generous amount of creamy yet light butter cream sauce. Some of us prefer the prawn to be deshelled so that it will be easier to enjoy the succulent prawn meat. I would prefer the butter taste to be stronger, but that's just me

 Steamed Snakehead Fish with Lemon

Snakehead fish is called 'Sheng Yu' in Chinese, believed to provide great medical benefits. The fish used is very fresh, flaky and smooth skin with rich collagen. Some finely chopped birds eye chillies and sliced lemon are used to contribute spicy and sour taste. Adequate sour taste is present in the broth with spicy kick from chilli padi, probably not a spicy level that people can accept if they can't take too spicy food.

Thai Style Fish Maw in Claypot 泰式瓦煲鱼鰾

Again, this is the first Thai style dish that I came across in a Thai restaurant, very much similar to chinese style shark fins soup. The thick consistency of the soup was generously filled with fish maws being the star ingredient. I love that the fish maw is properly cooked, as a result well absorbed with the sourish and wok hei filled gravy. If you like the taste of shark fin soup (not the fins but the soup), you will like this as well as they taste almost the same.

BBQ Pork Neck (碳烤猪颈)

This is a relatively new Thai style dish to me. When it was served to us, I knew that it is going to taste good because it looks real delicious. Up to my expectation (even better), the sliced pork meat is very well marinated with specially mixed spices. I like that it has smoky taste and the meat itself is succulent. Have this with some mint leaves served and you get an enhanced taste.

Thai Mango Salad (泰式芒果沙律)

Shredded mango, peanuts, onions, fried cuttlefish (I suppose) are the complete ingredients that contribute great texture and flavours to make up to this appetizing Thai Mango Salad. The mango has soft yet little crunchy texture to it, which is another great alternative to young papaya used in Thai salad. I like that the fried cuttlefish contributed salty flavour to this dish other than it being sour already, while some additional toasty fragrance from the peanuts scored additional points.

Glass Noodle Crab in Claypot 泰式瓦煲冬粉炬蟹

The star dish of the night goes to this dish, where large red crabs sitting on top of generous amount of glass noodles definitely ready to tickle our tastebuds. The crabs were definitely very fresh, meaty and has natural sweet taste. Unfortunately the good sea flavours did not seep through the strands of glass noodles. They were rather cooked with specially concocted gravy, no doubt it is thick and the owner was very kind to provide more gravy to prevent the glass noodles from drying up too fast.

Thai Style Fish Cake

I always adore thai style fish cake, just like our local chinese style fish cake but with a twist. Fresh grounded fish meat with right amount of spices and seasonings are the key elements in order to be one of the best in my books.

The version here at Chang Rai Thai did not dissapoint me. The fish cake was not exactly bouncy but with the firm fish texture, although a little soft but I felt it genuine. I like the fragrance from spices and extra texture from chopped long green beans. Wish that I could have more of this

Last but not least, we were treated this special dessert which is jelly consisting shredded coconut and jackfruit. Very refreshing and naturally sweet.

Address

No. 27,

Jalan Bunga Tanjung 18,

Taman Seraya Cheras,

Kuala Lumpur.

Tel. No.
03-4291 9306

OpenRice Makanventure @ Anggrek Kuring

This restaurant which offers Sundanese food has been established in Bandar Puteri, Puchong for few years already. Thanks to OpenRice I got invited to MakanVenture giving me opportunity to try the food. I have been passsing by there frequently but did not step inside for makan. 

 

 

Upon entering the restaurant, the decorations and calm setting gave a good feeling and ambience. I was ushered to the private dining area, then served with drinks.

 

The coconut shake is a new item offered by Anggrek Kuring (not Anggerik Kuning ok ). Produced with coconut juice, coconut flesh and ice cubes, the bright while colour blended drink was genuine and rich with coconut aroma. The chewy tiny coconut bits combined with finely blended ice cubes gave refreshing taste. It was not too sweet as well.

 

I don't usually drink fruit juice with cucumber but this Cucumber Lime gave me a reason to continue having it without feeling weird or suspicious haha

The pale green healthy drink is rather thick and contains minimum fibrous elements as it is seived through properly before serving to us. I love how the sourness from the lime complemented well with fresh cucumber, a very refreshing drink indeed. It tasted a little sweeter than I thought, in a good way perhaps to cover the raw cucumber taste.

A rather intriguing presentation of the dish, made possible when the chef applies good knife skills to cut the body of fish, few cuts to ensure the fish will 'stand' after being deep fried in hot oil. This is served with salted egg yolk sauce, image that resembles melted butter instead of those usual thick salted egg yolk coating on squids that we see in Chinese eateries.

At first I mistaken it as butter sauce, but was later told by the owner that telur asin is used. Something which we are not used to but hey the aroma and not too salty taste complements well with the fresh and firm kerapu fish. The fish bones are fried until brown crunchy so you can enjoy having bone parts as well.

I always adore this typical Indonesian delicacy, couldn't be happier when we get to taste this dish during MakanVenture. The dish did not dissapoint me. Visually appealing with nice even brown colour on the chicken skin, with slightly charred bits eneough to stimulate my appetite. The tender and succulent chicken was minimally seasoned, hence taste rather bland as I expected it to be marinaded. But fret not, the sweetish sauce and smoky aroma on chicken skin saved the whole dish. One bite and I was sold, the sauce is the star ingredient! I will not hesitate to go back for more ayam bakar.

Served with light brown crunchy bits (essentially deep fried flour bits), this dish resembles very much like ayam penyet. 6 hours were used to prepare this dish, which we need to appreciate the chef's effort. The chicken was tender, easily separated with fork revealing fine shreds of meat. Taste wise it was minimally seasoned, better to go with some sambal sauce served separately. I am surprised to munch on the really soft bone, just like eating big sardine bones. That was truly a special first time experience.

 

The sambal sauce was not as spicy as I thought it would be, taste rather sweet with chillis and other soft vegetables like onions inside. I enjoyed having this together with the ayam presto as well as nasi uduk.

 

This dish essentially comprises fried dried beancurd puffs topped with shredded cucumber served with special chilli sauce. Eventhough the taupok is fried, the texture is not entirely crispy. Little crunchy on the outside while soft in the inside, it went very well with the Thai style sweetish chilli sauce. The cucumber provided nice refreshing crunch and texture. Remember to eat this while it is hot so that the beancurd puffs will not be harder to chew when it is left to cool. 

 

A dish that every Malaysian is familiar with, I am glad to sample Anggrek Kuring's version. I noticed that the ingredients are not stir fried together, rather looked like prawns and petai blanched separately, finally topped with sambal sauce. Unfortunately some prawns that I picked were lacking in freshness. I love the crunchy petai aka stink beans, goes well with the sweetish sambal sauce. It was not as spicy as I thought it would be. I wouldn't mind if there were more sambal sauce available to go with my nasi uduk. 

 

 

Have you ever tried mushrooms wrapped in fresh banana leaves then being grilled? This dish resembles very much like otak-otak, the difference is this pepes is suitable for vegetarians while otak otak contains seafood.

 

Oysters mushrooms are used here, cut into smaller bite sized pieces then mixed with specially made chilli sauce. Again, this reddish dish does not taste as spicy as I imagine it would be. Upon biting onto the mushrooms, small amount of moisture is released combined with delectable sweetish chilli sauce. The banana leaf gave a slight hint of aroma to the dish.

No meal is complete with a good portion of fibre to make a balanced diet. Kangkung Terasi goes very well with belacan, even better with the Nasi Uduk we had. I like how the chef executed this dish so well that the bright green colour of the water convolvulus is retained, as well as pleasant crunchy texture. A very tiny hint of belacan is present here, I wouldn't mind if it taste stronger to take the whole dish to the next level.

Instead of the usual white rice, we were served nasi uduk which is essentially rice cooked with spices and santan. Nasi Lemak with a twist The rice grains were perfectly cooked till fluffy and each morsels are nicely separated. The nasi had a pleasant light santan aroma, not as heavy as our usual nasi lemak. To be honest I can't really detect the smell from the spices, as the santan fragrance was more apparent.

Aggrek Kuring (opposite Maybank)
No. 30-1, Jalan Puteri 1/4,
Bandar Puteri Puchong 
47100 Selangor.

Phone:

03-8062 8050
 

Website:

http://anggrekkuring.com/

Fresh Code @ Damansara Uptown

A brand new fruit juice store is bringing health close to you at Damansara Uptown. FreshCode provides the safest, healthiest and yet joyful juice for your life. It applies the most advanced Technology – HPP, choosing the freshest seasonal fruits from the best origins, breaking the time and space limits, squeezing freshly in natural colours.

 

Get some icy cold treats such as fruit juice, sorbet and smoothies especially quenching thirst in a hot day. We were glad to sample fruit juice of our choice and sorbet during the review session organized by foodirector.com.

 

 

Most popular choice goes to Berry Blast (RM11.90 for Regular). Blended together with raspberry + blueberry + blackberry + strawberry, the strong antioxidant ice blended drink that benefits the brain, eye and skin explains the crowd's favourite. When you need some energy booster and improving your outlook, this drink is for you. The balanced sweetness and sourness was just right for me, whereas my friend Cindy found it too sour. Do not worry as no sugar and water are added here.

The berries are imported from Poland and California, no wonder they taste extra fresh and tasty! =D

Multifruit Vital (RM10.90 for Regular)

 

Pineapple + Mango + Passion Fruit + Banana

 

Another refreshing drink that enhances bone health and lowers blood pressure. There wasn't strong presence of banana here.

The usual sorbet usually melted too fast in my mouth, but the following sorbet that I sampled left a concentrated aftertaste hence this is something I would go for again and again.

Passion Passion (RM5.90 per scoop, RM9.90 for 2 scoops)

I personally dislike anything with passionfruit as artificial taste will put me off. But I was glad that the sorbet has acceptable sourness. The tiny seeds did not affect much of the texture.

Berry Bliss (RM6.90 per scoop, RM10.90 per scoop)

Taste similar to Berry Blast drink mentioned earlier. Rich with taste contributed from various berries, the refreshing flavours simply tickled our tastebuds.

Pink Guava (RM5.90 per scoop, RM9.90 for 2 scoops)

This was my favourite sorbet. I like the minimal coarse texture from tiny bits of pink guava. Taste rather special to me as pink guava is difficult to get in Malaysia.

Taiwan Lychee (RM5.90 per scoop, RM9.90 for 2 scoops)

 

This flavour was everyone's favourite that day thanks to its honest and natural flavour without artificial taste, it has a smooth texture as well.

 

 Hawaiian Paradise (RM5.90 per scoop, RM9.90 for 2 scoops)

 

Contains the same ingredients as Multifruit Vital fruit juice earlier.

Again, I look forward to a richer banana taste in here. That aside, it is an absolutely refreshing sorbet suitable for hot day.

Cozy environment with my favourite wood setting, perfect ambience to be enjoyed with their fresh fruit juice and sorbet.

 Fresh Code
No. 23, Jalan SS21/37,
Damansara Utama,
47400 Petaling Jaya.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/i.love.freshcode
Delivery Hotline: 03-77317628

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I won the biggest prize in my life

On December 2012, I have been focusing on participating a contest on OpenRice, Malaysia's most comprehensive dining guide. The contest titled "Eat, Share and be Foodful" lasted for around 2.5 months until end of February 2013. OpenRicer who submits the most food reviews wins iPhone 5 as grand prize. Other terms and conditions apply but too long to be written here.

At first the minimum reviews of 300 to be submitted nearly scares me off, all I thought was how am I going to write so many reviews in this short period. I questioned myself whether I really want this and my capability. Since I had so much free time because of waiting for exam results to be released, I figured out why not try to aim for iPhone 5. And my Android phone is really giving me a hard time, laggy until I want to throw it against the wall (that was how frusfrated I am LOL).

As time passes by, I was constantly writing minimum number of reviews per day with my own calculated quota in order to balance out my 'workload' (typical future accountants haha). Seriously I have been sitting in front of laptop the whole day, with my fingers constantly dancing on the keyboard. Some people might think why would I work so hard for that as they don't find it worth the effort. But it was my passion of sharing thoughts on food with others that kept my spirit and determination going.

It may sound like a long long story, but all was worth it. Finally I have won the grand prize =D This is never made possible without support from fellow OpenRicers, bloggers, friends, family and of course OpenRice. It was great knowing other OpenRicers through MakanVentures, a food review session where we enjoyed food as well as socializing.

Now I know the meaning of "hard work being paid off". Determination can push one's limits. I can tell you that I have never been so determined before.

Victory fist