Finally tasted Bak kut teh

When we got to know that we will be moving to Kuala Lumpur, I went on a spree of watching YouTube videos about places to eat and dishes to explore. That is when I first heard about Bak kut teh in Mickey Chen’s video.

Bak kut teh is a pork dish cooked in broth. It is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore. I has its origins among the Hokkien and Teochew community. The name translates as “meat bone tea”.

And when I landed here and told people that I wanted to try it out, almost everyone warned me about the “herbal taste” of it. I really wanted to try it, but with someone who knew a good place to go, how to order. I never found that guide.

Last week, our wonderful Chinese neighbour came by with some fruits for our son and when asked to partake a snack, she said she was heavy with the Bak kut teh breakfast. So natually I enquired about the place and told her, I would like to join her next time.

That conversation led to me finally I tasted my first Bak kut teh today and loved it. We went to a place in Seri Bintang. It was a collection of stalls referred to as Kopitiam 818 Restaurant. I was told this is Klang style Bak kut teh. Just a luscious and flavourful broth that I loved having multiple cups of. The meat was tender from hours of simmering and all the collagen 🤩

It is a very hearty breakfast meal, so maybe next time I will combine with hike at the nearby Seri Bintang trail!

#MalaysianDiary #DiningOut

Anak Baba, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur 📍

Earlier this week, a friend was stopping over in KL and was available for lunch. Since he was open to tasting some local fare, took him out to Anak Baba in Brickfields.

It is a quaint little place, with simple seating arrangement of table and stools and a lot of natural sunlight through the translucent roof. I had been there earlier once and loved their food.

This time around I tried their Nasi Lemak with fried chicken. Everything was spot on, but that fried chicken marinated in turmeric was just so rightly done—a light layer of fried coating on the outside and juicy on the inside!

The friend has Nyonya Laksa, which I had tried previously here. He loved it too.

We also had their Popiah (Peranakan Spring Roll), Pai Tee (picture below) and Cendol to round it all off.

Overall the food and the interesting conversation, made it a memorable afternoon! Hope to bring the family here soon!

#MalaysianDiary #DiningOut

Lunch at Chowkit area of Kuala Lumpur

A cancelled meeting of The Missus resulted in we getting to do a quick lunch date on a weekday. We met at El Cero📍 first and had a bunch of of tapas. While Tapas were good, the mains did not interest us, so we went out looking for another place.

This part of Chow Kit is peppered with restaurants and we landed at Gavel📍 just that was a couple of doors away from El Cero. Gavel is a quaint little place. We wanted something quick and hence picked Fish & Chips, which was the dish of the day. It did not disappoint. I really want to come there on Sunday for their Sunday Roast!

#MalaysianDiary #DiningOut

Copper Grillhouse, TTDI, Kuala Lumpur

A few weeks ago, we were invited to the inauguration of the newest restaurant in TTDI — Copper Grillhouse. It is the international avatar of the famous Copper Chimney chain of restaurants in India. They specialise in North Indian and North West Frontier cuisine.

Overall we enjoyed the 5 course meal and the celebration. Here are notes on some of the dishes we really enjoyed.

For starters we had Kadak Roomali Roti and Chandni Chowk Chaat. I’ve always relished the soft, chewy and cloth like thin Roomali Rotis, but this was the first time we had them crisp, in the shape of a wok. Also it was topped with a generous amount of Butter and spice powders, making it a tempting eat.

From the Tandoor Grills we limited ourselves to just had Paneer Tikka and Chicken Tikka, as we didn’t want to fill ourselves before the main course. The Chicken Tikka was really tender and the dry mango powder (aamchur) in its marinade gave it a nice tang!

Between the courses, there was a nice performance by traditional Malay dance artists!

For the mains, we had the Lasooni Corn Palak. Lamb Rogan Josh and Gosht Dum Biryani. The gravies came with a bread basket. While the palak (spinach) was tasty with the kick of fried garlic, it had something grainy in it like sand, so we just let it be. The Lamb Rogan Josh was just perfect in every way. The gravy was deep red, silky smooth, tangy and spicy. And the meat was soft to the touch. We lapped it up.

By the time we came to the biryani, we were stuffed. We decided to taste just a spoon of it, but ended up having way more! 🙈
It was one of the highlights of the evening for us.

We finished it all with one of the excellent Jabeli’s I have had in the recent times — crisp, not too sweet and mildly tangy.

We were invited to the event, so we have no idea of the prices of these dishes. But we really enjoyed the food and would highly recommend it!

#DiningOut #MalaysianDiary

Der Backmeister, TTDI, Kuala Lumpur

After a good hike at the the Bukit Kiara trails at TTDI, we went to the Der Backmeister @ TTDI for a well earned breakfast. The place was full of folks digging into their food and that was a good sign!

We ordered their The Big Backmeister which was a mix platter of Ham, Salami, Breads, Buns and choice of eggs. When ordering the kind lady at the counter was attentive enough to ask how many folks were in our group. It was a big platter enough for 2 adults and a child.

We also ordered an Avocado and Egg Sandwich on Ciabatta, which was a huge. We asked them to pack the left over and they kindly obliged.

Their Caraibe Dark Chocolate deserves a special mention. It was just yum!

The staff were polite, chatty, accommodative and attentive. 😍

#DiningOut #MalaysianDiary

We welcomed the new year in a train, sleeping in our upper berths. A new experience for us, but also very appropriate since we will be travelling from Malaysia to another country this year.

We reached Madurai as the last leg of our India trip. The morning was spent in a quick visit to Meenatchi Amman temple.

This was promptly followed by a visit to New Shri Ram Mess. Basic but tasty meals on banana leaf.

A neighbour who makes excellent Caramel Custard, dropped by last evening to give us a large one. We were so impatient, that we realised no photos were clicked only after we had sliced it up 🙈

Everything was perfect—firm but soft to slice, not too sweet, just the right amount of bitterness. Easily the best caramel custard I’ve had.

#MalaysianDiary

Tasty Porridge, Bukit Jalil

While we we left home hoping to dine at Shin Zushi in Bukit Jalil, the line was long. That’s when I saw “Tasty Porridge” and I remembered @liztai@hachyderm.io recommending it.

We ended up having dinner there and quite enjoyed it. We tried the following— Golden Pumpkin Porridge

Porky Mushroomic Porridge

Mala Crispy Fish Skin

Lemongrass Chicken Wing

#DiningOut #MalaysianDiary

Shakariki 432", Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur

Last evening was a date with The Missus after a long time.

I have been wanting to try a Japanese Izakaya in the neighbourhood called Shakariki432" and so we landed up there. We totally loved the vibe, the food and drinks.

We started off with Sapporo Beer🍺, Suntory Kaku Highball, Edamame, Beef Stew and Gyozas. Everything was spot on, in particular that Beef Stew was just 😍.

With conversations meandering all over the place, I added a couple of more drinks — Ponzu Sour and Tsuruume Yuzu Sake. Loved them both, mostly because of their citrusy flavour profile. I missed taking pictures of them and I blame the wonderful company for it! 😆

As I am writing this I find out that Ponzu Sour has an interesting backstory, check it out..

For the mains, we just shared a bowl of Ramen🍜, along with Aburi Shime Saba (Torched marinated Mackerel). Since it The Missus’s first time trying out Ramen we chose the milder broth style of Assari (missed a picture of it as well 😞). The Saba (Mackarel) was just basic and brilliant!

Overall an happy evening filled with good conversation, food and drinks!

#DiningOut #MalaysianDiary

For the last two evenings we have been enjoying this wonderful tea 🍵 from Jaftea called Blueberry Delight.

It has a very juicy flavour profile, that is such a joy to drink.

Someone gifted it to us here in Malaysia. Blessed be those souls!

#MalaysianDiary

One of our favorite breakfasts is Pan con Tómate (Bread 🥖 with Tomatoes 🍅), a dish that we picked up from our stay in Spain.

It is simple to make. Grate a tomato (we being us, grate a green chilli or two as well) and add salt to taste. Toast bread slices and you are done. . Today we added a Cheese Omelette. Coz more cheese is always welcome! 😜

While at it, the #Ciabatta bread at @oldmadrasbakingcompany is our latest favourite. Hard on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, it is good both plain and toasted. Look at those air pockets in the bread! 🤩

#Bread #Breakfast #CheeseOmlette #Food #Chennai #chennaidiaries

Having put #OhBoy to sleep, we were catching up on TV. Someone on screen mentions ice cream and the Missus goes ‘‘How long has it been since we had ice cream! *sigh*'’. And as they say, the rest is history! 😂

Both Guava and Roasted Almond ice cream at Apsara Ice Creams are total flavour bombs! Loved it.

#Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi folks! What fun is a festival without good food. *Burps*

#Festival #VinayakaChathurthi #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

Team outing at @writerscafein and they are celebrating #MadrasWeek with some goodies for the patrons!

#Food #DiningOut #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

Yesterday’s Chennai rains had some perfect company – chai, pakoras and a good old friend.

@v.niths and I started our career together at TCS, in the same training batch at Trivandrum. It surprising to this day, how we stayed in touch, given that we were at each other’s throats at every possible opportunity during the training.

But then we did stay in touch and kept meeting all around the world - Mumbai, Bangalore, SFO and now Chennai. Hope to see you at some other corner of the world @v.niths. And happy 40th to you! 🥳

The Fat Boy, Alwarpet, Chennai

I used to be crazy about toppings (pepperoni, meatballs, sausages). Over a period of time, I’ve grown to appreciate the bread/crust of a pizza more than the toppings on it. Now all I crave is a pizza base cooked to perfection with a basic topping of tomato sauce and mozzarella.

@thefatboychennai is one place that bakes such perfects pies. Their airy dough, beautifully charred in their wood fired oven, is such a delight to have. You should check them out if you are in Chennai!

The one in the picture is their Hot Boy pizza. If you love spicy food, this is your pie. .

#Pizza #Food #DiningOut #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

These beautifully ripe and plump Rumani mangoes were plucked last week at a farm on ECR!

While last summer we had 13 varieties of mangoes, this year has been more satisfying with just 2 varieties - Imampasand and Rumani.

#Mango #Mangoes #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

Picked some of these Rumani mangoes 🥭 off the trees in a farm on ECR. Sunday is progressing well! 😜

#Mangoes #Mango #Summer #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

A couple of days ago, we had been to Abid’s at Spur Tank Road, #Chennai for tasting their #Ramzan iftar menu.

Loved both their Mutton #Haleem and #Nombukanji. Their Haleem was way better than Fisherman’s Fare and Pista House and very reasonably priced too. This was our first time tasting Nombukanji and really loved the lightly flavoured rice and meat porridge.

For the main course, we ordered Pathar ke Gosht and Laham Mandi. Pathar ke Gosht was soft for the most part. But the Mandi was the star of the meal. This highly flavourful Yemeni rice dish was very mild on spice. With the red sauce that was spicy and tangy, it was just perfect. The mutton though looks tough, was falling off the bone.

We ended the meal with our favourite dessert Khubani ka Meeta served along with heavy cream. Heavenly.

At home, I found myself enjoying the lingering flavours of the food in my hands. It was a wonderful meal.

#DiningOut #Food #Chennai #Ramadan #Iftar #Mutton #LahamMandi

Kappa Chakka Kandhari, Haddows Road, Chennai

Today’s breakfast was this set 7 course breakfast at @kckfoods.

At ₹275, where you can go on stuffing as much as you can, this is total value for money. The dishes were,

1. White Bread with Mutton Stew

2. Idiyappam with Chicken Curry

3. Ramassery Idli with Sambhar and Podi

4. Appam and Egg roast

5. Puttu and Kadala Curry

6. Vattappam and Duck Mappas

7. Kappa and Fish Curry

And we wrapped it all with a nice hot Sulemani Chai

#EatingOut #Chennai #Mutton #Chicken #Appam #Idiyappam #Puttu #Kappa

New Pattukottai Kamatchi Mess, T Nagar, Chennai 📍

This was how the epic lunch at the New Pattukottai Kamatchi Mess started.

While this might not look much, their approach of making every gravy/kozhambu on the menu available along with unlimited rice is easy to make anyone a glutton.

Loved everything that was served—Mutton Sukka, Prawn Masala, Viral Meen fry, Chicken Theregal, Crab Masala, Chicken gravies, Crab Curry, Mutton Kozhambu, Fish Curry etc. Among all of those, Brain Fry and Karuvadu Sambal were pretty epic.

Just one advice. Don’t go there if you have to work post lunch.

#Food #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

Ugadi Food ➡️ Over eating 🔜 Food Coma .

#Food #Festivals #Ugadi #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

The mind knows the season is not there yet, but the heart cannot go past seeing them!

#Mango #SummerIsComing #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

A basic meal of few parotta variations from Nellai Vairamaligai and Chocolate Sorbet from @amadoragourmeticecream was our dinner last night. Both were 🔥!!

#Food #NellaiVairamaligai #Chocolate #Sorbet #ChennaiDiaries

Days that begin with such perfect #egg dosais are loving in every way. Hope you all having a very lovely day as well!

#Food #Breakfast #ChennaiDiaries .

PS: Also good for #flc2019