Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Chicken Rice in USJ14

A few months ago I blogged about the Curry Laksa in USJ14 in this kopitiam called Mei Sek. This is a corner coffeeshop in the row of shops near the fruit stalls in USJ14. I was told that in the evening, that same kopitiam has a Chicken Rice stall which is very good.

So that was how one evening some weeks ago we decided to give the Chicken a try, haha! They start at about 6pm and their serving crew is unmistakable - they have yellow & red uniform - very professional-looking with caps and all!

I must say their poached chicken - and they only have poached ones - was pretty good: smooth & tender. Dunk them into some pounded ginger and chilli sauce, this will surely satiate your chicken pangs.

You can have a choice of kampung chicken or town/pasar chicken, the former being more flavourful and of course, more expensive.

You can opt to have their oily rice or kwayteow to go with the poached chicken. Being the true blue Ipohite that I am, I of course opted for the Soup Kwayteow or Hor-fun as we like to call it. It came with a few strands of kuchai and limp taugeh. I would say the kwayteow in Kar Heong was better.... nevertheless it provided the necessary carbs for this meal.

For variety, you can order their Fookchow Fishballs - smooth fishpaste encasing some minced pork, served in seaweed soup... good source of iodine, no?


And if you need some fibre, you have a few choices of greenies - I had my fave baby lettuce, slathered in oyster sauce and with generous toppings of fried shallots.

And that is what I call a simple but satisfying true Malaysian meal of the chicken kind :-))


My rating: 6/10

Friday, August 7, 2009

Shivz

Shivz Restaurant
64 Jalan Maarof
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 2282 4500

I was invited to a private function at this place not too long ago by my friend, Z. I must say I have passed by Jalan Maarof many times but never noticed there's this restaurant there. It's located just a few doors away from Maybank.

The interior's rather cosy, romantically lit... walls adorned with abstract paintings. There are some tables at the front - open-air concept for the smokers.

Now, for the food... they serve a fusion of Indian and western dishes with some local favourites as well. One of their recommended items is the Mumtaz Grill ... a whole chicken thigh grilled tandoori-style but with minced meat encased inside the thigh. It's served with green salad, a mild dhall-like dip and a minty chutney dip.

Z ordered a similar dish (can't remember the exact name though) ... Tandoori-styled grilled chicken but with a skewer of shrimps, a few pieces of naan and the same dips.
As I mentioned before, they do have a few local items and their Kampung Fried Rice is very popular. Fluffy rice fried with bits of chicken meat, anchovies, prawns, long beans and the requisite kangkong, topped with a runny-yolk fried egg and a few pieces of fried chicken, it was good. This was a shared dish among a few of us and as common as the dish was, the rice disappeared very quickly, I must say!
Now for the western items... there was Grilled Salmon in a cheesy sauce...I took a bite and the salmon was grilled just right. I hate overcooked salmon which renders the fish dry and unpalatable but here in Shivz the salmon retained its juiciness and bursting with the signature yummy rich fatty flavours.

The Panfried Cod was delicious too... again done just right, retaining the fish's succulence and springy texture...
The platter of Mixed Bruschetta was another shared dish... the slices of french bread were indeed huge... with generous amounts of toppings, as you can see here... By this time, we were all already so stuffed...!

A must-order item here is their Fresh Mushroom Soup! According to the owner, Mr R. Shiva, they blend 3 different types of fresh mushrooms for this soup. The end result is a very yummy fragrant mushroomy soup which you'll slurp non-stop!

Now here's the highlight of the evening. Besides the very decent food, we were also entertained by a group of belly dancers! The place was filled with middle eastern music and rythms as the dancers showcased their incredible skills with their bellies!
Unlike my belly lah... its only skill is to appreciate good food, haha!