had some dim sum...

This is a posting about dim sum; dim sum in Grand Harbour Restaurant, Farenheit 88, KL. 

Brightly lit spacious interior...Not too bad a crowd during lunch hour; but very quickly, the place started to fill up as it approached 1pm.

Clueless about what to order?
This page of the menu would certainly be helpful!

This place is known for its cute lil animal designed dim sum.

omg, the 'durian' swans looked exactly like the picture!

I adore this puff! It's so crispy on the outside and yet, the filling's warm and contained real durian flesh.
Worth the RM 8.80 paid for 3 swan-sy puffs which i rate an A-.

A must-have BBQ Pork Bun - RM 5.80. I rate this a B+.

Forget about the Siew Mai (ya i REALLY forgot to order the siew mai!).......
Anyway, i did not forget his best friend, Ha Gaw (Shrimp Dumplings) - RM 7.80
Most memorable about this is the size of the prawn is delightfully humongous!
Rating :- B-   (lack in taste, texture of skin too rubbery)

Not getting enough of the prawns, i also ordered the Shrimp Rice Roll - RM 8.80.
Again, each roll contained 2 of the huge plumpy prawns, so much so that i got sick of it after my 4th prawn!
Rating :- A-   (influenced by the stalk of leafy vege that came with it. lol)

Having ordered their rice roll to try, my cheeky companion just had to order their Vegetarian Rice Roll (!) as well. According to him, 'never tried a vegetarian version before wor'...hmmmmmmmm

I did not try this, so no rating from me. -.-

Priced at RM 7.80, i'd rather pay a dollar more to get 8 prawns!

Holy camoley, this is the first dim sum restaurant i come across that does not sell my ALL-TIME favourite Wu Kok (Fried Taro Dumpling). wth, where cannnn........!! i had to confirm, reconfirm and re-reconfirm with the waiter on this.

-.-

The only yam dish worth mentioning on their menu was the Pan Fried Yam Sliced Cake - RM 5.80

Their version was slightly different from the light smooth ones i usually take. You can literally see the yam strips in this one - so this means they use lots of pure yam, but i dunno, the texture looks a bit 'geli' to me.haha. 

Rating :- B-  (but that's coming from a girl who misses her Wu Kok so badly)

For the additional carbs (haha, as if we need them after all the flour we've taken in so far!), there's the must-have Glutinous Rice - RM 5.80.
Everything about is perfect, except that i wish the sauce was more flavourful, and it could do with a piece of Chinese sausage on it too!
Rating :- B-

Egg Tarts.......always a nice side addition to a dim sum meal - RM 5.80
Loved this to the max! The size is not too mini too (like some of the tarts i've tried before), hence this gets my rating of A!

Last but not least, although i was already stuffed at this point, came a (luckily only one!) Salted Egg Yolk Bun - RM 6.80
Did not exactly enjoy it as my guilty conscience started to grow as i sank my teeth into that big blob of yolk!
Rating :- B- , i guess.

It's always better to eat dim sum with a group of people. If you go for variety of dishes, chances are you'll end up paying quite a bit if the headcount is only 2.

Grand Harbour is having a promo of 30% off for all dim sum if you go between 8am -12pm. Remember, the rule is to settle the bill before 12pm to get the discount! Enjoy!

reflections of cny 2013

What joy - my eventful CNY this year was a far cry from my previous one where i was imprisoned in my own home through my struggles of The Great Confinement. -.-

Anyway, here're just little snippets of my CNY 2013 ...

Finally got the chance to dress our lil prince in this pearly white Chinese traditional wear that i bought from Hanoi sometime back. Well as you can see, the pants was way too long for him, but i loved the silk top though. Perfect for a first day of visiting the elderly....and collecting red packets, of course!

CNY is all about dressing up in RED, and all the better if Man Utd had won a match the night before.
Like father,...

...like son lor.

During great-grandma's house visitation, Darren is forced to go 'bottomless' as grandma beh-ta-han with the lengthy pants and just had to shorten the hem.

"shy-la"

Darren got to hang out with cousin Tristan.

Tristan got to hang out with cousin Darren.

Darren made a new friend by the name of Samuel, a cute talkative 5-year old nephew of my colleague, Jin. Much to his chagrin, Samuel was so hoping that Darren would jump out of this chair and run around with him. lol. Next year, Samuel.....next year.

Back in Malacca, it was nice to see Robert (friend of uncle's, from US) has come to visit again this year.
And let's not forget my nephew Dave who would never let a stranger carry him. Hence, you can see how precious this photo is, nevermind that no one was looking at the camera.

Everyone looks forward to the most important thing during CNY - the FOOD, glorious FOOD!
The eating frenzy starts right from the customary CNY eve reunion dinners......(if you don't count chowing down those CNY cookies even before CNY starts!)

My home-cooked reunion dinner at Imbi was so fanciful and complete, they even made a "Four-Season" platter. So cool or what?!

With so much meat going around, the words 'guilty' and 'glutton' just do not jive well with CNY - thank God i was wearing a stretchable dress!

By the way, i'm a sucker for fatt-choy (it's the dish below where you see those black moss shrouding the button mushrooms) so that's an A+ for dinner!

And of course, no one escapes the "Prosperity Toss" (lo-hei) of CNY. I may have tossed 7 times this year, but here were my fave 2 ......

from Ah Yat Abalone Forum 

from the House of Imbi (by invitation only) ..haha

This year, we did something we would never think of doing - buy an entire roast pig and a duck (as companion) for RM 228+ (promo), and dig into them with a dozen other mouths.

Food plays such an important role of bringing family and friends together. And start them from young too!

I see RED, i see good fortune and success!!

I see SNAKES. In fact,  i see a two-headed snake!
(waitaminute, none of us was in the pic,.....shucks, must have been occupied with Darren)

Rowdiest lou sang crowd ever! When you have 30-odd people trying to dig their chopsticks into the dish, you end up with layers of people dropping bits of yee-sang on your head!

CNY also marked a double celebration for those whose birthday falls during this auspicious period.
Like for a colleague of mine, Li Kuen....

the loveliest bunch of underwriters!

..and my big sista, Millie!
Dave's just practising blowing the candle for his soon-to-come 2nd birthday cake.

The very unique custom-made (or rather custom-arranged) birthday cake(s) ...

They're from Secret Recipe, of course!
How many of the 12 flavours do you recognise? ^^

Mind-boggling question after candle-blowing....

Trust me, it wasn't easy making sure everyone got to taste all 12 flavours of the cake!


CNY is a time when famous Chinese restaurants in town are bound to be fully packed.
This year, i brought Darren to Grand Imperial in Bangsar...

...for a gathering with some uni mates whom i've not seen in ages. It was simply awesome to be in touch again.

CNY draws to a close on its 15th day - which is considered as the Chinese Valentine's Day.
Gone are the long holidays - back to reality. Why do we always feel so tired after the CNY holidays, and that's even before starting work!

Even Darren is all worn out.

Till next year, here's to a robust Snake Year to all!

tau sar piah with a twist

Guess what?

Kaya puff?

Wrong!

Ever heard of Chicken Floss Tau Sar Kok?

Yup, that's the usual green bean filling with a touch of chicken floss!
Eaten fresh, it is super crispy on the outside and super flavoursome on the inside.

 No doubt in my mind that it's a must try if you're down in Malacca (by the way, it's non halal)

Go to the factory cum shop directly and grab a pack of 5 for RM 4. Call ahead if you're planning to get very greedy with your purchase. Coz they make a limited amount per day in order to retain its level of freshness!

 Yet another worthy original from hometown Malacca... ^^

makan at mikan

Yet another Japanese restaurant which has had rave reviews written about it - I just had to give this a try. 

 It was lunchtime on a weekend, but with only two tables occupied, the atmosphere was certainly one where you could hear a pin drop. Even if you couldn't hear it, one of the many waitresses just standing gawking at you would certainly rush to pick it up for you.

It was so serene, one could certainly look forward to a quiet and peaceful meal here.

 Or maybe it's only like this on weekends?

Anyway, here's what we selected...

AWESOME and FLAVOURSOME!

tastes as FRESH as it looks!

LOVED this too!

loses out to even Sakae SuShi's version

Looks and tastes great...juicy and tender!

least fave as i dun like crabsticks!

choc reigns over the vanilla

 Overall, i had a great time dining here....most commendable for its freshest ingredients and beautifully prepared and garnished dishes.

Judging from the prices of their sets....

Yes, yes ..it's on the slightly pricey side but still, i was glad to have savoured the taste of The Land of the Rising Sun at this very specialised restaurant.

For all its worth, at least there's no queue outside the restaurant and you'll very easily find this place inside Maju Junction - look for their huge signboard with the name 'MIKAN' in Chinese.