Triad at Banana Leaf Malaysian Chinese Cuisine

Its not often that you have 3 Chinese doing receiving at same time and as my ex-dragon lady consultant (now affectionately known as Auntie Ruth) says, "one... two.... three..... makes a triad isn't it"

This post is dedicated to DC who has been such a joy to work with and so generously bought this meal.


NOW.... Let's Feast !!!





Best Char Kway Teow in Glasgow. Generous ingredients with noodles seared by the wok master. All it needs is a "solid" chilli to turn up the wok hei flavour..





Its not going to win trophies in Singapore anytime soon but I will gladly have this 4 days a week if need be. The star is of dish is the chilli which I have forgotten to include in the picture.





Restaurant grade Nasi Lemak served on banana leaf with condiments included on a seperate dish. Plenty of credits to the pan fried egg with a gooey yolk.. mhmmm mmmhm..





Malaysian style curry laksa vermicelli. Totally not the type of laksa I was brought up with.
The curry broth did hit the spot though. Just to compare, there's char siew, fish ball, deep fried wanton in this version whereas Singapore's version has prawns, dried shrimps and tau pok.





Satay that has been deep fried and not grilled over a char-coal flame. A new take on satay that I probably won't get used to. The peanut sauce was authentic nevertheless.

This has been one of the most satisfying meals I have had. No Michelin stars whatsoever, just comfort food to nourish the soul.

DO check out the main dishes that this restaurant also serves.

Banana Leaf - Malaysia Chinese Cuisine
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87 Cambridge Street
Glasgow G3 6RU
Tel: 0141 333 999

Banana Leaf - Malaysia Chinese Cuisine

Once upon a time there was Asia Style and then Rumours came along. As the popularity of Malaysian Cuisine grew, China Blue also set up its lunch time menu to conquer the world of underexplored Malaysian flavours in Glasgow.

Just about a month ago, I found out that the Old Canton restaurant had revamped into Banana Leaf. Essentially, the very same restaurant but now improvised with a new leafy green deco, friendly staff who bring Malaysian hospitality and awesome AWESOME food.

I have had alot of 3 meat roast in Glasgow; most of them in the bigger Chinese restaurants. To find such an amazing platter of roast in this establishment, makes me wonder who is the masterchef helming the kitchen. The duck was juicy, the skin was crisp, the pork was tender yet still retaining that crackling good skin and the charsiew .... wow... reminds me of home haha.

(sounds like I am over selling it but I really really liked it !!)

Kam Heong Chicken has the flavours of Chinese, Malay and Indian all mixed together. The secret behind the flavours lies in the combinations of dried shrimps, chili, curry powder and curry leaves to give this dish its distinct aroma.

This was probably the least favourite dish of the night. Its called Ikan Bakar which means burnt fish. The fish was .... not burnt.. haha. The sambal sauce was nice but it needs that carbonised effect on skin and meat and sauceeeeee to elevate the taste.

The kong pow squid was deep fried in batter and then stir fried with a great amount of heat and chilli. Well coated and I think it was the favourite dish amongst most of my friends that night.

The hot plate seafood tofu had a great mix of ingredients and yummy oyster sauce flavour. More tofu would have been nice.

The fibre of the night went to kai lan sauteed with tenderised beef. Can't really go wrong when its well fried with a good amount of garlic and oil.

The last item I got to eat was an umami packed plate of deep fried soft shell crab. Deep fried mince garlic, salt and pepper. yum yum.

I had plain rice but for 50p more, you can enjoy coconut rice (nasi lemak) or Chicken rice.

Not to forget, there's dessert as well. Honey dew sago, BOH BOH CHAR CHAR !!! and goreng pisang. Sadly I had to go for night shift.

It was a steal really. 7 dishes plus desserts and drinks (non alcoholic) for 20 pounds each.

With 4 players in the market now, the competition has grown and certainly represents the greater interest that the local population have for spicy, flavourful asian cuisine.

I hope these pictures are enough to tantalise your taste buds to warrant a trip down this evening. Afterall its Friday.

Banana Leaf - Malaysia Chinese Cuisine
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87 Cambridge Street
Glasgow G3 6RU
(There is a FB page. If anyone finds it, can you PM me. Thanks)




p.s. Not to be confused with Banana Leaf the South Indian Takeaway in Yorkhill which is a great takeaway not to be neglected !!!!

P.s.s I miss blogging but I am obviously too busy with my job at the moment...

Chinese Kitchen - Savoy Centre

Many thanks to my CCU sister for introducing me to this terrific Malaysian Cafe. There was no way I was going to discover it on my own because its in the middle of SAVOY CENTRE. This place is what I consider the Singapore equivalent of Bukit Timah plaza and Katong Shopping Centre but less "hip". Seriously, the only people who go there are the grannies and uncles who convene for their Weegie chitty chattery over lots of sugar overloaded pastries. (Ok I lied. I secretly go there for bubble tea hahaha)

I was really surprise to be greeted by a scene of mainland chinese and BBCs chowing down on what looked like wanton mee and horfun. Amongst them, the local Angmohs were seen eating the usual chicken curry chow fan and "Singaporean Fried Noodles".

My fears were only alleviated when I saw the Chinese character menu and spoke to the Malaysian waitress. I knew I was in for a treat.

Aa ordered an aromatic plate of Malaysian beef curry rice. Yes, it looks like any other curry but when you take the first bite. "Boleh la~!" "Sedap man!" I could almost start speaking Malay. It was really that good. Maybe they used a premix maybe but whatever it is, I wouldn't mind eating it again.

I obviously went for my favourite dish. Quite ironic eh to be eating Chicken rice cooked by a Malaysian. What to do, unless I open a store, God knows when will we see a restaurant here opened by a Singaporean.

By time this was served, the Lao Ban Niang (Lady boss) who spotted my "attention seeking" camera came over to say harlo. Instantly, she knew we were from Singapore. Suprise !! -__-

Soon after she started explaining to me that this store has been around for some time. She din hesitate to do abit of PR (not the kind that I get involved with at work) and kindly informed us that the kitchen is not open on Sunday and in the evenings BUT! they have a sister store on Cambridge Street which opens in the night.

Going back to the chicken rice, the star of the dish was the chilli. It was fresh, tangy and garlicky. The chicken was not the plump silky version but was good enough for me just as the rice was shiok enough for me to want another plate.

I wasn't sure if it was a lunch time offer but the main meals all come with a free drink. Not bad rite ~ ! £7.5 -8.5 for a main meal plus free drink. The drink I had was called San se cha. I couldn't make out what it was initially but when it came, it made visual sense. 三色茶 was a multi layered tea of milk tea, more milk (maybe coconut milk) and GULA melaka

Innovatively impressive.

Its been awhile since I wrote such a lengthy post but this place really does deserve a visit.

p.s: NO I DIDN't get a discount or free meal !! for this post haha

Chinese Kitchen
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Savoy Centre Sauchiehall St
Glasgow, G1 1
(0141) 333 0067
Open Mon to Sat till 5pm
Close Sunday.


Canton
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67 Cambridge St
Glasgow G3 6

Selamat Datang Wau Cafe

The prospect of a new Asian cafe in Glasgow always stirs up a huge appetite for my flatmates and I. I was stunned when AS told me that there's a new Malaysia cafe in Yorkhill. Unexpectedly, it turns out to be a full fledged Malay Malaysian cafe. WoOTs~~! *btw AS claims to have been visiting this place on a daily basis. O _ O ~!!!!

The flat turned up in full force one weekday evening, with hunger and anticipation building up over the course of our less than great days at work. Surprisingly, no one was in the cafe but I wonder if that's because the place is newly open.

The opening conversation immediately brought a sense of familiarity that set the expectation of this place. Authenticity.

We started off with a trio of appetisers that included curry puffs, satay and soup kambing. The satay was well seasoned with galangal and tumeric spices and complimented really well with the peanut sauce. Satay was abit dry (deep fried or grilled?) but was salvaged by the ketuput that helped moisten things up. Kambing soup was great for a cold evening. The Curry puff however was mediocre. I would definitely go for the potatos over the sardine.

Moving on to the main course, Aa and I decided to whack 2 mains. i know we were being greedy but we were also uber hungry. I had the nasi goreng with chicken curry. haha I totally didn't expect my nasi goreng to be what it looked like and what was more bizarre was that it tasted like char kway teow haha.. I was very amused and nevertheless wolfed down the whole plate. Next up was my mee goreng haha. Certainly quite different from the version at rumours and the verson at the malay food store in LPS.

C and Aa went for the wau cafe nasi lemak set. There was a choice of beef rendang or ayam goreng with nasi lemak, egg, 2 satays and really solid sambal. I ll give good marks for the rice and sambal. I just wished the sambal had alittle more fire in it.

Aa had mee bandung as his seconds. I din't learn about mee bandung until really recently. I had a taste of it and was rather intrigue.

THe meal wouldn't have been completed without desserts. I don't think these were bought from a factory or anything. They look good enough to be home made and I would say was the best course of the meal. THe irony is that I wouldnt normally buy Malay dessert in SIngapore but because I m here in Glasgow where every Asian food is more difficult to find, I couldn't resist sampling them . Taste Good!!

Overall, we had a great time there at the cafe. The food was nice but unfortunately was not mind blowing. The portions could be bigger and its chilli have a higher level of spiciness. Having said that, the culinary skills showcased remains a niche market that is bound to attract lots of SEA students. I believe with time, we can expect more great tasting malaysian cuisines from them.

Wau Cafe, Glasgow
-------------------------
27 Old Dumbarton Road
Glasgow G3 8RD

Opening hours
Tue - Thurs 1130- 2130
Fri 1400 - 2100
Sat 1130 - 2130
Sun 1130 - 1730
Mon Closed

http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Wau-Cafe/141718059215932

Graduation Lunch at Rumours

Universitas Glasguensis,Via Veritas Vita



Nasi Lemak....

Wanton mee.....


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Twilight awaits......

C & R, London

London Aye......... LOL

Fish Ball kway teow soup.... Not very nice....

Hokiien Mee. Good wok hei flavour but lacks the prawny ommph

My favourite Chicken Rice... Chicken was good. Rice nope..

Prawn Noodle Soup.... Pretty standard.....


NOt sure if i ll be back again for more food. I just learnt that there are other places to try out Malaysian food in London.

C & R Restaurant
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3-4 Rupert Court
London W1D 6DY

217-3, originally uploaded by jiapui.

OnDeh OnDeh !

This is Ondeh ONdeh... Steamed mashed sweet potato with rolled into a ball with a center filling of gula melaka, finally coated with shredded coconut.

Mum likes this so does my flatmate apparently.

I on the other hand Don't hahaha which kinda annoys my mum haha.

Will post the recipe when I return..









P.S: I'm taking a 2 week break!!

Beef Rendang

Aa made beef rendang using BEEF RIBSSS !!!!!

No wonder it was so exquisitely tender

Lunch @ China BlUe!: 2nd Serving

My second serving post in a week does suggest that there ain't many places in Glasgow for Chinese food, which is kinda true. So all those take away uncles and aunties please do consider setting up more restaurants like this cos we hungry and desperate asian students will definately patronise them.

Met up with V and HnnH for lunch after my nights. haha Pretty tired but the food will keep me going. V decided to go for fried carrot cake after a long consideration. I quite like it. It pretty much was a char kway teow but substituted with carrot cake. PLus points for the prawns !!~ Definately a better sharing dish than a main.

HnnH had Ban Mien. After sampling this dish 2 times, I think we have come to the conclusion that it ain't as good as Qiu Lian ban mien back home. Don't worry, still can order.

I had Fish Head Vermicillin, it was so good but msg loaded. THe amount of salted cabbage used was appropriate and I believe I tasted some sour plum as well. THe fish was amazing as well. Deep fried and then immersed in the broth to mask the oily texture hahaha. I wonder if all that collagen will be good for my skin hahahaha.

Sadly, I din't leave the best for last. The dry version of yong tau hu in a bean sauce can't match the broth version. Must be the sauce. Tasted abit sourish. Something savoury would have probably been better.

China Blue
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96 Renfield Street
Glasgow G2 1NH

0141 333 1881
Opening Times: Noon only.

Lunch @ China BlUe!

Finally, I was able to find time to head down to China Blue to sample the Malaysian Cuisine there. I heard about this place from WY months ago but haven't had the chance to head to town to try it because of the my heavy schedule. All that stalling wasn't helping me as I have been hearing great reviews from my flatmates and WY. Fortunately I wasn't let down.

For a start we had the herb drink which turns out to be grass jelly lol. 1.80pds per glass. It was decent but definately overpriced la if you compare it to the standard glass in Singapore. I was hoping that there would be a refill but there wasn't....

We ordered 2 starters. The first one was a thai sauce tofu. This tasted quite good. Tofu stuffed with meat and covered in a sweet tangy thai sauce. Careful. The tofu came out piping hot.

This was good. Yong Tau FoO!!.. 6 pieces for 6.50. U can top up as well and it comes in a soup version or one drenched in bean sauce. Good stuff!!.

C had Ban Mien. Tasted quite good la..Bits of fried ikan billis and a meat sauce. Personally, I am not a huge fan of ban mien but I'll eat it if there's nothing else to eat.

I had wanton mee. The noodles were really good quality. The char siew was :( not so good.

I thought there werent going to be any wantons but turns out that the waiter had forgotten about them. These wantons were ok. Filling was a bit firm and did not have the Te Po Taste.

Overall good but rumours is probably better.

Aa had spareribs with bitter gourd and noodles. The spare ribs actually tasted really good. Very savoury and meaty in taste. The bitterness of the gourd was pretty manageable.


Overall, a very good experience and I can't wait to go back to try more dishes. The only problem is that these dishes are available during lunch.

China Blue
-----------------------------

96 Renfield Street
Glasgow G2 1NH

0141 333 1881
Opening Times: Noon only.

Dinner with the flatmates and WY!!

Er.. This is a mince beef rendang pancake with sweetcorn. Aa was totally wide eye when he saw this. For a moment, he thought I had gone bonkers but I reassured him that mine dish will definately be safer than some of his "unique" past creations. Anyhoo, I used this Asian gourmet rendang paste and mixed it with some mince beef and sprinkled some tumeric over it. Give it a good fry and then add some sweet corn. It tasted ok lor... a bit bland and lacking in the rendang flavour. It was edible but I don't think I will be making it anytime soon. Just one of those bad cooking days lol.

Luckily, Aa had something to supplement the meal. And guess what TOFU again . This time it was mapo tofu though but without mince pork but in its place, some prawns. Hmm. This was the spicy sourish version. I think i prefer the savour version much better.

WY joined us for dinner and he contributed a dish of fried broccoli with fish cake and mushroom. I think he likes fishcakes with veges, seems to order it quite often when he's eating at chinese restaurants.

Well... not a good day for food... but its ok rite. Still got food to eat... lol.. Tomorrow will be a better day.

KL Food Hunt

Yup, I was in KL over the weekend. My 2nd time in KL in umpteen years but its nice to see the petronas towers in its full physical form. A pretty impressive structure that is visible from all corners of KL.

Zac and San brought WY and I to this place in petaling for some authentic malaysian food. Read so much about Petaling street food and finally I am here to savour them all. I was quite ambitious intially and wanted to try everything but my big giant belly was starting to burst my pants so I decided to go easy haha.

We ordered some yong tau fu . Tasted different la and its like due to the fresh fish paste that they use and the huge amount of oil that they bath-fried them in. I ate almost half of the whole plate because no body was eating haha.

WY decide to order po piah but for some reason no one ate it and I have to finish it. It was light than the SIngaporean version. Especially the skin which was super thin and there wasn't an overdose of the sweet sauce.

And there was dry ban mien. I am not a big fan of ban mien. I told them I havent heard of a dry version of ban mien with a soy sauce gravy. Looks nice and the noodles tasted really chewy al dente what ever u call it.

Ok here's the char kway teow. Tasted awesome but I was almost full by this time and still have to eat one more plate on my own after devouring a bowl of assam laksa. so the char kway teow tasted good and taste better than the average ones u get back in singapore. Not to forget, they use really fresh prawns here too and the good frying technique imparts a nice wok hei flavour to the local kway teow

OH and there was the bowl of assam laksa which I finally got to try after hearing so much about it from PY. Its nice but not something I would immediately order on first instinct. Tasted almost like meesiam but I found the combination of mackeral fish with a soury sauce and thick rice noodle with a table spoon full of prawn paste ( hei kor) quite an unusal combination but somehow when u mix eveerything together it still works . OH well... haha apparently girls like this really sour dish. I agree. What say u guys??

A nice lime juice to cool down the heat. Notice the difference in colour from the ones in singapore. This looks more liek sugar cane. haha. It comes with a piece of sour plum hence the spoon.

After that we went to KL Convention Centre, beneath the petronas towers, for some desserts at Madam Kwans. I had the ice chendol. Pretty normal but the gula melaka was really fragrant.

WY had the ice campur which resembled an ice kachang but Mel was quick to point out that ice campur uses a really red syrup and not the usual red green syrup with gula melaka. Any malaysians out there can differnetiate between the 2?


Thanks WY , Z and San for the wonderful treat. PLease invite me back soon lol.!!!