Ol Skool Dim Sum at Pudu Cafe

And with my monochrome adventure in Pudu, I am treated to dim sum ol skool style. Hidden at Pudu market is Pudu Cafe. A no frills shop, I am greeted at 6:00a.m. by a packed shop. Yeah its seriously packed at this hour. Its also non stop steaming of dim sum to cater to the clients.

Every table, I see people enjoying their dim sum. It can be an uncle slurping his porridge with his wife for company. On another table, someone else is enjoying his pow and cup of chinese tea while browsing the newspapers.

Needless to say, I am ravenous after my morning walk with my camera and bag. I have a peep at what's steaming and quickly return to my table to start picking the dim sums.

Here's a glimpse of some of the items we ate.

Not overly sweet egg tarts

Yummy radish cake

Creamy woo kok with a generous stuffing of melt in your mouth char siew

what's inside?

lo mai kai with a generous portion of chicken, pork, sausage and mushroom

fried lobak. basically its fu chuk (beancurd skin) with meat stuffing

stuffed chilly

chicken soup for breakfast. super yum yum for the soul and tummy

satisfying & bouncy fishball (yee wak)

siu mai

rather strange shaped lai yao bao

its not the oozy drip all over type of filling but it has a very nice corn custard taste to it

braised fu chuk with stuffing. the sauce is yummy.

braised chicken feet

My faves? Porridge. Char Siew Pow. Pork ribs. Chee Cheong Fun. Lotus Leaf Rice. Stuffed Bittergourd.

We ordered 3 servings of the pork ribs and the confession is that I ate one on my own. The meat is tender and is well marinated. You can taste the awesome taste of the flavourful black dace in every bite without even biting into the black dace.

The char siew pow is fluffy. The filling is not too sweet and the meat is juicy with a light hint of sesame seed. Lean meat is used but its not dry.

I admit that I wasn't too keen on the idea of chee cheong fun initially. This I reckon is because of the amount of fried onions that I saw on it. However I took a bite (after pushing aside the fried onions) and was wowed. Silky and smooth chee cheong fun with fragrant soya sauce. Take it with the sambal on the side. This is awesome! Yes it was good...we ordered another plate!

What is dim sum without porridge? Pudu Cafe serves wholesome thick porridge with a generous amount of minced pork and century egg. Of course there is salted egg. Just that you don't see it. Proper way of cooking is to mash the salted egg with the porridge so you taste it but don't see it with your naked eye.

an old uncle with his bowl of porridge

thick hot porridge

yummy...

The lotus leaf rice is a must order. The glutionous rice is aromatic because of the lotus leaf. It is also aromatic because of the generous fillings including salted, lean meat (healthy shop!) and chinese sausages.

a dainty parcel wrapped with lotus leaf

fluffy fragrant glutinous rice

I love stuffed bittergourds and Pudu Cafe serves them the way I like. Huge generous amount of fish paste stuffed into a ring of bittergourd. The bittergourd is soft and coupled with the firm fish paste. The fish paste is as original as you can get. Its pure fish meat that is minced together sans any flour whatsoever.

And if you're around that part of town, hop over to this ol skool shop:

45 Jalan Pasar Baru

Off Jalan Pudu

Kuala Lumpur

~.~

I am glad "This Fella" invited me to check out the market at such an unearthly hour (well 5:30a.m. is seriously unearthly for me) and resulted in my play with monochrome pictures and a gastronomic experience. Thanx buddy!

Chinese Tapas at Tai Zi Heen

Most of us are quite accustomed to Tapas i.e. Spanish appetizers. How about Chinese Tapas? Well... we had Chinese Tapas recently at Tai Zi Heen at Prince Hotel & Residence Kuala Lumpur with some buddies and business partners. And it was at an awesome price of RM10++ per dish. With over 20 items to choose from, its no wonder that we had this much food for the 9 of us! I call this our Prosperity Meal:D

I think dumplings are really fun. Its a wee like opening presents to reveal what wrapped inside. At Tai Zi Heen, I "unwrapped" 2 presents...I meant dumplings. The Steamed Spinach Dumpling Filled with Prawn and the Steamed Prawn Dumplings with Dried Scallops.

It may look a wee green to some people but rest assured the green from the Steamed Spinach Dumpling Filled with Prawn comes from the all natural goodness of spinach.

Another old fashion dim sum dish that I was glad to see in the list of Chinese Tapas is the Steamed Scallop Siew Mai. There is something magical when meat is served together with scallop. The each enhance each other's native character.

My fave for the night..and I reckon many of us on that table would have been this pretty Smoked Duck in Egg Rolls and Preserved Ginger. The duck was rich and flavourful and is very well complimented by the preserved ginger and century egg. Needless to say, we reordered this item again and again:D

One more good appetizer to start ones meal is always chilled Marinated Seashell and Jellyfish with Garlic and Preserved Vegetables. A cold dish with crunch in every bite...yummeh!

Another of my personal favourite from the Chinese Tapas is Batter Fried Whitebait Fish with Spiced Salt. The fluffy batter and melt in your mouth fish is simply good. The spiced salt makes this a good nibbler especially when you're chatting over a meal.

Being half Cantonese, soups are such a must for me if I see it on the menu. I absolutely love the warm rich Eight Treasures Sun Dried Seafood Soup. Every mouthful revealed quite a bit of precious treasures indeed including scallop, sea cucumber and crab meat. Yummy!

It wasn't just meat and all the rich food. One must always remember to eat their vegetables. The chefs at Tai Zi Heen came up with a few good tasting ones that will have you digging into every bit of the vegetables.

Deep Egg Plant with Salt and Pepper is a good idea to get picky eaters who don't like egg plants to give this dish a try.Yeah we had picky eaters on our table...and they certainly learnt to eat egg plants. Lightly battered, the egg plant was soft under the batter and delightfully blending well with the salt and pepper flavour.

Spicy folks can opt for the Stir Fried Okra with Dried Shirmp. Very well done as the okra was not slimy which I am aware is quite a turn off for some people. This one was refreshing, not slimy and not oily despite the presence of the dried shrimps.

There is something comforting about bean sprouts and salted fish. The Fried Bean Sprout with Salted Fish was fresh and crunchy. Crunchy bean sprouts is not the easiest cooking feat as the vegetable turns soft really quickly. This is done just perfect!

I have a love for leeks and celery. It looks refreshing green and has its own unique flavour that compliments many meats and seafood easily. And if you love them like I do, then you must try the Wok Fried Fish Fillet with Celery and also the Wok Fried Beef with Leeks and Ginger.

Brilliant refreshing looking celery and fish!

Juicy tender beef

One simple dish yet popular...perhaps its simplicity is what makes this dish popular is the Steamed Beancurd with Oyster Sauce and Dried Shrimp at many Chinese meals.

For some finger licking good action, one must order the Baked Honey Scented Chicken Wing Sesame.It is so well marinated that one is quite tempted to start nibbling even the bone. LOL.

Another to try chicken dish would be the Crispy Boneless Chicken with Coffee Barbeque Sauce. Yes I said Coffee. This is a unique dish with a tad of coffee flavouring to it. Very appetizing and it will have you munching almost none stop.

On a slightly fusion note is the Steamed Beef Meatballs with Mozarella Cheese. Eat this while its hot and you'll be treated to the richness of the beef and creamy Mozarella cheese which is placed nicely in the centre of each meatball

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Every properous meal must have a happy note to it (well at least this half Cantonese girl says so). It must have prawn that sounds like "laughter" i.e. "Har" One happy prawn dish is the Deep Fried Prawns coated in Sesame Seeds with Sweet and Sour Sauce. This is good to eat even without the dip on the side.

I also liked the slightly spicy Sauteed Prawns with Fried Garlic, Shallots and Dried Chillies. The prawns maintained a certain firmness and would be one dish that I gladly order as an ala carte when the Chinese Tapas promotion is over.

After a good meal...its always good to have some desserts to relax the palate and signal to the brain that we're going to stop eating:P There are no desserts on the Chinese Tapas promotion so we ordered from the regular ala carte menu.

I opted for the Chilled Lemongrass Jelly with Aloe Vera and Lime Sorbet. Absolutely refreshed by the lemongrass jelly, I did not have the need to reach out for a cup of coffee. The lime sorbet is a must for those who love tangy stuff. It was too tangy for me to eat on its own but it went really well with the whole dessert as a whole.

If you like almond desserts, then the Hot Almond Soup in Coconut with Black Sesame Tong Yuen is a must. Rich creamy almond soup and not overly sweet not artificial smelling like many dessert places, this is another comforting warming dish for the stomach. The glutionous rice balls were nice and soft and when one bites into it, the black sesame just ooozes out gently.

Ice cream kakis opted for the Chilled Mango Puree with Pomelo, Sago and Vanilla Ice Cream. I tried a mouthful of this and loved it. I would have liked to order it if not for me being quite stuffed from the Chinese Tapas we ordered. The vanilla ice cream was not disappointing. Rich and creamy...it danced very well with the mango and pomelo with bits of sago to give you yet another different texture in your mouth.

This promotion ends 30th October 2011 for lunch between 12noon to 2:30pm from Mondays to Fridays:

Tai Zi Heen

1st Floor Prince Hotel & Residence Kuala Lumpur

+603 2170 8888

www.princehotelkl.com