Seeing that PappaRich has got a good ambience we decided to sit down to relax our poor feet after shopping for the whole evening. We were really not so hungry so made orders for takeaway to be enjoyed in front of the tv set later. We were rather unhappy when we had to wait for almost half an hour for our simple takeaway. The manager's explanation was that their food all arrive new and fresh and so they needed a longer time to steam the glutinous rice to ensure that it comes out perfect for us. Later, when we finally could settle down to enjoy our food, we found that the glutinous rice was quite tasteless and the egg tart was also not good with a burnt taste on the pastry. Could it be because the restaurant is too crowded so the food served that evening was not up to standard? Anyone has got any opinion on this as we had checked out the menu and noticed that they serve vegetarian nasi lemak and would like to visit again.




Name: Papa Rich Cafe
Address: Level 3, The Gardens, Mid Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur

Labels: Kuala Lumpur, Papa Rich Cafe, The Gardens

Have been eating so much of sweet goodies and sumptuous meals during Chinese New Year, so while shopping at 1Utama the other day, we were hungry at about lunch time but was not in the mood to have dishes with rice. However, we still need to have food in the stomach to so the best thing to do is to have a very light meal. The best place to go to will of course be Chikuyo as they serve a variety of hawker fare. We ordered Kuey Tiaw with bitter gourd and prawn mee. One thing I like about this restaurant is that their food is not oily and salty and the taste is delicious too!
Name: Chikuyo Vegetarian Restaurant -

Labels: Chikuyo (1Utama), Petaling Jaya, Selangor

I've always been a big fan of Japanese Bento sets as they forever look interesting and appetizing. Originally, we planned to dine at Sushi Zanmai at the Gardens, Mid-valley, but because the queue was exceptionally long that Friday night, we had no choice but to look for an alternative. We headed to the nearest Japanese place as we could not tame our hungry stomach any longer. After checking out the menu and ordering our respective sets at the HOUSE OF BENTO at The Gardens, we proceeded to the ice-kacang stall. The good thing about dining in the food court is that you get to enjoy different cuisines all in one place. However, the bento set was not up to my expectation and was actually quite pricey (just adding a bit more $ could get me a much better bento set at Sushi Zanmai). By far, if I had a choice, I'd rather dine at Sakae Sushi as I find that they serve the best bento set. Do you guys know of any other places that serves greater bento boxes for vegetarians?

Name: House of Bento
Address: Food Garden, The Gardens, Stall #08.

Would I visit this place again? Probably not, especially when a much better choice is just a few steps away.

Labels: Asian, Gardens - Mid Valley Megamall, Japanese, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Have been invited to so many open house and pot luck parties and I find that the most convenient and suitable dish to bring along for us vegetarians will be a pot of fried meehoon. Just this dish alone you can add in all your different types of vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, woodear plus some mock meat (optional). So there you have it, a wholesome meal in a single pot that everyone will enjoy. Oh, a good accompaniment would be a hot pot of curry

Labels: - Fried meehoon, Home cooked dishes at friend's house party

Looking for the perfect tiramisu recipe? Look no further! After two previous attempts, I have finally succeeded in making the tiramisu which I personally find to be 'perfect' (not unless you like spongy cakes). As promised in my previous post “Loving how the cakes melt in my mouth at Alexis”, this post reveals the classic Italian recipe, perfected by my Italian cousin, Vivian. Here’s to all you tiramisu fans out there.

Ingredients:
500g mascarpone cheese
5 eggs, (separated from egg yolks)
40g brown sugar (a bit more if you want it sweeter)
4-5 cups of good coffee (I like Lavazza) (not the size of a regular coffee mug cup but a measuring cup!)
5-8 spoonfuls of Tia Maria or Gran Manier or Drambuie liquor
1 large pack of sponge fingers (Savoriardi in Italian)
Cocoa Powder (for dusting)

Method:

(A) CHEESE

1. Separate the egg yolks from the whites into a smaller bowl, yolks in a larger bowl.
2. Beat the yolks a bit before adding the sugar. Remember to add the sugar bit by bit.
3. Add the mascarpone to the yolks bit by bit and set aside.
4. Beat the whites until little peaks form and then add to the larger bowl

(B) COFFEE/SPONGE FINGERS

5. Prepare 4-5 cups of coffee (recipe for this later, meanwhile go get yourself a French plunger and a pack of good coffee grounds – try to get your hands on Lavazza or if not any imported coffee grounds should be fine)

6. Mix the Tia Maria / Drumbuie/ Gran Manier to the coffee until until you can taste the liquor in the coffee.

7. Dip the sponge fingers in coffee and quickly lay them in a square or rectangular container, preferably something that comes with a lid.

I did this by floating the fingers on the coffee then quickly turn the fingers two rounds or so and immediately transfer them to the container.

Note: the fingers tend to break easily (normally they will only last a few seconds, especially in hot / warm coffee).

8. Layer the container with a layer of (B) on the bottom, followed by (A), then (B), then (A).



9. Dust with some cocoa powder.


10. Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours or even overnight.

11. Serve and enjoy!

Labels: Dessert, Dessert Recipe, Tiramisu

Kudos to my cousin, Tung and wife Camy for organizing a fantastic Lok Lok CNY party. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a Lok Lok van outside the house. I think it's a great idea to host a CNY open house party, where guests choose to "cook" from a variety of so many different types of meat and seafood at their own heart's desire. Other than the common steamboat pot, this lok lok truck also come with a deep-fryer and a grilling pit, allowing guests an option to cook their food in their own style. It was very nice of my cousin to reserve a vegetarian-only-pot and also prepare some vegetarian balls and kangkung. The vegetarian balls were extremely tasty and went really well with the minced ginger and garlic sauce. And of cause, since it's a CNY party, there's definitely Yee Sang, where everyone tossed high in hopes of attaining higher success, good health and prosperity this year. Again, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy and healthy Chinese New Year!

Labels: Chinese New Year Yee Sang, Lok Lok, Malaysia, Malaysian, Steamboat

Kohyang, Korean Country Delights is always packed with not a vacant table and customers will have to stand by to wait for seats. Indeed, because the food served here is really delicious. We enquired and found that they can do some replacements and specially make them into vegetarian style for us. Bi Bim Bab was good as it comes with eight different types of vegetables.
K/C Ji Gye came with a bowl of rice ( which we had to wait for 15 minutes to arrive as they ran out rice). Jab Che is a good recommendation as the noodles were fried to perfection, not gluey and very chewy too.

Name: Kohyang, Korean Country Delights
Address: LG-K05, The Gardens, Mid Valley City, 59200 Kuala Lumpur.

Labels: Kohyang, Korean, Kuala Lumpur, The Gardens

Yee Sang is a must have during Chinese New Year for my family. Not only it is for the special meaning that comes with it (we take it for smooth sailing throughout the year), we also enjoy the sweet and sour taste of it. We buy our yee sang portion from the SEA PARK Market which costs RM 23. However, there is a tip which I would like to share here, and that is to add in radish, carrot strips and also a bowl of pomelo fruit which makes the yee sang more tasty and chewy. Toss away for abundance of good luck in the year of the tiger!

Labels: Chinese New Year, Chinese New Year Yee Sang

My aunty is all praises for the 'lui cha' that she has patronised in Kepong and insists that I should try it out. She feels that this is the best 'lui cha' she has ever tasted and when she passed by the shop yesterday she was so kind and generous to 'ta pau' a packet for me to enjoy. She found out from the owner that the soup base has got ikan bilis and had requested that the 'lui cha' paste be mixed only in just plain hot water to cater to my vegetarian diet. Overall, I find the taste is good. However, I still find the 'lui cha' in Kuan Yin Temple in Jalan Ampang to be better. You may wish to visit both places and find out for yourself if you are a fan of 'lui cha'
Name: Big Big Bowl Cafe
Address: No. 31, Jalan Metro Perdana Barat 2, Taman Usahawan, Kepong, 52100 Kuala Lumpur.
Operation's Manager: Angie Lim
Hp: 102-2115564

Labels: Big Big Bowl Cafe, Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, Lui Cha

It will be a long time before I will go back to Melbourne and one of the food outlets that I will be missing will be The Nasi Lemak House. I like to frequent this shop and would like to share that the best 3 choices found under their vegetarian menu here will be their Curry Laksa, Nasi Lemak and also the Char Kuey Tiaw. The taste of all three are so authentic that I find that they are even better than the vegetarian restaurants found in Malaysia. No mock meat are used, only a lot of tofu and vegetables. The sambal is simply delicious. You can opt for mild, medium and very spicy when you place your order.



Name: Nasi Lemak House
Address: 113 Grattan St Carlton VIC
Opening hours: 11am - 10pm

Labels: Australia, Melbourne, Nasi Lemak House

I love claypot rice and find that it is quite difficult to get vegetarian claypot rice in Malaysia. So anybody who has tasted and find any good claypot rice around, do let me know as I am sure crazy about them. This shop which is not vegetarian restaurant caters to my need when I requested for a vegetarian pot. They were quite versatile and replaced the meat with mushrooms and tofu with beans and other vegetables. The taste is very good and the rice cooked to the correct timing without any crust. Wondered how the chef timed it and veges on top also cooked to perfection.


Name: EC Pot
Address: level 1 QV urban market, 200 Lonsdale St, Melbourne, Australia (near Dan Murphy's and Officeworks)

Labels: Asian, Australia., EC Pot, Melbourne

By far, finding good vegetarian Char Kuey Tiaw is as hard as looking for a needle in a haystack. Mostly because a very strong flame is needed to perfectly cook the kuey tiaw and most vegetarian restaurants' stoves are not capable of producing such high bursts of flame needed. However, Blue Boy Mansion's very own vegetarian coffee shop can safely claim that it is the king of all vegetarian char kuey tiaw as it garnered many praises from all who tried it, even from non-vegetarian friends. Even if Char Kuey Tiaw is not your fancy, Blue Boy Mansion has many other things to offer, including yong tauhu, curry laksa etc, definitely worth a visit whenever you are near the Bukit Bintang/Pudu area.


Address: 6001 Blue Boy Mansion, Jalan Tong Shin, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Labels: Blue Boy Mansion, Kuala Lumpur

Had ran out of places to visit for vegetarian meals in Melbourne, so a friend recommended this place in Prahran Market for a change. So when we were around the area near the Prahran we decided to give it a try. However, it was quite late when we arrived and it was way passed lunch time and the cafe is already closed. Having no choice we decided to take some photos of the restaurant not realising that the owner of the cafe was nearby. She saw us snapping photos and confronted us. We apologised and explained that we were vegetarian food bloggers and had actually intended to have lunch there and finding the place closed we thought we just take some photos first and requested if she can cook us something for us. Maybe she was already annoyed by our earlier actions and had not granted us our request and even abruptly brushed us off. Anybody who has visited this cafe may want to share with us about the food served here.

Name: Vegetarian Cafe, Prahran Market, Melbourne
Address: Prahran Market, 163 Commercial Rd, South Yarra, VIC 3181, Australia.

Labels: Australia, Melbourne, Prahran Market Vegetarian Cafe

As MG's Cafe is very near to my dentist, after my visit there, the most convenient place to have lunch will of course be at MG's. After ordering the must have - Assam Laksa - we ordered a rice dish, Vege Unadon to try out. The vege unadon is rather fluffy and there is no bite to it but fortunately the taste is delicious and it has got some kelp to go with it. We also had a red bean tart for dessert. It is nothing extraordinary and the red bean inside is hard and like not too cooked. The frontage of the shop is very colorful and attractive now with a lot of Chinese New Year goodies on sale. Many ideas for presents for relatives and friends.

Name: MG's Cafe
Address: No. 38-G, Jalan 27/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas, 50480 KL.
Tel: 03-23-- 3118

Labels: Kuala Lumpur, MG

Tropicana City Mall is a good place to do shopping especially now that Carrefour is giving fantastic promotions. However, the only snag is that with so many eateries there is no vegetarian restaurant to be found. We checked with the manager of Penang Village and was happy that the chef was able to cater to our vegetarian diet. Browsing at the menu we found that they have special set menu of 3 dishes at RM 28.80. There was one set which was very appealing to us except for the second item which was a meat dish. We enquired from the manager if they can replace that dish with "Vegetarian mixed curry" which was priced at RM14.90 on the menu with a chicken meat dish which was priced at RM 17.90 also on the menu. We were so disappointed when he told us that they cannot cater to our request as the items are already pre-fixed on their cash register and could not be changed. Fortunately, the chef was willing to fry char koay teow and nyonya bee hun vegetarian style for us. He was also really very generous with so many different types of vegetables and the taste was delicious

Name: Penang Village
Address: Tropicana City Mall, L1-49, First Fl, Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-7729 3358

Labels: Penang Village-Tropicana City Mall, Petaling Jaya

After lunch I was looking for a Malaysian dessert and the thought of a good bowl of cendol came to my mind. My friend suggested Sunway Pyramid - Arena Food Court. According to him, the best cendol is in Melaka but it is too far to go, so he recommended this stall which according to him serves the 'second best' cendol. I have to agree with him. It comes with a good serving of cendol ( unlike those from the Indian stall where you can only find a few strands of cendol ), red bean, cincau and big pearls). I love the pearls, they are so chewy to the bite.

Labels: Arena Foodcourt, Petaling Jaya, Sunway Pyramid

It's been ages since I've had anything from Kuan Yin, and I must say that cravings for the following dishes are not easily satisfied elsewhere, hence, I do find myself wanting to go back to Kuan Yin for more. However, recently, Kuan Yin has been jacking up their prices, and I expect an even greater price increment over the Chinese New Year holidays. Lucky for me is that more and more vegetarian restaurants have been popping up all over KL and PJ in recent years, giving the veggie market a very well-needed competition and choice.

Labels: Asian, Chinese, Kuan Yin, Malaysia, Malaysian, Petaling Jaya, Selangor