FINALLY, a McDonald’s outlet has been opened nearby my place! You have no idea how happy I was when I found this out. You see, about 2-3 years ago, there was only 1, I repeat, ONE McD in town. No drivethrough, plus the traffic is always congested there, no place to park.. overall I hate going there. Then one by one McD started to pop up. Nearest to me is at Jusco area.. which, even using the highway, is not that near. Then I heard a new one is being built nearby my place (about 5 minutes of driving if there’s no traffic) and damn, I was overjoyed.

I have been watching the construction from the beginning. I use that road a lot so it’s hard not to watch the building being built while you count the days and wait in anticipation. Seriously.

It’s actually very interesting to see that site, used to be a flower shop, being demolished until the building is built. That’s how much I was looking forward to it.

And boy, the excitement just increased when you don’t see those walls anymore and you actually see the building, 85% done now. Just waiting for the days for it to open. I think it took about 3 months for the whole construction from demolishing the previous building to the opening.

A day after the opening, I went there for breakfast with my mom and my mom’s friend. The place is very colorful. It does feel like a cheerful fast food restaurant and also a cozy cafe. Not bad.

There were colorful balloons, walls, everything. The place was however quite small, but not too small.

There was also a small playground for kids. Beside it there’s another area, more like a lounge? It’s more comfortable in there. The chairs are more comfortable inside too.

We sat there until lunch hour and boy, it started to go crazy. The place was packed with people during lunch hour. It was so crowded and so loud that I got annoyed, haha. I think we must have spent over 3 hours just watching people and talking.

I even spent my new year’s eve there with my friend. Back in December when I had to work mostly outside, I could say every 2 days or so I would stop by and buy my prosperity burger. I can consider myself a regular customer :P I should get special regular customer discount or something haha.

However, I have a bad memory when one night where after buying my food there, as I was going out of the traffic light, some idiot taxi driver stopped for what he thought was red light (it was for another junction) and BAM, I crashed into him. So in turn, I wrecked the front of my very new car, and got fined RM300. Some justice huh? I can’t talk much about this because it hurts too much.

This is Mr. Indy. He introduced himself as the franchisee of this McDonald’s. When he saw me taking pictures inside and outside, he stopped to ask me and then we talked a bit. He’s a very nice and friendly guy. I’m so surprised though because he looks so young. That’s when I found out this McDonald’s is a franchise. If I’m not mistaken, I received a flyer earlier this month that they had the official opening. I missed that however.

Well thank you for making my wish come true… been hoping that a McD would open near me for ages.

Popin’ Cookin’ are Japanese DIY candy that’s really fun to make! I’ll make a detailed review of each one soon. I got the cupcake set, bento set and sushi set. So far I’ve only done the sushi set and boy it was a lot of fun. Stay tuned for the review!

It’s by Crumb Boss and you can get the recipe here. It looks so tempting that I am going to try make it for my birthday this month. This along with some cupcakes :D

The box itself was nicely wrapped.

But sorry son, I couldn’t resist myself much longer. The moment I opened the box after taking the pictures above, I started devouring them like some starving carnivores. It had 4 different flavors. I’m not so sure the exact flavors but I tasted peanut butter, something like mocha or coffee? Not too sure on this.. another one is orange or lemon perhaps? And salted caramel.

GOD. I can’t describe how lovely and delicious the salted caramel was.
The lemon had a nice tangy zesty flavor. Loved it.
The peanut butter is yummy!
And the mocha or coffee one is actually not that sweet compared with the rest. It has a bit bitter flavor, which is really nice for those who doesn’t wanna risk going into sugar shock.

I wish I had more, especially salted caramel because it was the best out of the bunch. It was my first time tasting salted caramel ones too.

I just wanna write about this awesome mushroom!

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this mushroom! When I went to KL last month, they gave out free samples for this mushroom at Cold Storage 1Utama. It tasted awesome. I loved it. It’s great as snack to. The lady told me how she fried the mushroom. The thing about this mushroom is that you don’t have to wash it. You can just straight away open the pack, cut out the bottom (dirt) and cook. The stem is the best part. You just fry with 1 teaspoon of oil because the mushroom itself will release its own moisture when you cook so you don’t want a lot of oil.

Then you add in a little bit of ‘Perencah Ikan Bilis’ (Anchovies Flavored Stock Seasoning Powder) and voila. Done. It’s so tasty that I just make it as a snack when I’m hungry. You can find this mushroom at anywhere that sells Japanese food – Cold Storage or Jusco. Try it!

When I went shopping I saw this golden curry roux from S&B, the only curry roux available in Jusco Ipoh. On the package it mentions ‘NO MEAT CONTAINED‘.. at the back it also says “NO MEAT-RELATED PRODUCT CONTAINED‘. So I fgured this is somewhat ‘halal’ to eat, as it has no meat or meat related product in it. I made my first Japanese curry. IT WAS DIVINE. It was so awesome.

But I’m still a bit suspicious about the ingredients. Googling gives me more disappointment because I can’t find any info on this S&B product beside its official website – S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix. True enough that the ingredients do not contain any meat product.

WHEAT FLOUR, EDIBLE OIL(PALM OIL, CANOLA OIL), SALT, SUGAR, CURRY POWDER, SPICES, COLOUR:E150a, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, MALIC ACID, DISODIUM GUANYLATE, DISODIUM INOSINATE

I googled each of the ingredients and was disappointed again to find out that ‘Disodium Inosinate’ CAN be non-halal if derived from animal. From wikipedia, it says:

Disodium inosinate is generally produced from meat or from fish. Alternately, it may be produced from tapioca starch without any animal products involved in the production. Therefore, disodium inosinate may not be suitable for vegans and vegetarians, and in most cases not suitable for observant Jews, Muslims and Hindu, depending on the origin of the product. Like rennet it is normally a non-vegetarian product; only the producer can provide information on the origin although it is in some cases labelled as “vegetarian” in ingredients lists when produced from plant sources

NOOOOOO. :(

Unsatisfied,  I decided to email S&B and clarify this once and for all. I don’t wanna stop eating the curry because I love it, and it’s so awesome. Today I got an official reply from S&B.

Dear Ms.Tany

Thank you very much for your message and interest in our products.

I am Hiroki working for S&B FOODS INC as a sales for Southeast of Asia.

Regarding your question,
The product does not contain meat or meat-related products as you said, but we don’t have any HALAL certificate.

As for your question, Disodium Inosinate in its ingredients are derived tapioca and sugarcane, NOT animal meat.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any further questions.

Best Regards,

—————————
Hiroki Ito (Mr.)

Yay!!

Thank you S&B!

Do you have any idea how happy I am to know this? It sucks that all curry roux are not halal, so I’m very happy to find one that is halal. Sure, it doesn’t have any halal certification, but I’m fine with finding out that none of the ingredients contain non halal product and that disodium inosinate derived from tapioca and sugarcane instead of animal so I can eat in peace now. I love Japanese curry because of the taste and the thickness of it. I don’t like Indian curry that much because it’s runny, and not that fond of malay curry because of the thickness of coconut milk and oil.

No wonder I can’t find any other Japanese curry roux brand in Jusco Ipoh anymore except for S&B.

So yeah, to any Muslims who are suspicious about Japanese curry, you now know that this one is safe to eat. Another one that I heard is halal is ‘Kenko Foods Gourmet Curry‘ though I haven’t found it yet in my city.

When I browse food blogs, I keep reading about red velvet cupcakes. They said it tastes soooo good. Quite recently I went to Cupcake Chic and saw red velvet cupcakes and decided to try. They were right, it was SO GOOD. It’s my new addiction. So I decided to try to find the recipe and make it but never got around to it. Earlier this month I decided I wanna make it as my cream cheese was expiring haha.

I also found my key ingredient. So how did it turn out?

It was a partial success! It was so delicious!

Why it was a partial success? Because the cupcake was a bit too soft. Maybe I overbeat the batter. I did take a bit long to beat them so that could be the reason. If the texture of the cupcake were just a little bit firm and ‘full’, then it would’ve been a complete success! However, I don’t think it was bad for a first try! The cream cheese frosting was a bit too sweet in my recipe, but the sweetness plus a bit sour taste was still so good.

Can’t wait to make it again. Hopefully my updated version will taste even better :D

I first heard about ayam penyet when I was doing my internship at a production company. Everyone was talking about how good the food is, and how spicy the sambal (chilli) is. They had an Indonesian helper at the office so he probably introduced it. After all that buzz, I decided to try it for myself. Boy, little did I know from that day on, I’d be ayam penyet lover and addict. It’s all about the sambal which is soooo spicy, it’ll sure give you stomach burn for a whole day. Ayam penyet originated from Indonesia and has currently became a huge hit in Kuala Lumpur, with branches popping out here and there.. there’s Ayam Penyet AP, Ayam Penyet Ria etc. I hope they’ll expand the franchise to other states..especially Ipoh.

According to their website, ayam penyet is described as:

Ayam Penyet is a traditional Indonesian cuisine which originates from Surabaya. It is a popular chicken dish where the fresh chicken is specially marinated with various spices and herbs . The meat is then smashed with a wooden headed hammer and deep fried until golden light brown. One of the unique feature in preparing this funny name dish is the art of frying where it is crispy from outside and juicy inside.

I knew they were opening a new branch in KLCC when I saw the sign. when I was attending a very sucky and shitty 1Malaysia1Halal campaign or something at the national mosque few weeks later, I decided to stop by at KLCC and found out they’ve opened the new branch of Ayam penyet Ria at the food court.. boy was I happy. But sad news is, Yoshinoya (my favorite restaurant) has been replaced by almost similar Japanese stall.

During my first visit it was almost lunch hour so KLCC wasn’t packed with people yet. The girl there was very friendly and chatty with my mom. But during my 2nd visit, and 3rd visit, during peak hours, they weren’t quite as friendly and chatty as they were when they first opened. Plus different people too.

Ayam Penyet Set : RM8.80

A set of ayam penyet @ Ayam Penyet AP KLCC consist of rice, ayam penyet (smashed chicken), tempe, fried tofu, and little of greens (cabbage etc).. they ‘sprinkled’ some bread crumbs I assume on the chicken. Of course, the sambal. I love to have extra sambal for super extra spicyness. Be warned to those who can’t stand spicy food, avoid the sambal.. but then again, what’s the point? Their specialty is the sambal. That’s what made ayam penyet famous. The chicken, since it’s smashed, is very,very soft but yummy and crunchy for the skin.

For the KLCC stall, the set also comes with a bowl of soup which is an extra nice surprise because Ayam Penyet Ria or other ayam penyet place I’ve eaten at doesn’t give the soup. So yeah, that’s a nice surprise. If you want soft drinks, it’ll cost RM2.30 each.

Of course, there are a lot of other varieties and not just ayam penyet. You can have beef, fish or any Indonesian delicacies like gado-gado, etc. Trust me, if you love spicy food, you’ll love ayam penyet.

RESTORAN AYAM PENYET AP
Level 2 (Stall 10)
Signature Food Court
Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur
http://www.ayampenyet-ap.com

They also have outlets in Subang, Bangi, Sunway, Punchong and are opening more outlets.

Even though it’s like 2 weeks after Halloween already. But that is not going to stop me from blogging about my favorite holiday. Now Halloween in Malaysia is not really celebrated like Americans do. Sure we have some Halloween themed parties at clubs but there’s no trick or treating, no kids would come to your door, and you won’t have to spend a lot on candies, and no house would be decorated with spooky decor, except maybe a few of people. But to compare with a decade ago, people have started to know Halloween better now.

Halloween is my favorite holiday because I love anything spooky or horror related. Each Halloween eve and day I would spend my time with watching horror movies and some Halloween toons on TV (which is a whole day marathon of The Simpson Treehouse of Horror). But this year I decided to spend a little bit on some imported Halloween candies that I bought at Ikano Power Center.

They all ended up costing me around Rm20-RM30 or so. So what did I get? Hmm… Pixy Stix, Bubbaloo bubble gums, Atomic Fireball, Air Heads, Jolly Ranchers hard candies, Wonka Nerds, Gilliam stick candy, Fluffy Stuff cotton candy pops and some Halloween themed lollipops consisting of 5 in a pack of ‘Lots a Spooks’ – A pumpkin, 2 white ghosts and 2 Frankenstein heads …. and a skull lollipop.

Pixy Stix – This is nothing special to me though. It’s basically some tangy sugary powder in straw-like packets and what you do is you just open it, and put it all in your mouth.

Air Heads (Flavor – Green Apple) – Air Heads is normal to me, like a normal chewy candy with green apple flavor. I like the taste though.

Wonka Nerds (Flavor – Lemonade/Wild Cherry) – I haven’t opened up this one, but I’ve tasted Nerds before, and it’s an interesting candy. Small irregular shaped candies that has lots of different flavors. Bigger boxes of Nerds come in 2 different flavors.

Jolly Ranchers – I looooove Jolly Ranchers’ hard candies. When I bought it, it came in a pack of a few of different flavored Jolly Ranchers like watermelon, etc. Sorry I forgot what flavors there are, but I love them.

Bubbaloo Bubble Gums – The red packets is strawberry but I forgot the pink one.. but these are bubble gums with liquid in the center, so when you chew it’ll ‘burst out liquid’ which is quite nice actually.

Fluffy Stuff Lollipop (Flavor – Cotton Candy) – Just like it says, it taste like cotton candy. It’s actually nice, but way sweet.

Gilliam Stick Candy (Flavor – Root Beer) – I picked out root beer flavor but there are quite a few flavors available. It taste like… root beer, lol but I like it.

Lollipops – The skull one tasted like root beer and something sweet.. it’s very nice actually. Too bad it’s a Halloween candy, so when I went back today, it was gone. And the 5 in 1 Lots*a*Spooks lollipops taste very sweet. But it’s cute. It’s actually a gift pack, hence the nicely wrapped package with ribbon and a ‘card’ .  Cost about Rm 7-ish at Cold Storage.

Atomic Fireball – HELL IN MOUTH! That’s what I like to call it. It’s a cinnamon hard candy, a jawbreaker. And a word of warning, it’s EXTREMELY HOT. I repeat, EXTREMELY HOT. The moment it was in my mouth, it was kinda sweet and well, cinnamon flavored until about 30 seconds later then my tongue started burning.. then it became hotter and hotter until my tongue became numb. Now, I’ve never heard of Atomic Fireball before so I was expecting the hotness/spicyness would subside soon, and it’ll actually become sweet but nope, half an hour later my tongue was still burning like hell and I had to spit it out, wash my tongue and eat a Jolly rancher. I ended up with stomach discomfort for a while because of the hotnesss. The thing about this candy is that, you can prank people with it. Ask them to pop one in their mouth and watch their reactions ;) A little torture device disguised as a candy.

So that’s my review for some candies/lollipops that I got for Halloween. I’ll be reviewing some more candies soon.

Wendy’s at Giant, Kota Damansara used to be our hangout spot every Friday. Mostly because of the good promotions they had back then, like free Strawberry shake with every purchase, and 50% off on any Frosty every Friday. Plus there was also the good Pepper stacked burger, and free Frosty float with every combo meal purchase. Wendy’s is also my favorite fast food restaurant out of all mostly because of the size. The squared meat and the big drinks… compare to McDonald’s or KFC, their regular drink is McD’s or KFC’s large drink..

But since when has Wendy’s become STINGY??

We tried to buy a combo meal only to find out the 50% off on Frosty every Friday promotion is no longer available. So she ordered the new Wrap & Roll ala-carte. We received the receipt which says “FREE FROSTY FLOAT with your next combo meal purchase“. Now what is wrong with that sentence? Everything.

First I tried to use my friend’s receipt to buy my own combo meal, so I’d get the free Frosty float. They had this same offer the last time too. Guess what?? Turns out my friend would have to buy A COMBO MEAL for that receipt to be valid. WHAT THE F——? Now nowhere in that receipt stated that you need to buy a COMBO meal for that receipt to be valid, so that you’d get a free Frosty float for you next COMBO meal… if that’s the case, it would be stated like this — “With every combo meal purchase, FREE FROSTY FLOAT on your next combo meal purchase” or something like that. We were pissed and disappointed, and felt conned because this is a stupid marketing tactic. What happened to free shake on any purchase, combo or not??

Not only that, the wrap & roll is extremely SMALL. Okay, it taste great, but the chicken is as big as my middle finger, no joke. For this it cost RM5.50? We’re better off buying KFC’s toasted twister. Wendy’s, you disappoint me. I thought you were different from other popular fast food outlet.

Wendy's Wrap & Roll: RM 5.50