COFFEE MUCH? COFFEE CHEMISTRY CAFE

Unlike China, their culture predominantly focuses towards tea with history that goes way back, but even then for the past decade, the effects of globalizations has seen giant coffee chain such as Starbucks to set its footnote on the land of the chinese. The response from the Chinese were overwhelming, now it seems they treat Starbucks as their "ideal" coffee place.
Augustdiners had a rather funny experience during the last trip to China, whereby a local chinese brought us around town and exclaim to us that she'll bring us to the best coffee place with a nice atmosphere. When ask what's the name of the coffee place, she had difficulty pronouncing the names and told us instead we will find out upon our arrival.
That being said, it definitely perked our curiosity and imagine our expression when STARBUCKS loomed in front of us.
We really tried hard not to LOL to refrain from being too rude... but LOL!!! Like.. seriously?

p.s. dont get me wrong, i do enjoy my starbuck fix but im not too sure about it being the best...

Malaysia on the other hand has more exposure to coffee and it reflects our cultural characteristic mix of Malaysia.
I'm pretty sure Malaysians are familiar with Kopitiam aka Coffee Shops. Coffee in the basic form are called "Kopi-O, Kopi-See, Kopi Kao, Cham etc..." Our typical breakfast can start off with some basic toast with half-boiled egg and a cuppa coffee while engaging our attention to the newspaper.

While those traditions are still going strong (with prove of modernized kopitiam like oldtown and pappa rich which seems to have conquer the nation), i'm more incline with the western coffee culture. Give me a latte or cappuccino over a kopi-o any other day. *embrace wicked criticism* i know i know, i admit i'm not much of a country lover and is perfectly fine with contributing half my income to the foreign economy...

 So how do i differentiate a good coffee? I'm no expert so whatever i'm saying next is just base on my own preference and opinion.

Really it's quite simple and it involves 3 of our main senses. SIGHT, SMELL, TASTE.
And often it goes it that sequence

Imagine a perfectly smooth looking foam spread over the coffee mug like an artform. Milk substance creating abstract leaflike shape. And Ode JOY~ of receiving LOVE every single morning. Coffee Art has always been popular in Australia, but scarcely seen in Malaysia.

 After being delighted by the visuals, came the aroma. The scent of freshly brewed coffee awakes all senses. The body, the flavours taunting, and calling my name... ohhh the tease!!

As i inch them carefully to my lips, closed my eyes and slowly devour every bits of the complexity in flavours..

it was perfect. Temperature was right with a distinct punch of caffeine roasted from the premium coffee beans, and ahhhh~ i love how the foam surrounds me, like a light fluffy cotton keeping me warm. 

  

A good blend of Graffeo with the experienced barrista gives me just that.

All pictures are taken from Coffee Chemistry Cafe

For more info about their offerings, check out their facebook here

I can safely say that they offer one of the better coffee in town.

Can you share with us where in town you think serves really good coffee?

Address:

C-3A-1

Sunway Giza Mall

Kota Damansara

(above Movida)

Crazieapple's Food Adventure in Singapore

There's always an ongoing argument between my Singaporean friends and I on which country's food is better. And you gotta admit, most Singaporean food are adapted from us, Malaysians right??
*i sense a series of heated argument coming up* haha

And Singaporeans, being the singaporeans they are, being extremely kiasu, decided to prove me wrong by showing me around their so-called infamous Singapore food. haha

Bak Chor Mee in Hokkien means Minced Meat Noodle (肉挫面 in Chinese). (See, pork noodle then say pork noodle la.. Just because you change the language of it doesn't make it any different from our msia's pork noodles right??) hehe

In Singapore, the noodles are topped with generous amount of minced meat, slices of mushroom, pork slice, pork liver slice and lettuce. (Yup, sounds like pork noodles to me)

I guess the major difference in this hawker food is the vinegar. Small amount of vinegar is added to give it an aroma that kinda brings out the distinctive taste of what seemingly normal noodle. Vinegar is one of the factors that determines the quality of Bak Chor Mee. Beside vinegar, another make or break factor would be the chilli sauce. A good bowl of bak chor mee is said to have the perfect blend of chilli sauce and vinegar.

 Looks like pan mee right?? hehe

I was told that this bak chor mee joint at Crawford Lane is "one of" the best (kiasu mode on) and u actually have to queue up for it.

 The boys even ordered 2 big bowls each to prove their monstrous appetite. I was already struggling with my own bowl.. -____-''

 Verdict: The noodles are springy with a firm bite and are not soggy.

I like how spicy it is and has a hint of vinegratte sourness in it.

Next up:

Singapore Infamous Crab

See.. I don't understand what's so famous about their chili crab when we have the exact same thing that you can order in almost any seafood restaurant in KL.. They are bragging it as though they came up with this brilliant ideas to cook crabs in chili sauce and decided to deep fried the montou to dip into the sauce.. haha

But the chili crab in Seafood Paradise, the Singapore flyer's branch (Apparently they have another branch somewhere else) was pretty good..

 Best with you order deep fried montou to dip into the sauce. We had 3 plates of buns to drain up the yummy sauce!!

 Another way of cooking the crab: Butter cream crab

It was surprisingly good but i was too full from all the buns by now

*burps*

Tourist shot:

 At the Singapore flying, with Marina Bay Sands resort in out background

The Singapore flyer

Crazieapple In Singapore reviews: Morton's Steakhouse

Morton's The Steakhouse is not something foreign for steak lovers like me..  I once told my friends that if i were to only eat one type of meat for the rest of my life, it would be BEEF!!!! =p

The Morton's Steakhouse in Singapore is located on the 4th Storey of Mandarin Oriental, which was nestled at the Marina Bay waterfront and nearby to the newly opened Marina Bay Sands resort, where i was staying in during my little getaway last weekend.

 Every detail, from the succulent steaks and seafood and vast wine selections to the seamless service, makes Morton's the classic dining experience. The Bar at Morton's is also a popular destination with local bar-goers and suited up working men winding down after a stressful day at work.

A friend of ours called up beforehand to book the private dining room and to lic inform that it was Jady's birthday beforehand (just for fun.. it wasn't really her birthday).. And look how thoughtfully they customised our menu with a little wish.. This is definitely what we called a "5-star service" !!!!

 The giant garlic roasted bun to be shared 

 "Birthday girl" and Elyn

 Me and Joyce

 Waiter explaining to us their choice fresh food of the day.. Everything was air flown and at top notch quality..

 1986 Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Pauillac

Full-bodied and authoratively rich in aroma.. We're so spoiled!! =P

Lobster Bisque was a hit among diners at our table and also a best seller for Morton's.. The soup was creamy sand smooth and rich in seafood aroma.

 Oysters on the Half Shell was fresh and succulent. Can't never stand mushy textured oysters..

Tuna Tartare

I always feel refreshed and buoyant from my raw food starters before entering a heavy meal. The freshness of the tuna and it's delicate flavor to it totally blew my dress off..  

Food lesson 101: You know of the theory behind consuming raw food as a starter?? It's because raw food preserves its natural enzymes which catalyze our digestion.

Prime Porterhouse

Aged Ribeye

The steaks served in Morton's are all aged prime beef of the best quality. It's done the way i love my steak- medium rare for porterhouse and medium for thicker cuts like ribeye.

The portions of steaks in morton's are impossible!! It is highly recommended for normal "human being" NOT monster eaters to share with another partner. The average weight they serve their steaks are around 600-1kg! That's almost 3 times of our normal steak size!!

 Alaska King Crab airflown.

This was too good to be true. Reminds me so much of Hokkaido days.. The flesh was so juicy and sweet!! The best part of all?? You don't have to crack open the shell and eat like a barbarian.. The thoughtful kitchen in Morton's has done all the dirty jobs for us.. *two thumbs up*!!!

 Sauteed button mushrooms as our side dish

 Souffle with a choice of Grand Marnier, Lemon, Raspberry and Chocolate.

We ordered all 4 flavours to share and was shocked to see how HUGE the souffles were!!! *holds tummy*

Out of all the flavours, the lemon souffle was the best because u can see more forks digging into that particular bowl.. and the rest were sadly neglected.. hehe

 Another infamous Molton's bestseller is their Legendary hot chocolate cake.

You don't call it Legendary for nothing. The chocolate melts in the middle of the cake and of course, danced in your mouth when paired with the icey cold Vanilla ice cream. Nothing scream more calories than this sinful dessert. But if i have to UP  my dress size for this love, i would gladly do it!! =)

 The girlies..

P/s: Other diners' identities have to be kept veiled

Dinner came down to a total of  approximately 2k SGD which was acceptable for a table of 11 pax. Though wine was BYO but we were charged corkage fees. Morton's actually do provide an extensive range of vintage wine on their own too!!

 Back in our suite, a little celebration was going on..

Everyone knows how much i love and devote myself to champagnes.. Once u have a taste of Cristal, you can never look at Moet the same way anymore..Cristal is characterised by its finesse and elegance, also defined in many Hollywood celebrities partying photos.. haha

Ms Jazz, jealous much?? =P

We were spoil rotten.. =(

Can i have more plssssssss??

Cheers to my new found love!! haha

Ms. Jazz Reviews: Xiao Fei Yang @ Damansara Utama

One thing i really miss having in KL is Szechuan hotpot. Surprisingly, Melbourne carries some very decent ones that can rival with the ones in CHINA/ Hongkong.
I remember back were the days as a student, those AUD18.90 eat-all-you-can hotpot was all we could yearn for. Me and Crazieapple can stick our butt in the hotpot shop for endless time (more than 3 hours i think) especially during winters while we happily order plates after plates of slice beef, slice lambs and many other offerings. We would starve ourselves crazy during lunch just so that our tummy will have an expandable space for more food during dinner. Needless to say, the waiters werent particularly happy to see us as we were always the last to leave.

So how does Xiao Fei Yang flairs in comparison to those in Melbourne?

Not very well, i'm afraid. And here i swear there's no biasness whatsoever in the judgement.

It also doesn't help that dishes was pretty pricy. Try RM18 for a plate of slice beef and RM6-8 for a plate of balls (i.e. fish/ beef/ cuttlefish etc) Between two of us, we spent RM180+ i mean.. where's our fine dine cutleries!?

Hmm.. right.....

Sterilized dining sets, anyone?

However, credits given to their herbal soup base which has rich herbal flavours and addictive to drink.
My main intention of the visit however was for the spicy szechuan soup base, which unfortunately lacks the spicy kick despite a thick layer of chilli oil and many floating pieces of dried chilli in the soup. We've even requested for extra spicy (+RM2) which fails to satisfy my terrible spicy tastebuds. Still it was still decent for hotpot lover like me, if only if its tad bit more spicy =)

The yuen yang (2-combination) soup base should cost RM22 if my memory serves me correctly. The stock is refillable.

A selection of sauces includes sesame, garlic with soya sauce is provided (refillable too)

We started off with Garlic Pork 蒜泥白肉 [suan ni bai rou], a popular cold dish in szechuan province.  A common practice is to use belly pork with a balance mix of lean and fatty meat with their basic marination of chilli sesame oil, chopped garlic, and spring onion. I reminisce the ones i had in Shanghai, Xiao Jiang Nan, which has the right level of spiciness and flavour. The ones served in Xiao Fei Yang is not to my liking. With garlic chopped too rough and splattered on top of the belly slices, I was glad there was no further appointment that night as i wouldnt want to be talking to anyone if you get what i mean.

The marination was weak as they heaped the sesame oil onto the meat like an after thought, making the pork slices taste somewhat blant with strong garlic odor. POOF

Looking around our surrounding tables, the most common orders are beef and lamb slices. We've had both which was decent and also chose the deer meat slices, which probably was a mistake as the meat turns out quite tough.
Our recommendation for you to order "yu bao dan" fishball with roe fillings. It's absolutely divine!

However, It was a mistake to order too many balls. Although we do like them very much (no pun intended) ordering plates of beef, cuttlefish, prawn, and fishballs can be too overwhelming even to us.

We were so stuffed at the end of the day that we couldnt consume their desserts but ohhhh.. how tempting they look!

I'll definitely be back when my szechuan hotpot craving hits, unless i find a better alternative, any suggestions?

Ratings:

Food: 6/10

Ambience: 5/10

Presentation of food: 6/10

Service: 5.5/10

Overall: 5.5/10

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Xiao Fei Yang

40G &42G, Jalan SS21/62,

Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya,

Tel: 03-7728-7633.

(also check out their pudu outlet)

Augustdiners Breakfast Club (PT 2)

The simple pleasures in life... pancakes!
Throwing to the back of my mind on any thoughts of dieting, and through last minute planning, we decided to make pancakes on the Sunday morning with complements of melted semi-sweet chocolate, strawberry jams, pancake syrup, and the o-so-glorious-yet-sinful whipped cream.

The lazy chef sits on the chair while she waited impatiently for her pancake to be done.

OH~ whoever wants to eat have to cook their own. That is the rule set by the breakfast club

End product. There's no such thing as too much cream!! *lick fingers* Guilty much?

The secret lies within this marvellous package. A pre-mix content that requires minimal ingredients. Just pop in a couple of eggs and some water and you are set to go.

In fact, one reknown pancake chain is using this very same pre-mix, the name shall not be known here. hehe

but seriously how many pancake chain do you know right? =)

With all these people scrutinizing and involvement on product in progress, u'd think that this is some sort of rocket scientist instead of something as simple as making pancake (pre-mix summore) haha

Stay tuned for more on Breakfast Club!!