Ken’s Food and Life

Monday nite went to a new restaurant at Midvalley. The interior was nice although might be bit dark for some people. Food was not that good but the pricing was not that high either. My friend was really disappointed but I think we have lots of fun commenting on the food.

I have uploaded the pictures of the food tasted. I think none of the dishes I have photographed or tasted are on recommended list I think the food downstairs at Little Vietnam is better. Overall, the concept is interesting, serving Asian/Vietnamese tapas(dimsum). I think the place would be better off just serving high end unique Vietnamese dishes rather than what they doing now. Another good point, they all a full Vietnamese team, so makes u feel like u are really in a Vietnamese restaurant

Side track, watched "The Mith" Jacky Chan’s new movie. It has to be the most rediculous movie I have watched since a long time. I had a good laugh on how crazy some of the ideas and concepts are.

This year I celebrated mooncake festival in my hometown and took some pictures of the food offerings and the decoration at my home. After mooncake festival, I stayed back in Lumut for a few days and came back to KL to work on my cafe. I have uploaded the pictures as well.

In small town, the festival is really celebrated with my fun and joy. Kids come out in groups and from close by towns to participate in local community event. Although, less and less kids know or participate in lantern making competition, the local people still make the nite an annual event. Recalling when young, the celebration is more grand and colourful. Even the mooncakes were nicer. I am glad I had some mooncake from LaiYuen, Chinese restaurant from Ritz Carlton. It is the best mooncake I have tasted this year. Do tell me if you have tasted any good ones. I think one that I dislike most is the Italian Mooncake made from mascapone and ricotta.

Just realised I have more and more friends who have blog(s), I have just added a few of them on the list on the right hand side under the photo albums. BT’s site has nice pics from Europe and Arqsim’s blogs have plenty of nice pictures and is a interesting read if u have time.

I think I am going to have a working weekend. Tomorrow is Mid Autumn, I am back in my hometown and updating and creating a proposal for my new cafe. Found a perfect location but have to come up with a new concept so I suppose more work and I have 2 business plan to go on now … hahaha

Just got back from Jakarta and it was a fun trip. Spend a few days in Bandung and Lembang and then back in Jakarta. The whole trip was great especially relaxing in the holiday home in Lembang. We had BBQ and lots of local food while in Bandung.

A few new terms I learned in Indonesia:

1. Batago - Baso Tafu Goreng

2. Baso - meal ball

3. Pangsit - wanton

4. Pekedel - croquette or fritters

5. Ikan malas - "Sun Hook" fish

While in Jakarta, visited several major shopping centers, Plaza Indonesia and Plaza EX (Celebrity Gym), and Plaza Semayan. Both are very up market similar to StarHill and Lot10 of KL. Taman Engrek is a huge mall with 8 blocks of condo on it. Plaza Semanggi is one similar to Mid valley and has a FitnessFirst gym there. There are at least 2 more major mall development in Jakarta as far as I can remember, Grand Indonesia and Pacific place.

Enjoy the beautiful scenery pictures in my album. The biggest issue with Jakarta/Indonesia is traffic jam. I suppose the government really need to improve the public transport and infrastructure. Accordingly, they will have a subway or monorail system by 2007. Great place and people.

Opportunities in Jakarta:

1. Infrastructure development

2. Chinese restaurants

3. Importing labour (kitchen and bakery staff) from Indonesia

4. Cool cafes

5. Rice is very important food in Indonesia (and other part of SE Asia), they ate everything with rice.

Properties properties properties…. Lately, have been looking at Bangsar and Damansara Heights properties again, price range from 1.2Mil to 10sMil.. Are there so many millionaires in Malaysia? Dont get me wrong.. I am not millionaire but was wondering why is properties so expensive, and wondering if the prices asking now is really value for money, the land price ranges from 120 psqf to 450 psqf. If you are interested to know more about properties market in Klang valley, lets meet and chat about it

       Next I should mention, MLM is everywhere in Malaysia. I am in the process of collecting all of them. If you have any MLM ideas that you wanna share do let me know.

         That’s all for now.. take care.. and enjoy life.

Another week has passed, I have done quite a bit. Been monitoring a cafe that am planning to take over. The traffic is good there. But it seems there is only lunch crowd and nothing much. I guess it is possible to bring in a few dinner crowds to improve the business earning. So far I am quite happy with the location, the only concerned is that I cannot attact more people as this is really a number business.

Guess for those of you who have been looking at my site, you would realised I have visited a nice and new property development called "Kiara Hills", there are some pics there for your eyes only. Very nice place, but beyond my budget atm. Let me know if you have any good properties for investment.

I also visited a developement in Hartamas 2, called "Changkat Kiara". The properties are quite reasonably priced but it is a bit far from the main part of Hartamas and there is traffic issue in the future. 2 other down sides to the development is high tension wire and close to highway development.

My third workshop this week is on vegetarian dishes. I learn to make vegetarian fish and cook asam sauce for it. In addition, I also make a vegetarian toast with nori. It was a simple class, I think to make the fish is the hardest. But I like the fish a lot. Didn’t manage to take pictures for the class, but Friday (26.08.2005) nite dinner pictures are fantastic. (Me and partners cooked up a storm) Check it out

Good news!!! I have heard from the Baba’s competition, I have been selected for audition, so next Sat and Sunday I will be doing that. Will keep everyone posted if I get through the audition Wish me luck.

Take care and hope to see everyone again soon.

rI am attending 3 workshops this week. One in Puchong and 2 in Cheras. I have also updated the pictures from 2 of the workshops. Both had butter buns and I think it will be a big hit for tea time snack. I think can start a Butter buns trend in Malaysia just like the egg tarts trend in HK. Every morning and afternoon, ppl queue for egg tarts.

Hope you like the pictures and if you want the recipes, email me Will be cookig up a storm this friday nite.. so will update more pictures and menu later this week or early next week. Have a nice week.

This is like chicken and egg thing. What is a good size restaurant? When they are too small, they cannot afford the better chef, so food quality falls. When they are too big, they have to make up for the high expenses with more number covered, and food quality suffers again. There is only one El Bulli in the world, where there is 55 chefs for 50 customers not mentioning the special food lab. My quest now is to bring chinese cuisine as close to El Bulli but with a smaller team.

What is problem with smaller restaurants? Should quality to less important? "A Little Dim Sum Place", whose name suggest it specialises in Dim Sum. I suppose, they did lots better in packaging than in food. I spoted a few issues when I was there, 1) they use take away style chopsticks and plastic spoons (bad impression to start), 2) one of the dishes served was not fresh, 3) many of the dishes served was not up to standard. Now the upside, the congee and the chasiu bun was nice, and the shop is conviently located and easy parking for sunday morning But if you ask me, I am not rushing back there anything soon.

Let’s talk about "Tasty Tasty". It’s a small restaurant specialise in HK dishes. I like the simple home style dishes there. But the wait (45 minutes or more) can turn some away the second time. I have been there 3 times, but my last might be the last for a while as the food was really not up to standard. My guests believe for the price, they would rather go else where. There is still upside to this place, the have simple dishes like "Queen’s tofu", "Vegetable in stock", Salt and pepper ribs, free daily soup and red bean dessert, to save the place. Again I won’t rush back there, but if u have time and wanna taste some simple HK home style dishes, can pay them a visit.

Another 2 weeks have passed, I have not been doing much with the restaurant plan excepting looking at some potential shops in the last few days. The decision and finding a suitable location are getting closer. I think this will happen in the next 2 weeks.

Besides that, I have enrolled myself in "Cabaran 1001 Rasa Baba’s" Cooking competition, I will upload the photos and recipes for these later. I have enrolled four entries and I I will win some prices Wish me luck.

I will also be going to Jakarta for four days in early September. Hope this will be another good food and relaxing experience. I am looking forward to that. Til next time good life to all