Kang San Ea

C5 Jalan Ampang Utama 1/1

Taman Ampang Utama

68000 Ampang

+60342512598

Coordinates: 3.155336, 101.751444

It’s the weekend before Brendan’s SPM exams.

A few months ago right before Brendan’s trial exams my sister Ginny and her husband Vincent were in town and to give Brendan a morale booster they took him out to a fancy Korean restaurant near where they live.

In keeping with the theme, and to give perk up his spirits before the big day we took Brendan to our all-time favourite Korean family restaurant.

we'll use any excuse to come here

Like clockwork we ordered the ¹Samgyeopsal and ²Dwaeji Galbi; and as always Brendan asked for his perennial favourite, the  ³Kimchi Jjigae.

¹a popular Korean dish commonly served as an evening meal, it consists of thick, fatty slices of pork belly meat similar to uncured bacon

²pork ribs seasoned with a typical ganjang-based sauce or gochujang-based sauce (chilli pepper condiment)

³a variety of jjigae, or stew-like Korean dish, made with kimchi and other ingredients, such as scallions, onions, diced tofu, pork, and seafood

even the water tastes better?

side dishes have arrived

kimchi!

Brendan's kimchi stew 

the pork ribs

pork belly

in all its glory

wrapping and garnishings

another look at the kimchi stew

oo lala

one last look

jal meokkesseumnida!

If this doesn’t lift his spirits before his exams nothing will!

Despite tonight’s dinner being beyond the realms of the everyday food for the everyday person we find ourselves coming here time and again on every special occasion and every chance/excuse we get.

Corny as it may sound, that’s how much we love Kang San Ea, and we will repeat the chant: sa-rang-he-yo-kang-san-ae!

Daebak Dakgalbi

19 Ground Floor Plaza Crystal Ville Center

Jalan 23/70A Desa Sri Hartamas

50480 Kuala Lumpur

Coordinates: 3.162816, 101.651411

It’s the weekend before Brendan’s trial exams. Coincidentally my sister Ginny and her husband Vincent were in town as well.

To give Brendan a morale booster before his exams they decided to take him out to a fancy Korean restaurant near where they live.

Truth be told we’ve never been to Daebak Dakgalbi, and since they served food that were not for the everyday person by any stretch of the imagination it never crossed our minds to come here.

typically Korean

firing up the stove

Ginny and Vincent went all out and ordered the signature Daebak Dakgalbi (Spicy Stir-fried Chicken), the Bul-Dak (Spicy Fried Chicken), a bowl of Kimchi Stew just for Brendan and a bevy of Kimchi side dishes.

side dishes

kimchi

kimchi galore

Brendan's kimchi stew

the dakgalbi

getting ready

waiting for the hotplate to heat up

Brendan with his kimchi stew

here we go

here we go

what's left of the bul-dak

going through the dishes at light speed

making light work of the dakgalbi

What a way to give Brendan a boost before his trials!

Exam Fever!

From this point onwards we will not be posting as often as we’d like. Brendan is facing the biggest exams of his life. He's in his final year of secondary (high) school and faces a daunting final exam coming up in a few short months. Called the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM for short) it is the equivalent of the GCE O-Level exams.

So from August onwards our weekends will be spent shuttling him to and from his weekend extra classes and seminars. Have Perut Will Travel will take a backseat as we help him prepare for his exams.

Trial exams commence from the 24^th of August right up to the 9^th of September with a brief respite before SPM proper begins. Slated for the 7^th of November, it will end on the 29^th of November.

We hope to kick-start our photo-blog in December, fingers crossed!

Restoran ShuangXi Lou (SHL)

92 Jalan Chui Yin

28700 Bentong

Coordinates: 3.522422, 101.907463

We’re back in Bentong for Brendan’s final session of treatments with Shīfu. Bright and early, we walked across the street from our budget hotel to a restaurant famous for its ¹Dim Sum.

¹small bite-sized portions of food served in small steamer baskets or on small plates consisting of various types of steamed buns such as cha siu bao (a steamed bun filled with barbecue pork), dumplings and rice noodle rolls, which contain a range of ingredients, including beef, chicken, pork, prawns, and vegetarian options

My brother in law Vincent brought us here once and we were amazed by how cheap each morsel or serving cost, unlike its brethren Dim Sum restaurants in Kuala Lumpur which runs riot on pricing.

along Jalan Chui Yin

another old structure

very busy morning

only Chinese tea here

We ordered a round of seven servings:

round one

looks amazing

And then added another six serving for round two!

round two!

half the price we usually pay

time to put the camera away!

If you’ve ever been to the various Dim Sum shops along Jalan Ipoh you will know that breakfast at any one of this establishment can be a costly affair. So if you’re every in Bentong in the morning, please give Restoran SHL a try. Just imagine that you’re in Jalan Ipoh but when you pay it will cost you half the usual price, and then some (get it?)

Joe Wong Bak Kut Teh

No. 1 & 3, Jalan Segambut Tepi

51200 Kuala Lumpur

Coordinates: 3.145029, 101.711230

We’re back!

After a prolonged absence of six months since we last came here we were glad to be back, and eagerly anticipated our reunion with the wholesome pot of herbal goodness.

Although we have a particular penchant for ¹Bak Kut Teh (BKT for short) and still do, we developed a particular liking to the Herbal Chicken Soup served here as well.

¹a Chinese soup that literally means "meat bone tea", and at its simplest, consists of meaty pork ribs simmered in a complex broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic) for hours. Additional ingredients may include offal, varieties of mushroom, choy sum, and pieces of dried tofu or fried tofu puffs. Additional Chinese herbs may include yu zhu (玉竹, rhizome of Solomon's Seal) and ju zhi (buckthorn fruit), which give the soup a sweeter, slightly stronger flavour. Light and dark soy sauce are also added to the soup during cooking and garnished with chopped coriander or green onions and a sprinkling of fried shallots, and usually eaten with rice.

Sharing a mutual premise with the God of Prosperity Temple here in Segambut it is pretty tricky to locate if you are not properly guided by GPS.

simple and unassuming

thick rich soy sauce

garnishings

The proprietress recognized us and quickly ushered us to our table where we promptly ordered a bowl of Bak Kut Teh and Herbal Chicken Soup with a side order of ²Youtiao, ³Tau Pok in BKT Broth and Fried Lettuce.

²known in Malaysia as you char kway or you char kuey; made with flour, vegetable oil, yeast, sugar, salt, and water into a kneaded dough then deep fried until golden brown and puffy

³Deep-Fat Fried Tofu

you char kueh

half a chicken...

in absolutely lovely herbal soup

black gold a.k.a. BKT

another shot of our new-found love

tau pok

fried lettuce

one final hot of our new-found love

Words cannot describe the sight and aroma that greets you when the bowls of herbal heaven are served. The smell teases your nostrils, and your senses are immediately pricked. Do give Joe Wong a try, and do not be put off by its simple and unassuming settings because as they say: still waters run deep!

Pantai Morib

Morib

42700 Banting

Coordinates: 2.748488, 101.443302

Today is Hari Raya Aidilfitri or Eid al-Fitr (feast of breaking the fast) is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.

In Kuala Lumpur the few days leading up to Hari Raya Aidilfitri marks the mass exodus of almost the entire population to their respective hometowns, regardless of race or religion.

Driving in and around Kuala Lumpur is an absolute pleasure with very light traffic peppering the various roads, freeways and highways?

With nowhere to go and nothing to do we decided on a leisurely drive to the nearest beach we know, Pantai Morib or Morib Beach located some seventy kilometres away. Due to the very light traffic a trip to Morib would normally take a couple of hours, but we arrived within the hour.

a warning about adultery at the base?

newly added ornaments

low tide stretches 1-2km out to the Straits of Malacca

quiet seaside front

even this vendor had little business

not exactly what I'm used to, but a beach nonetheless

the little square at the front of the beach

From Wikipedia: Morib Beach is a quiet seaside tourist attraction. It was one of the first landing points on the west coast for the British and Indian Army liberation forces during end of World War II in 1945. A stone marker to commemorate the British Indian army’s landing at this beach during the Second World War can be found.

commemorative stone marker

a solitary piece of history

Apart from the entry in Wikipedia, nothing else can be found in terms of literature on the place.

After a thorough inspection of the place, we adjourned to a hawker stall nearby to enjoy some refreshing coconut water.

hits the spot

care for some?

Thus ends our day at Pantai Morib, and we drove back in relative peace and calm made possible by Hari Raya Aidilfitri.