The Brew House @ SS2 PJ

If you're on a budget, then this place, The Brew House @ SS2 PJ, should probably be on your radar for its very affordable and reasonably-priced food with hefty portions.

They say it's pretty similar to Uncle Don's (also in the same SS2 area) but I haven't been to Uncle Don's, so I wouldn't know.  The extensive menu covers everything from snacks to soups & salads, Asian-style rice & noodle dishes, curries, Thai-inspired dishes, western mains, pizza & pastas.

We chose the Salted Egg Fish Skin with Pork Floss @ RM10.80 from the snacks menu and, when it arrived, we were taken aback with just how generous the portion size was.

The savoury salted egg sauce-coated fish skin was crispy perfection on earth, made even more delicious with the equally generous sprinkling of pork floss.  They were very addictive and would definitely make a good beer snack.  It ended up to be the best thing we ate that night...so, so good! ^o^

The snacks list was especially long....rightly so since this is also a place known for frozen beers and beer drinking.  Other options include the usual favourites of fried chicken skin, fries, moo ping, pigs in blanket, salt & pepper calamari, crispy pork bacon, nachos, pork gyoza, pork char siew and more.

We also had the Mushroom & Bacon Soup @ RM10.80, a creamy and intensely flavoured mushroom soup made with sauteed mushrooms, topped with porcini oil and bacon bits, and served with a grilled garlic-infused buttered bread that's soft, not hard like most baguettes.

Our chosen main was actually an item from the snacks menu, the Porky Platter @ RM25.80, a snack item that was clearly meant as a sharing platter.  The platter comprised of sticky pork ribs, roast pork and pork sliders, one with luncheon meat and the other with braised pork.

The sticky ribs were ok-tasting but they weren't the best cut of ribs, if you know what I mean (it's not those that have a single long bone, there are some short and soft bones).

The roast pork wasn't quite the roast pork we know but more like deep-fried pork.  It had crunchy (not utterly crispy) skin with a slightly porky smell which I didn't like.  I don't know why but I always seem to taste this overly porky smell when roast pork is done in western-style cafes.

The pork sliders were nothing special, one was just with luncheon meat between a soft bun that you can't fault while the other was with braised pork.

I went with a chef recommended dish of Brew House Signature Pork Steak (250g) @ RM19.80 with mayo-laden, coarsely shredded cabbage slaw (though the menu said apple slaw), grilled peach and potato puree served with creamy peppercorn sauce.

The pork steaks (two pieces) were sufficiently tender, just not tender enough.  But then again, what pork steak will be super tender....my quest continues to find that elusive tender pork chop.

I did like the accompanying peppercorn sauce (much like the usual black pepper, just not as hot as some I've had).  Without it, the pork steak would be on the dry side and not-so-nice to eat (that's why I asked for more sauce).

I happened to glance over to the two ladies (sitting next to our table) and they shared the Hainanese Chicken (or Pork) Chop (RM13.80) that looked thickly coated, over-fried and dry in a very tomatoey-coloured sauce (hmmm, not something I would order after seeing it).

Knowing that we'd be feasting on a porky-loaded meal, we made sure we chose drinks that were zesty, like this Ice Honey Lemon @ RM8.80 and Fresh Orange Juice @ RM10.80, to freshen our palates.

My Personal Opinion

The main dishes I tried didn't quite endear me with their taste possibly because it was just too much meat (for me) in one sitting.  The draw factor for its popularity is certainly its low prices (with most mains costing below RM20) and big portions.  If you're ok with the unimaginative and simple taste of localised western food (and some processed food forming part of the ingredients), then you'd probably be ok with the food here.

I think the place is more suitable for buddies on a budget to hang out and chill, drinking copious amounts of cold beer with one hand and eating beer snacks with the other.

The crispy and utterly moreish salted egg fish skin with pork floss alone is enough to warrant a trip here (or return trips) for just that...perhaps with a couple of cold beers as accompaniment.

The Brew House
No 27-G Jalan SS2/75
47300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Tel: 03-7865 6815

The Elixir Kitchen @ Bandar Mahkota Cheras

After finding a gem in the form of a Japanese restaurant (Two Chefs Lab) in this housing area, we were on the look out for more good eats here.  We were attracted to this place, Elixir Kitchen @ Bandar Mahkota Cheras, where one is assured of a meat feast at reasonable prices.

Similar in concept to another one in the Cheras area, Anne Elizabeth near Cheras Leisure Mall, where you choose the meat/seafood you want and they cook it for you, we were eager to see what this six-months-old restaurant had to offer.

The only difference between Anne Elizabeth and Elixir Kitchen is that the former offers meat simply seasoned with salt and pepper only while the latter marinates their meat with herbs and spices.

The only thing you order from the menu are your drinks.  As for the meats, you need to order them at the Market Place (aka the meat counter).  Any other orders (like sides and pasta) can be ordered from the menu written on the chalkboard at the meat counter as well.

As you can see, you're spoilt for choice when it comes to meat as they have a lot to offer from pork belly to pork shoulder loin, pork chops, Spanish ribs, lamb racks, roast beef, ribeye, duck, chicken, seafood, bacon, ham and plenty of sausages.

After making our meat choices and side dishes (the friendly and helpful lady boss offered recommendations), we made our way back to our table.  The side dishes were the first to arrive.

The Mushroom Soup @ RM7.90 had the right consistency and loads of mushroom flavour.

The Onion Rings @ RM7.90 were a letdown.

Although the coating was crisp, the layers of onion were way too thin (+ the rings were cut too thin as well) for it to be enjoyed.  It was neither juicy nor sweet.  I think this stems from the type of onions used (this, I believe, it's the cheaper red onions and not the sweeter yellow onions).

The Garlic Bread @ RM3 was a bigger letdown...3 pieces of lightly buttered baguette with hardly any garlic taste...and, worst still, the baguette slices were super hard and inedible.  We took a bite and left the rest untouched.  I'm afraid if I threw that at someone's forehead, it'll probably cause a concussion! :P

The Purple Coleslaw @ RM6.90 didn't look like purple cabbage.  Is it too much to expect purple cabbage when they say purple coleslaw?  So, when I see purple coleslaw, I expect purple cabbage...not purple-stained cabbage! :P  If they want to offer the cheaper white cabbage, they should just call it coleslaw, right?  I don't know why some restaurants would do this...sneakily replace it with something cheaper?  Do they think we can be easily fooled or won't notice the difference?  And, worst still, I actually saw pics of purple coleslaw served by the same restaurant in another blog.

With the sides failing to make an impact (other than the mushroom soup), let's see how the meats fared.  I'm holding my breath...and not expecting much, honestly! >.<

The meat platter finally arrived with our selected choice of meats, the first being their highly recommended Signature Pork Belly @ RM21.90 which arrived looking the part...well caramelised with great grill marks.

But looks can be deceiving! ;)  As it was a fatty cut of meat and the fat wasn't rendered down, it became chewy rather than melt-in-your-mouth.  Although it had that slightly sweet sticky glaze, the overall marination was off.  I can't pinpoint what was wrong exactly, all I can say is that it wasn't very pleasant tasting.

Next, we had the Hickory White Wine Pork Chop @ RM17.80 which is a favourite with the customers, the lady boss told me.  Well, it wasn't a favourite with me.  I don't know what was in the marination but something was off again (I tasted something bitter, perhaps from too much white wine not cooked down?) as I took more bites.  This was even more off-putting than the pork belly! O_o

We chose a Salmon Sausage @ RM14.90 to round up our meat fest as it's not a sausage I see often.  Wait for it.....at least this one was palatable...but, then again, they didn't do anything to it, this was a 'as is'...haha! :D

We also wanted to something other than meat and were shown some salmon and Alaska rainbow trout but I found the pieces of fish cut too thin.  This meant it'd be easily overcooked and you know I like my salmon still pink in the middle.  And when the lady boss let on that her customers like the salmon cooked all the way through, it made my decision not to pick it even easier.  In the end, I picked some other seafood, Squid @ RM15.80, that was simply chargrilled.

It didn't taste all that fresh (I guess I should have known better seeing that the uncooked squid, after marination, was lying in a pool of murky liquid).  It was so overcooked and chewy, it was difficult to eat.  I could have chewed 'till the cows came home' and it wouldn't have mattered.

All the meat and seafood was accompanied by two sauces, a mushroom sauce (which I originally thought was black pepper) and a cream sauce (as informed by the waiter).  The reason I asked if they had any other sauce (like perhaps black pepper) was because both sauces were unappealing.  The exceptionally dark-coloured mushroom sauce was pungent and slightly bitter in taste (probably from using too much of those intensely-flavoured dried shiitake mushrooms instead of fresh mushrooms).  I was also hoping a strong tasting sauce (like black pepper which they didn't have) would help drown out some of the undesirable marination as well! >_<

Drinks of Chilled Mango @ RM5 and Fresh Pineapple Juice @ RM8.  I apologise if I sound condescending when I say the fresh pineapple juice was the best thing here.  I had to since everything else was so underwhelming! >.<

My Personal Opinion

When I came here, I was hoping expecting it to be better than Anne Elizabeth since there's marination in their meats but, ultimately, it turned out to be worse.  Maybe the other meats (and pasta dishes) will fare better or, better still, take no risk, and go with the 'as is' items like sausages, bacon and ham.

In the end, we couldn't bring ourselves to finish any of the food (except the mushroom soup).  I'm afraid this will be my one and only visit as this did not sit well with me.....at all...from the meats to the sides to the sauces (that I tried)! :'(  Perhaps (and hopefully), you might have a different and better experience.

I like the concept of "we pick, they cook" and I'm always on the lookout for these type of places offering good and affordable grilled meats....but alas, my search continues.

Elixir Kitchen
No 69G Jalan Temenggung 19/9
Seksyen 9 Bandar Mahkota Cheras
43200 Cheras
Selangor
Tel: 03-9010 0407

Flingstones @ Subang Jaya

After a few satisfying visits in the past (some of which I wrote about here), it was back again to Flingstones @ Subang Jaya for our brunch venue of choice one late Sunday morning with family.  Walking in, the interior looks a bit more cramped than I remembered because it looked as if more tables have been added, so business must be good.

A quick glance at the menu revealed that there hasn't been a major uplift in terms of new dishes in their (now laminated) menu though there has been an uplift in prices in most of the dishes!  All the previous favourites are still there with just a few very minor additions.

Our first order of the morning was the Big Bang Breakfast @ RM28 that came fully-loaded with three strips of pork bacon, a giant sausage, two cooked eggs (scrambled or sunny side up), sauteed mushrooms and cherry tomatoes, two pieces of crispy hash browns (in replacement of the potato rosti previously), baked beans (taken up a notch) cooked with onions, fresh greens and a slice of toast.

Now this big breakfast platter is big on variety...and even bigger on value.  It's built for one-very-hungry person or two-light-eaters can share which will warrant no complaints from any diner.  Absolutely loved the well-browned bacon, perfectly cooked scrambled eggs, sauteed mushrooms and cooked beans.  It still remains as one my top favoured big breakfast platters till today.

Next came the Babi Fried Rice @ RM20 which smelled of fragrant "wok hei" and filled with three types of porkilicious stuff of "chu ya char" (crispy pork lard bits), two long strips of pork bacon and "lap cheong" (Chinese dried sausage) bits.  The only difference was this....my favourite century egg was missing and its place just an ordinary (and cheaper) fried egg...and, worse still, it came with an increased price! >.<

As if there weren't enough carbs for the day, we went for even more carbs with the Porky Fat Rice XL @ RM23 which contained "not too lemak" coconut milk infused carbs (of course) and mama's rempah pork belly with condiments of hard-boiled egg, crispy ikan bilis, kacang, sauteed kangkung, fresh cucumber slices and their signature oink-oink sambal.  Can it hold a candle to (say) the more authentic Malay-style nasi lemak? Certainly not...but, then again, you wouldn't have been able to have it with pork either, so.... ;)

Our final dish of Babi Berempah Pasta @ RM25 is probably one of their new additions as I didn't see it on the menu the last time I was there.  It featured spaghetti served with pork belly berempah topped with tobiko and a side of mango salsa.  

The babi berempah is the exact same one you'd get with the Porky Fat Rice, so I wouldn't label this one as something totally new on the menu but just a variation of what they have.  This time, however, I noticed that the pork belly wasn't quite the thickly cut ones we had previously but a much thinner cut (that was so lean, it didn't even look like pork belly) thereby rendering the meat drier and a little tougher.  No mention was made of the sauce (in the menu) but it tasted something like a spiced up Thousand Island sauce to me.

If you're wondering where's the mango salsa (that was stated in their menu), I was too.  We (unfortunately) didn't get a mango salsa but what I felt was a cheaper alternative of a tomato and onion salsa.  Actually, I'm not an advocate of restaurants changing or substituting an ingredient on the dish (than what was originally listed in the menu) as it makes me feel that I'm getting something inferior or a cheaper alternative.  After all, it's the restaurant's responsibility to get their ingredients prepped (correctly) and ready to go when their doors open and, in this case, mango is not an ingredient that's hard to get, so I don't see why it has to be substituted. Unfortunately, this scenario is nothing new as I've experienced this many times.  If it's an imported ingredient that's difficult to get here, I'd probably be more understanding but I also think restaurants need to learn common courtesy to (at least) let us know, apologise or ask if we'd mind when they plan to replace a certain ingredient.  That way we won't feel like we were 'shortchanged'! >_<

We like the coffees here.....and our usual would be Iced Hazelnut Latte @ RM15 and Iced Latte @ RM13.

My Personal Opinion

I'm glad they've kept up with the taste of the food (the Big Bang Breakfast is still banging) as the place still delivers for us in that respect although there were a couple of dishes (with increased prices) that came with some minor 'enhancements' which I wasn't exactly fond of and weren't necessarily for the better unfortunately (in my opinion).

I guess we can't run away from price hikes as things are getting more expensive by the day.  Overall, the prices here have increased by about 10% - 20% since my last visit.  A consolation, at least, is that this place continues to not charge the 10% + 6% although, if you look at it from another angle, the 16% is now factored into the increased prices already! :P

Flingstones Cafe
24 Jalan SS15/8
47500 Subang Jaya
Selangor
Tel: 03-5879 9468

It's all about the Bacon by Five & Two Foods

I first got a whiff of this through The Star papers (sometime in the middle of the year) and, being the porkaholic that I am, I was consumed with bacon mania when I saw the article and their website photos.  And then I conveniently forgot about it until recently.

I could not hold out any longer, I have got to get myself a box of this good stuff....and that's what it said on the box itself!  Get ready for some.....Pop! Sizzle! Oink!

Opening the contents, with a smile on my face, this was what I got in my first box....Bacon Jam Original, Curried Pork and Candied Bacon Stix Original.

Let's start with Candied Bacon Stix that arrived in this neat foil package.  Tear open the packet and the bacon strips are wrapped in another piece of aluminium foil.

This is the Candied Bacon Stix (Original Flavour) @ RM23 (for 120g) which is the smallest pack (Small Bite). Of course, there are bigger packs, like the Big Bite (250g), Monster Bite (500g) and Colossal Bite (1kg) which also means you have to pay more (all the way to RM175)! O_o

I was expecting it to look like this (pic from their website)...dry and almost similar to bak kwa but it was not. It's slightly wet and sticky (from the marinade) and stuck together in its presentation.

That's because they take smoked streaky bacon and smother it in their signature sweet and spicy rub before grilling resulting in a sticky sweet glaze that's not too sweet with just a tinge of heat (and you can certainly taste the black pepper).  The bacon sticks (which looked as if they were cut in half, about 4 inches in length) were absolutely delicious as a snack.

Or eat this between two slices of toasted bread (with added omelette) like I did for breakfast....so good! These candied bacon sticks are going to leave you wanting more.

It has an average shelf life of two weeks but it's not going to last that long, I tell you! ;)  They ask that you refrigerate it right after you receive it but it probably won't even make it to the refrigerator.  It's so addictive I could finish it in one go if I really wanted to.  But I purposely kept some pieces just to see if they taste as good after refrigeration (this pic was taken after half of it was consumed already).

They recommend that you microwave the bacon sticks for 20 seconds for best flavour and texture.  To test their theory, I did just that...and, you know what, they still taste as good.  Or you could just eat it cold straight from the fridge.  So, you have no worries of storing lots of them in the fridge to eat over a two-week period.  But, by the following day, all the candied bacon sticks were gone! :(

The next item I ordered was the Curried Pork @ RM18 (for a 180g jar), their Best Seller from their Curried Meats Section (they also have Curried Chicken & Curried Lamb).

In it you'll find small pieces of pork meat cooked in a curry sauce that looks almost sambal-like.  You can taste the spices in the curry that reminds you of an Indian curry (with ingredients like garam masala, turmeric powder, dried red chillies, curry leaves, fenugreek seeds and peppercorns).

Don't expect the pieces of pork to be tender coz it's not.  It has a bit of a chew and a tad dry (which is to be expected as it had to be cooked until almost dry) but the spices were a bit much for my taste buds.  It also looked on the oily side (when I opened the jar) but give it a good stir and it should be better.  If you're a fan of Indian curries, then this jar is for you.

You can use it to perk up your otherwise plain nasi lemak....like I did.

Or as an additional topping on your crisp roti canai (and I'm sure it'll be good with some fried rice or even just plain rice).

The other jar that I got was the Bacon Jam Original @ RM22 made with pork bacon, onions, garlic, chilli flakes, brown sugar, maple syrup and white wine vinegar.

The bacon chips, cooked in their secret sauce, have the texture of minced meat but you can certainly smell and taste the bacon.  It's sweet (slightly), spicy (just a tiny bit) and savoury all in one with a bit of a tang at the end.  It was praise worthy.

I started spooning the contents into my mouth....I could probably finish the whole jar in minutes but, two teaspoonfuls later, I told myself to stop.  This jar costs me RM22, I've got to make it count, I've got to make it last...haha! :D

Since it's a jam after all, bacon jam that is, it should be spread on toast, don't you think?  Or, take it up a notch, and stir it into some baked beans...before topping it onto your toast....yummeh ^o^

I'm sure it'll taste delicious tossed in pastas....but who wants to cook pasta when we have something quicker...maggi mee ;P  After all, this is all about convenient snacking, isn't it?

It makes a great dip...for french fries ;)

Or if you have any crackers, chips, nachos or biscuits....it works wonderfully with them too...absolutely delish :)  Can you imagine munching on these snacks in front of the TV? :O

All their jams are sold in 180g jars with an average shelf life of 4 months.  As they do not use preservatives, flavouring or colouring in their products, they're recommended to be kept refrigerated.  For best taste, warm up in the microwave oven for a couple of seconds but, if you're too lazy, just spoon out the portion you want to eat and leave it out to come down to room temperature...and you're good to go.

They have at least 10 types of bacon jams on offer on any given day with 3 types of Asian bacon, 3 types of curried meats and 3 flavours of candied bacon stix...check them out on fivetwofoods (I think they have a 'hot' product on their hands)! ^_*

My Personal Opinion

Of the three, my favourite was the bacon jam.  I can definitely see myself ordering that and probably the candied bacon stix again...this time maybe the Brazilian Bahian Flavour (for the candied bacon stix) instead. But I think I'll stick to the Original Flavour (for the bacon jam) since the rest have some type of liquor, beer or wine in them.

At an average price of RM25 for a 180g jar of bacon jam or 120g pack of bacon stix (that won't go very far...*wink wink*), it's the one thing that's holding me back from ordering and eating it on a more regular basis....but as an occasional indulgence...YESSS, please!! 

Well, Christmas is just round the corner....you might want to get yourself some to perk up your dishes...or simply for your own indulgence! ^.^