Bulgarian Sausage Platters~ Vintage Bulgaria, Tanjung Bungah

Back to Penang for the weekend. Revisit this one and only Bulgarian restaurant in Penang for dinner since the next door Ingolf the German restaurant full house and long waiting list. Bulgaria is equally pack with customers just like Ingolf, however not long waiting list. We got a table for 2 very soon after we walked in. This time we order their Bulgarian sausage platters for sharing. Miss our good old times in Penang with food and beaches along Tg Tokong, Tg Bungah and Batu Feringgi during weekends. 

Daorae, Desa Sri Hartamas

Our first and second visit to Daorae, Desa Sri Hartamas - which is also the headquarter of Daorae. Located just right above Seoul Mart (the Korean Mart). First visit we had 잡채 볶음밥 Japchae bokkuembap as lunch - which is stir fried glass noodles with assorted vegetables mixed with fried rice, top with a big prawn. One of my favorite Korean dish so far. Second visit we had 갈비탕 Galbi-tang - Beef Short Ribs Soup is his favourite. Made primarily from beef short ribs along with stewing beef, daikon and green onions. Best way to eat it is is put a few dash black pepper to seasoned it before eat (together with rice); And 육개장 Yukgaejang for me. It is spicy Korean Beef Soup made from shredded beef brisket, gosari (bracken fern), green onion, chili powder, garlic, perilla seeds, seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, chili oil, black pepper and salt. Served with a bowl of rice. It looks red but it wasn't that spicy actually. Just like Daorae Penang, the food and service never fail us. 

Korean Fried Chicken Date~ Wow Chicken, Desa Sri Hartamas

Sometimes we will drive all the way from Kota Kemuning to Ampang or Desa Sri Hartamas for Korean Fried Chicken. This Korean fried chicken in Desa Sri Hartamas located at 1st floor operated since 2010 has a cozy interior with separate private seating cubical, suitable for couple to have "fried chicken date" or chimek (fried-chicken + beer) with friends. Today we had "pan-ban" which is half-half of fried chicken~ Yang-nyeom chicken @ RM23.00 & normal fried chicken @ RM22.00. The spicy sauce chicken pretty additive, mild spicy with sweetness in it. Normal fried is delicious just deep with the salt provided! I guess chimek wave is not yet hit Malaysia, not many locals know about the deliciousness of Korean fried chicken. One of the reason why I blog about Korean food is, to let many people know that there are other tasty Korean food not just Korean BBQ or Kimchi Jiggae. That way, more locals will know and patronize, then the Korean restaurants can sustain long~ that's what we both think. 

Dakgalbi~ Chuncheon Dongnamu-jib, Gangwon-do. 강원도 춘천 통나무집닭갈비

He visited one of his friend who lives in Gangwon-do during his business trip and his friend bought him to one of the famous Dakgalbi Restaurant in Chuncheon - Dongnamu-jib Dakgalbi. Dongnamu means Log wood and jib is house; just like the name, the restaurant is built with log-wood. The restaurant always full house especially during the weekend. It is one of the mat-jib that interviewed by 3 major Korea TV Channels ~ KBS, SBS and MBC. Many people would drive all the way to Chuncheon for the Dakgalbi.

Each table is equipped with this large grill pan in the center of the table - standard setup for Dakgalbi restaurant. Dongchimi (cold radish soup) as well as lettuce, onion and garlic slice and ssamjang for the wraps will be serve after order place. The order menu with price listed. The "T" stands for 2 pax or 2 servings. Korean like to use the Chinese character "正" to represent no.1 till no.5.

2 Servings of Dakgalbi which consists of boneless chicken parts, cabbage, green onions, rice cake and red and spicy marinate sauce. The secret of making the dakgalbi famous is lies on their own special marinate sauce. You don't have to cook yourself, the server will stir fried the dakgalbi on the heated grill pan using a steel spatula until it is cooking well.

Koreans usually like to left at least 1/4 of the serving for the fried rice later. The fried rice is not included with the dakgalbi so you need to order the rice separately. The balance of dakgalbi will be move aside, and server will cook the fried rice which consist of lettuce and the spicy red sauce. Fried rice is the highlight of dakgalbi that one shouldn't miss!

Friend's birthday & Gathering~ Healy Mac's Irish Bar And Restaurant, Straits Quay, Penang

Back to Penang for 2 weeks, spend times with family and friends! Yesterday we celebrate one of the gang member's birthday at Healy Mac's Irish Bar and Restaurant at Straits Quay. Straits Quay just completed last year. This Irish pub cum restaurant is facing the pier. Indoor is a bit noisy so we chose outdoor sitting, the view of the pier is superb! Our meal of that night is good too. We had Chicken Parmigiana, Grilled Fillet of Salmon, Grilled Black Fillet of Cod marinated with Cajun spiced, served with risotto and white wine cream sauce and Organic Pork Spare Ribs served with truffle oil mash potato, sweet corn and Guinness BBQ sauce. We also bought 2 slices of cake from Secret Recipe next door since birthday boy need to cut cake! Happy birthday TS. Thanks for being such a wonderful friend~ take good care of yourself in US! We are going miss you lots!

First Samgyeopsal (Korean Pork Belly BBQ) at Home. 집에서 삼겹살 구워먹기

Last Saturday, we held a Korean BBQ dinner at home for the first time. It was a belated house warming party after relocation to Kota Kemuning. It is also a small farewell party for Mr. Park who is going back return to Korea for good soon, and a welcoming Mr. Ryoo, who is Mr. Park's successor on board. Below is the record of basic ingredients needs for Korean BBQ at home.  

For BBQ / Grill:

• 1kg of Pork shoulder meat & Pork Belly (Clean the meat with salt water, rinse and dry it, then sprinkle some black pepper on top and keep in fridge for half an hour)
• King oyster mushrooms (thinly slice)
• Enoki mushrooms (removed the roots, washed & drained)

Dipping sauce

• Sesame oil (serve with pinch of salt & black pepper)
• Ssamjang

For the wraps

• Lettuces
• Garlic slices
• Green Onion slices
• Chili pepper (green or red)
• Cut-kimchi
• Seasoned leek or green onion (Pajeori)

Pajeori 파절이

Thinly slice the 300gm green onion or leek, mix well with the following and it is ready.

• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar, 
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil, 
• 1 Tbsp Korean chili flakes (gochugaru), 
• 1/2 Tbsp vinegar, 
• 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 1Tsp minced garlic