Choong Kee Kampar Claypot Rice, Damansara Jaya

7 days self quarantine end. Luckily, I am Covid negative and still Novid (covid virgin). Told my friend I want to eat claypot chicken rice after I end my quarantine. And he recommend this claypot chicken rice restaurant that operate more than 3 decades in Damansara Jaya. Anyway, out of topic~ the name 忠记 (Choong Kee in Chinese) somehow reminds me of my pen pal during my secondary school time. Sadly we have lost contact after I graduated from University and starts working. Back to Choong Kee Kampar Claypot Chicken Rice~ here's our decent Claypot chicken rice of the day~ together with lotus root double boiled soup and yau mak (romaine lettuce veggie) with garlic & oyster sauce. With those common ingredients that a claypot chicken rice normally have~ the tender marinated chicken pieces, lap-cheong, a bit of salted fish all on top of the cooked rice, just mix all well so that everything is caramelized and coated with the dark soy sauce~ and eat it while it is hot. Simple yet savoury! The crispy scorched rice at the bottom layer what I looking forward the most at the end of the meal. A pot of claypot chicken rice can makes me very happy for the rest of the day. 

仁仁粿條仔~ Ren Ren Kuey Teow Kia, Fraser Business Park

Lately the weekend eat out is always an new adventure for me. Not only this area is new for me, Kuey Teow Kia is something new for me too. Apparently Ren Ren Kuey Teow Kia just moved to this business shoplots area between Jalan Sungai Besi and Chan Sow Lin not long ago. Kuey Teow Kia is a Teow Chew dish - thin flat rice noodles (similar to Hor-fun) with pork and offal braised herbal broth. It's eaten together with braised pork in variety cuts where we can order the cuts individually. Besides the must have Kuey Teow Kia, we had braised tofu & eggs, pig tongue, intestines, stomach, belly and ears. Also an extra veggie dish ~ salted veggie with pork lark. The herbal broth close to Bak Kut Teh taste, yet it is not the same as the BKT broth we used to have. Another great meal for us since we both love pork dish. 

Fish & Chips + Eggplant Parmigiana ~ M Marini Grand Caffè & Terrazza, Jalan Pinang

A splurge on working day lunch~ but not me who pay. It's an Italian café nearby office and belongs to the Marini's group - yeah the one with Marini's on 57 and their M series outlets. Located at One KL - a serviced apartment where every unit has it's own swimming pool which I can see from my office building windows. Food is decent, more to western style but also can find some local Malaysian dish. We shared fish & chips and Eggplant Parmigiana. Wonder why nobody sits inside? Is it because the Victorian style interior too posh? Or outside is more relaxing compare to inside. Anyway I enjoy the company and happy to have someone to come over and buy me lunch sometimes.

My 43rd Birthday with Omakase~ Wagaya, Jalan Inai

Blessed 43rd birthday with 12 courses Omakase at Wagaya, Jalan Inai. May God continue to bless me abundantly with good food and good people. I will walk harder to stay healthier than last year so I can continue to enjoy good food and good life ♡ 

Yokohama's IEKEI Ramen~ Ichikakuya, Shoplex Mont Kiara

Ichikakuya quietly open a branch in Shoplex Mont Kiara last year during covid pandemic. I notice their presence thru the signage board outside whenever I pass by as their location is quite hidden. It's a corner lot where The Fat Fish occupied previously. Apparently their very first Malaysia branch is open at UOA Business Park in Shah Alam on Jan 2020 when covid begin. Yesterday a friend was there for dinner alone and ask me if I wanna join, that's where I recall I have yet give them a try. Yokohama's IEKEI Ramen with more than 50 years history is unique with its rich and thick Tonkotsu soy sauce soup, with thick and chewy noodles that handmade daily with Japanese wheat flour imported from Yokohama.

The soup is shoyu or shio (salt) based thick pork bone soup with chicken oil. You may customize the thickness for the soup (strong, normal or light), extra / normal / less chicken oil in your soup broth and firmness of the noodles (hard, normal or soft). We both go for Yokohama IEKEI ramen where my friend choose the salt based soup (where the broth color is white) while I go for max version with extra chasiu (so we could share the chasiu) with soy based soup. Both goes with strong level for the soup thickness, extra chicken oil and normal doneness for noodle. It served together with dried seaweed, spinach. torch burnt thin slice chasiu and quail egg. I also order an extra Onsen egg, and it is as good as Kamikaze Ramen!

  

Two days later, my family is visiting me in KL. I bring them here for IEKEI ramen and they likes it as it's been a while since we had a good bowl of Ramen after Kamikaze closed down. Order the same Yokohama IEKEI ramen with soy and shio based each with extra topping of black fungus and negi. My brother try the Red Max Ramen~ Spicy IEKEI Ramen and he describe the broth has the Chinese fermented bean curd taste. While my mom not a fan of ramen so she goes for Chicken Katsu Rice Bowl. Ramen price pretty affordable~ starting from RM18++ onwards depending on what's your order.