Beringgis Seafood Restaurant, Papar

Daniel recommended this restaurant that is nestled next to the Taiwan Restaurant (which is famous for its pork trotter and fried roti canai) along the road to Papar. There are only a few restaurants we go to when craving for seafood and I have featured most of them, I think. This one is a new one so here goes:

Ambience-wise, we, especially hubby love the rustic wooden deco and airiness of this place. That's one reason why we have been here twice in the last month.

Distance-wise, it is about the same as Tuaran, about 30km from Kota Kinabalu.

Taste-wise, some dishes we had were good, some were not.

Soft shell crabs in batter RM25

Our favorite. Can you see the crab meat?? Very fresh and well done but apparently not available all the time.

Butter prawns RM40

Done so well that the shell was crispy enough to be eaten yet the prawn's flesh was done just right, moist and soft. 

This talapia was perfectly steamed in a very simple, light but tasty soy sauce. RM34

Not bad but don't think we will order this again. RM25 for a couple of clams...

I like this claypot with local tofu. RM15 

But the rest of the clan preferred this sizzling Japanese tofu hot plate. RM18

Peas sprouts sauteed with garlic, perfectly done. RM15

These were some of the dishes that we had and don't recommend.

Look is deceiving here. Three words. Bland, bland and bland. I still can't figured out how this good looking kung po sauce can be so bland and even the squids were bland. RM18

This talapia was steamed with a spicy sauce which I think came out of a bottle of thai chilli sauce. A definite no no. Too super sweet.

Price-wise, can't beat Welcome but cheaper than Gaya Sport and others. An order of a fish, a 1/2 kg prawn dish, a tofu dish, a veg., a shell dish and an extra dish came up to about RM160

Mooncakes, mooncakes and more mooncakes

Beside the conventional mooncakes, these are what we are having this year for the Mid-Autumn festival which falls on the 14 th September and that is tomorrow.

These jelly mooncakes are from Betty's mooncake collection. 

She is truly a master of mooncakes (see her ping pei mooncake here)

The red is made with dragon fruit which I didn't get to taste at all, the yellow is kiwi fruit while the green one is made with real durian!

I thought they were too just too beautiful to be eaten but K didn't thinks so and he cut this one late last night. I was force to take these picture under low light condition (K tried to help by holding up a torch light but the shots appeared too harsh so I had to use the highest ISO and that accounted for the grainy outcome which I found out is called 'noise' in photographic terms. Why? I haven't the faintest idea as I couldn't hear any noise...) 

Can you made out the durian flesh surrounded by the jelly? Yummy...

These cookies that don't look or taste anything like mooncake at all are from Sibu. Pit Fung was in Kuching last month and brought some for us to try. 

They are quite good as cookies but if the label didn't read "Kek Bulan" none of us would have guessed. They are sweet but with a slight savoury twist flavored either with five spice powder or the red fermented bean curd. 

Here I proudly present the Teo Chew mooncakes. So happy with myself after accomplishing these as they were such a success compared to the last few times I tried two years ago when the pastry turned out like shortcrust. That was the biggest challenge for me, the skin, that is to achieve the flaky layering that we find in lou po ping (wife's cookies)...

I was beaming from ear to ear when I cut open one and got these. It was light, flaky and crisp. Just perfect.

This recipe was from A, a fantastic cook and dancer who has since migrated to Canada. I like the filling of this mooncake, it is very much like the ham and nuts mooncakes (my dad's favorite) but without the ham. It is said that this ham yoke mooncake is an acquired taste, I agreed as I remember when I was young I would watched my dad eat and turned my nose up and wouldn't touch any myself as I then preferred those with lotus paste and egg yolk. I don't remember when I started liking them.

Here is the original recipe (the lotus paste I got from Pelangi was super sweet so I had to adjust the filling by adding more nuts/seeds and moi choy - reserved veg. and also reduced the sweet candied fruits).

Filling:

300g white lotus paste

60 g candied manderin orange (kit pian), chopped finely (40g - adjusted)

70 g candied winter melon, chopped finely (40g)

30 g sesame seeds (60g)

10 g melon seeds (50g)

30 g salty moi choy, washed, chopped and fried dry (60g)

1/4 t salt

Mix all ingredients together well.

Divide into 10 - 12 portions and shape them each into a dics about 5 cm in diameter.

 

A (water dough - outer skin)

100 g plain flour

40 g shortening (I used lard)

~ 50 g water

1/2 t lemon juice

Rub the lard into the flour. Add the water bit by bit and get to a rather soft consistency but make sure the dough does not stick to the finger. 

Combine together well but lightly and leave for 15 - 20 minutes.

B (oil dough - inner skin)

100 g superfine flour

60 g shortening (or pork lard)

Mix well lightly and leave for 15 - 20 minutes.

1. Roll A (water dough) into a thin flat sheet.

2. Spread B (oil dough) onto A.

3. Fold the flat sheet into 1/2 then 1/2 again.

4. Roll out into a thin sheet (make sure the oil dough stays within the water dough).

5. Fold 1/2 and 1/2 again and roll out into about 1/4 cm thick.

6. Cut into 10 - 12 portion.

7.  Roll dough to fit the filling. Wrap a piece of filling each with the skin. Press down to flatten. 

8. Eggwash each cake and sprinkle black sesame seed on top.

9. Bake at 170 C for 30 minutes. 

After all been said and done about mooncakes, I favorite is still my first love, lotus paste with salted egg yolk. A must have for me every year or it won't feel like Mid-Autumn.

Happy 中秋節.

Char siew Pau

I have Typhoon Nuri to thank for having tasted the best char siew pau in the whole of my ?? years. 

On 22nd of August, our third day in Hong Kong, the day I thought I would be able to indulge myself in the many shopping malls, Hong Kong decided to take a day of rest (can you imagine every single shopping mall and shop were closed) during the worst tyhpoon in more than five years. We knew there was a typhoon but we didn't know the extent of it as we didn't watch the news at all. If I had known the typhoon was at level 9 alert I wouldn't have been so brave! 

About 10 am, we ventured out for breakfast and thought it was eerily quiet but I thought as most shops usually open only about 11 am or later we were not overly concerned. I wanted to look for a porridge shop on my list that was not far from the hotel. As we walked, the rain and wind got stronger and stronger, and if we were to hold up our umbrellas any longer we would be flying around HK like Mary Poppins.

We were practically 'blown' into the only shop that was open, a restaurant with huge posters featuring HK$3000++ abalone dishes and with a name like ' Sportful Garden Restaurant' (Had it not been for 'Nuri', I don't think I would have ventured here  as the abalone posters with that kind of prices would have scared me off). We had to enter to get away from the gusts and rain. The girl at the door told us they serve dim sum too. Thank goodness the inside was like any normal dim sum joints with many locals sipping tea and reading newspapers. The dim sum menu wasn't very extensive and I couldn't find the price. I treaded very carefully and ordered only familiar items without anything 'abalone' attached.

There wasn't much dim sum choice so I had to order char siew pau (with abalone sauce) which I normally would skipped and gone on to something more interesting. I have had too many unpleasant experiences with this dim sum item. I don't like food that needs to be dug out from the roof of my mouth and that leaves a medicinal after-taste. I'd rather have the Hainanese version of char siew pau than this laughing dim sum pau, that was before I tasted this... 

This had to be the most perfect pau I had ever tasted. The skin was soft but not airy, had a bite without being heavy and ... so smooth (not quite the right word but I can't think of another more appropriate description), the filling was not overly sweet like they always seem to be (another reason why I didn't like it before) and the gravy just tied everything together perfectly. I couldn't help myself and asked for another tray.  

The dim sum here were really good, better than Treasure Lake but with less selection.  

The kids' favorite - shui jiao. I liked it too, the skin was super smooth yet had a bite to it (any idea how they do that? We always do this dish at home but getting a good skin like this has been very elusive).

Can't get them like these back home.

Vegetable dumplings with dried shrimps.

Xia lung pau, yes, Leanne striked again. Skin too thick but like most of the xia lung pau we tasted elsewhere here in Hong Kong the fillings were good.

Lotus leaf glutinous rice with very few ingredients but unbelievable myriad of flavors and tastes with the lovely aroma from the lotus leaf.

Wanton and Drunken Chicken

After Disneyland all I wanted to do in Hong Kong was to eat and shop. Leanne and myself (minus Bryan as he wanted to catch up on sleep after staying up the whole night listening to a duet performance by two renowned snorers (:-0zzz (:-0zzz ) made our way to Central to look for the two famous wanton noodle shops face to face in Wellington Street featured in Terri's Hong Kong trip last year. 

No trouble finding them although it was quite a long uphill walk. 

Mak's

Tsim Chia Kee

Didn't know which one to go for until Leanne decided the better looking shop it would be which was Tsim Chia Kee. 

This is easily the best wanton I have ever had. The wantons were as big as the soup spoon that you can see on the top picture. There must be about 4-5 chunks of fresh prawn meat in each and they were so fresh every bite gave that heavenly crunch. The helping was very generous as I had a hard time finishing the noodles. It cost HK$16 per serving and that's less than RM7!

This one came from Mak's. As we were too full to try out Mak's, I decided to doggy bagged for Bryan. I asked for two helping as I know Bryan can eat. What you see in that cup was two helpings and they cost HK$59! No wander Tsim Chia Kee has more customer. I must say the soup did taste better but TCK's wanton wins hands down. 

Went to Mongkok for shopping. As usual, one wanted to go book store, another wanted to see all the newest gadget in electronics and I wanted shoes, clothings and all the finer things in life...Ok, so I thought I'd accommodate them first and do my things the next day but as it turned out the weather did not cooperate. Did managed to sneak into an Esprit outlet and came away with a denim skirt. I have to admit I am not only a picky eater but also a picky shopper. I just have to find something I really like before buying and most times I can shop the whole day and have nothing to show. 

After all that walking in Mongkok (so, so crowded that sometimes the crowd just push you along), the heat, hunger and sore feet tell us to slow down and look for a place to eat. We hopped into this Shanghai restaurant as the air-conditioning was so inviting.

I wanted something cold but also wanted to eat rice (another 'fun tong' rice bucket in the family), so I ordered this drunken chicken. Most time when I tasted this dish the chicken was always too oily and flavor of wine not properly soaked into meat. As this was a Shanghainese restaurant and I know they are famous for this dish, I hoped (and prayed) for the best. 

I was not disappointed at all. The fragrance of the wine hit me before I even get to taste it. I detected no oil at all either on the chicken nor the wine sauce. My taste buds work overtime ever now as I am writing and staring at this photo. Can you see the gelatin between the skin and the meat. The meat was prefect, soo smooth yet with a definite bite and the flavors of the chicken...olala... I wander what wine they used?

Bryan ordered the fried noodles and I thought it look just like the hokkien mee back home. Tastewise not as intense or lardy but pretty good.

Trust Leanne to ordered this sai lung pau everywhere we went. The skin was a little too thick on top but the filling and soup were delicious.  

I almost single-handedly finished this savory dessert.

This restaurant offers a lot more dishes and they all looked (spying the next table's dishes) very interesting. Must go back there again with a bigger and hungrier crowd so can order more dishes.

Dim Sum and Disneyland

Knew I had to squeeze in at least a sizable meal before setting out for Disneyland, as from past record this would be a whole day affair. Checked my food bible and bingo, a dim sum chain restaurant is only a stroll from our hotel.   

Treasure Lake Golden Banquet Restaurant

I was overzealous in ordering as I was famished and so starved of good dim sum. There was no mobile food carts like in the old days. The ordering had to be done on a list which we ticked the items we wanted and you don't see the food until they arrive at the table. This was what three of us had that day...

The classic must-have items. All came in bigger sizes than the ones we get in KK, each basket had at least four pieces and that's when I knew I was in trouble for ordering so much. Two baskets each of the har gau and siu lung pau too.

The fried dim sum and they were all delicious especially the top two, ham sui kok (glutinous meat dumplings, my favorite of the deep fried dim sum) and the almond coated rolls with a sweet filling of cream and fruits. Yummz.

We didn't do justice to the last two dishes as we had to force ourselves to finish them, naturally they didn't taste that good at that time. Leanne kept saying if her daddy was there as he would be able to finish the food! 

This is the day for Leanne. Although he didn't say but I know Bryan was also looking forward to Disneyland. Who wouldn't? I know I was excited too but was very apprehensive about the weather that was hovering around 30c.

 

Disneyland at 2 pm in Summer in Hong Kong was insane. We had on three layers of sun protection - 1) sunscreen  2) caps  3) umbrella and I could still feel the heat. But that didn't slow down the kids one bit. They were able to do most of the rides and attractions (eventhough the queues were long it was not like in Tokyo Disneyland where each queue took hours!)

Disneyland HK is small compared to Disneyland LA and Tokyo and the magic being there didn't hit me like it did my last two trips (LA and Tokyo), I suspect it was the heat (I was melting away) as the last two trips were all in cooler weathers - winter and autumn.   

I am glad the heat and sweat didn't dampen the magic for these two.

This got to be my all time favorite of Disneyland. After a tour of this section, this tune was playing in my head the whole day '...It's a small world after all, it's a small, small world...'  

The special train with Mickey Mouse windows that took us from Sunny Bay Station to Disneyland.

Now Paris and Florida Disneyland would be her (Leanne's) next dream...and mine too but not in Summer!