Restoran Cozy Corner

Remember those western restaurants in Malaysia around the 80s? We were less sophisticated then and western restaurants came with localized flavour both in their menu and decor. In those days, you could find such western restaurants in places like Malayan Railway stations, Padang Kelab Ipoh, Federal Hotel, Majestic Hotel, Puduraya, etc.

For those who are nostalgic of those western restaurants then, I would definitely recommend this restaurant called Restoran Cozy Corner in Ampang Park, Kuala Lumpur. You could definitely find those atmosphere. The best thing is that even the majority of clients seem to be retired government servants of that era.

One look at the picture of the menu at the shop front, you will know that this is a western restaurant ala Malaysia.

As I said, the decor, the staff uniform and even the clientele, all reminiscent of that era.

As a starter, we ordered Escargot Bourguignon. It was creamy garlic and the meat of the snails all came off the shell, there was absolutely no need to use the escargot tong and fork. The garlic was a little bit bitter though. I think Victoria Station has better Escargot Bourguignon.

The soup we ordered were wonderful. Both the minestrone and oxtail soup tasted good. Of couse, it came with bread and butter.

I wanted to order sour sop drink but the waitress who dressed in men's suit told me that they have no more sour sop, but they have soup sop de guava. I ordered that instead and I was surprised by its clear and cool taste. The pineaple juice was good too.

Our main dish was Hainanese chicken chop. This dish is really localized western. It tasted good too. As usual, I did not eat french fries that comes with such dishes. The only french fries I eat is fast food french fries from McDonald or Burger King and it must be hot from the frying pan.

To finish off, we ordered Creped Suzeetta ala Mode. The waiter came and fire up the liquor in front of us. Wonderful! the pancake was soaked in orange tangy syrup and eaten with vanilla ice-cream.

Besides orientalized western food like steak, chicken chop, fish and chips, etc, this restaurant serves local delight like fried kway teow, mee goreng, nasi goreng, etc too. If you are nostalgic of Malaysian style western restaurant of those days in the 80s, Restoran Cozy Corner is a good place to go to.

Toh Lee Chinese Restaurant

Christmas is in the air. Hotel Nikko in Kuala Lumpur is no different.The hotel is decorated with Christmas tree, poinsettias, mistletoes, snow flakes, candy house, etc. There are many children running around. May be there is some kind of festive celebration for children.

Actually, I did not go to Hotel Nikko to celebrate Christmas. I went there for dim sum breakfast. Toh Lee Chinese Restaurant in Hotel Nikko is one of the Chinese restaurant that I frequent during my visit to KL.

Toh Lee Chinese Restaurant is well-known for its good quality "eat-all-you-can" ala-carte buffet which I have eaten the buffet several times. Its sesame ice-cream and wasabi ice-cream are wonderful desserts. But too bad, the restaurant does not offer buffet dim-sum today.

It not too difficult to decide what to order for dim sum breakfast.

Porridge is a good starter. I ordered dried mussel with peanut porridge.

It is good to share the porridge. Otherwise, there wouldn't be enough space in your stomach for other items.

Xiao long bao is a Shanghainese dim sum. We ordered half a dozen. The soup inside the dumpling was nice, but the ginger and vinegar was not really great.

What is dim sum without siew mai and har gau?

Cheong fun is another must-have for me,  particularly prawn cheong fun. The prawn was crunchy but a bit hard today. The texture of the cheong fun was good though.

Yam kok is my all time favourite! The skin must be fluffy, the yam must be smooth.

Yummy!

Well, it is Christmas day. Santa came in for a visit too! No present for me though!

The most disappointing thing for the breakfast must be this pot of tea. We ordered pu-er, but were given jasmine instead.

Fortune cookies is a feature of Chinese restaurant in US. This restaurant offers fortune cookies too.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Is it telling me to start embarking on something? But weird, I thought this Chinese proverb "千里之行，始於足下．" is from Lao Tzu （老子）．This message slip has been clumsily translated from English to Chinese.

Sao Nam - the Star of Vietnam

Bukit Bintang is KL's bustling tourist area. Jalan Alor in Buikit Bintang is the place where you can find good hawker food. The place is jam-packed with people almost daily. Just next to Jalan Alor is Tengkat Tongshin where you find good restaurants and backpacker hostels.

The Vietnamese restaurant Sao Nam (the Star of Vietnam) has 2 branches; one in Bukit Bintang and another in Sri Hartamas. The one in Bintang Bintang is located in Tengkat Tongshin. This restaurant has its own website at http://www.saonam.com.my/. The clients in the Bukit Bintang branch are mostly ang moh tourists.

I ordered a bowl of beef noodle pho (RM18), but the waiter told me that there is no more beef soup. So, I order chicken noodle pho instead. What a disappointment! Beef noodle pho is my favourite dish. So far, the best pho that I have tasted was in Sydney. Kok Mun said he tasted better one in France.

The chicken noodle pho tastes quite similar to Ipoh chicken hor fun. The Vietnamese laksa, a mildly hot and sour fish soup noodle that my friend ordered seems to taste better.

One of Sao Nam's signature dish is its fresh prawn spring rolls.The dish looks good. The spring rolls are fresh. Well! It is just above average I would say.

The sesame prawn was something new. The texture of the prawn was crunchy but somehow the taste of sesame and prawn did not come out strongly.

The ambiance of this restaurant is great. Perhaps that is the reason why some many of the clients are ang mohs. The shop has quite a complete menu of wine, alcohol, cocktail, etc. If you looking for a place to drink and chit chat, this is a wonderful place. As for the food, I would say the presentation is good but the taste is just slightly above average.

59 Abalone Kway Teow Soup

Kway teow soup comes in many flavours. You have beef kway teow, pork kway teow, fishball kway teow, etc. Even beef kway teow, you have the Vietnamese style, Thai style, Taiwanese style, etc. This shop in Taman Sri Tebrau, off Tebrau Highway (3 km north of Johor Bahru, near Crystal Crown Hotel) sells abalone kway teow. The shop opens daily from 7pm to 11pm and attracts big crowd all the time.

The best bargain and the hottest selling item is a bowl of large kway teow soup that costs RM10.

A large bowl is definitely not enough for me. The soup seems to be tastier if you go to the shop later in the evening. For RM10, you get 3 slices of abalone. It is canned abalone, but it is soft and tender, not those rubbery and chewy. The abalone soaks in the soup stock and tastes good.

Of course, it is not only abalone, you get also 5 oysters. The oysters are fresh and nice!

2 prawns. The prawns are boiled for just a short time and taste sweet. Not crunchy, but fresh!

2 fishballs. The fishballs taste average.

1 fish dumpling.

2 pieces of liver.

General portion of pork meat and minced meat.

and 1 piece of pearl abalone

With all these ingredients, I think this large bowl of kway teow soup definitely worth my RM10. It is very good as a light dinner. If you want to eat more, you can always order a plate of boiled chicken.

Another thing I like is the cincau drink prepared by this shop. I usually order 2 bowl. Good to cool down your body's temperature.