Tandoori Chicken @ Indian - Grace Point Food Court

For the uninitiated Tandoori Chicken is chicken that's been marinated in yoghurt and spices preferably overnight then skewered and cooked in a tandoor. There are many different recipes for tandoori chicken ranging from mild to hot depending on the spice mixture. For me the tandoor oven is integral to this dish, grilled chicken doesn't quite seal in the moisture of the meat or give the same charred smoky taste. This is probably due to the fact that skewered meat in a tandoor cooks from the inside as well as the outside because the metal skewer is placed within the burning coals also the oven cooks at a very high temperature, around 400℃.
The Indian Counter at Grace Point serves great tasting Tandoori Chicken. My pick tonight was the Tandoori Chicken Cheese Naan Set which comprises of Tandoori Chicken, Cheese Naan and a small bowl of Curry Sauce. The naan can be a bit hit and miss here and tonight it was just ok. The chicken always tastes great but it's luck of the draw which piece you get. Tonight mine was a bit stingy, not too much meat on it, but the Little Nibbler had a lovely plump, meaty piece, I tried to swap but got caught in the act!!! The curry sauce was nice and spicy, great for dipping your naan into.

Tandoori Chicken Rice Set for the Little Nibbler.

This came as the name suggests with a regular portion of nasi putih, a small side of potato curry and as above a small bowl of curry sauce. Check out the plump piece of chicken!

The Indian counter at Grace Point has two menu's, one 'Spice Delight Indian Cuisine' and the other 'Anjappar Indian Food' so I'm not really sure if there's two different vendors serving from this counter. A mystery that maybe somebody could solve for me?

View towards the Beverage counter and some of the other food vendors. Have to say I'm not very impressed with the drinks here, they don't taste so good and are more expensive than a well made drink in a coffee shop.

Grace Point Food Court is a bright, clean and popular place with lots of different food available and now with even more choice as the extension has started to fill up. As far as I'm aware some of the vendors are open during the day but all are open in the evening.

The Bill : 1x Tandoori Cheese Naan Set   9

                                                                        1x Tandoori Rice Set                 7

                                                             
                                                             Total : 16 MYR

Drinks : Teh Ping 3+, Ice Lemon Tea 3+ = 6.40 MYR


With lots of counters to choose from, Grace Point Food Court is a great place to come and indulge. The Indian Counter is just one, but the only one with Tandoori Chicken!

Fish Slice Meehoon Soup @ Jin Jin Seafood Restaurant - Hilltop

"Wow!" That's what can usually be heard coming from my direction while I'm eating this amazing soup for breakfast, this has to be one of the tastiest dishes in KK! Haha, you might hear that a lot from me in this blog, oh well! My pick today is the Fresh Fish Slice Mehoon, the fish is very fresh and plentiful, even the skin on the fish, which I thought I'd discard, is very good. I like to dip the fish in soy or chilli sauce before eating. The soup is extremely tasty, packed with tomatoes and topped with coriander, it's so sweet and delicious. Words fail me when trying to describe this dish it's simply amazing, a must try.

Here's the menu, lots on offer apart from my pick. Watch this space for the Tom Yam Mee.

Jin Jin Seafood Restaurant is no secret to the people of KK. It's packed everyday with happy diners.

I don't have opening hours but I do know that the menu above is available during the mornings, possibly lunchtime, so my advice would be don't come late because you might miss out!

The Bill : Fresh Fish Slice Meehoon, Chinese Teh Ping = 10.60 MYR

In my opinion every seafood lover should eat this dish at least once in their life, preferably more. Do yourself a favour head out to Hilltop today, it's guaranteed to make you happy!

Western Food @ 4 Seasons Cafe & Restaurant - Damai

Every now and again I get a taste for home. Sometimes it's pizza, at others it's sausages, sometimes it's even salad! Haha, but not often. Well today was Sunday and I wanted Sunday Dinner, which in England means a roasted joint of meat with all the trimmings! Now there's a few places in and around KK where such delights can be eaten, but I knew from a previous visit to 4 Seasons that lamb shank with mashed potatoes are on the menu. Not that I ate it last time round, I know, sounds crazy but I guess I hadn't been away for so long and the cravings hadn't arrived. The Little Nibbler had it of course and informed me how delicious it was, to be fair I did get a taste and it was! So today was my day, lamb shank you're mine!

With shank on our minds we hot-tailed it to Damai and stepped through 4 Seasons doors. The place has had a slight refurb since our last visit, freshly painted walls, no fuss, no clutter, just nice, clean and simple. The specials board is right there for you to see, so we sat down and waited for the menu.
A friendly waitress came over handed us our menus took our drinks order, just water today thanks and left us to make our choice.
But what's this? Where's the......what the? There's no........oh no it can't be!!! There's no lamb shank on the menu. In fact the menu's changed a lot, it's now almost entirely western fare with a slight concession to some sushi starters. 
To say we were disappointed is an understatement, we could have walked out and carried on our search into the rainy evening but to be fair there's other great sounding dishes on the menu and last time we ate at 4 Seasons we left very happy.

To start we both had Cream of Pumpkin Soup with Garlic Bread.

We don't like to choose the same thing on a menu but sometimes you just fancy the same thing, and the Pumpkin Soup caught both our eye. It was homemade, thick, creamy and delicious a great way to start our meal.

For main I chose the Buttered Spaghetti served with Ox-Tail Stewed in Red Wine Sauce.

Now this was a first for me as I'd never eaten ox-tail before that hadn't come in the form of soup, out of a can with Heinz on the front of it. The Red Wine Sauce was lovely and peppery taking on the flavour of the obviously lengthy braised ox-tail. The meat and fats fell off the bones and tasted delicious, but for me it was just too fatty, now this is just personal taste and no criticism of the dish. I guess this is the nature of ox-tail, and of course without those fats you don't get the taste. The spaghetti was cooked perfectly al dente, this dish would also work well with mashed potatoes, a great way to soak up that lovely sauce.

The Little Nibbler chose Ragout of cubed Lamb Shoulder & Tomatoes served with Buttered Potato Gnocchi & Mixed Vegetables.

Now on to desserts.

I chose Bread & Butter Pudding Served with Ice Cream.

I love the combination of hot and cold when it comes to desserts and couldn't resist an old English favourite. The pudding was thick, moist, custardy, topped with orange marmalade and cream. Sweet and delicious.

And the Nibbler, Classic Creme Brulee.

                                                     The Bill :   2x Pumpkin Soup    14

                                                                      1x Ox-Tail                29

                                                                      1x Lamb                   29

                                                                      1x Bread & Butter    13

                                                                      1x Creme Brullee     10

                                 

                                                         Total :   95 MYR   Ice Water Gratis

A meal at 4 Seasons is a treat for the tastebuds, fresh food thats well cooked doesn't come much better than this. With a new menu that's going to change monthly, maybe our old favourites will make a reappearance. 

Pho @ Peppermint - Karamunsing Capital

Pho is the national dish of Vietnam. It's available at all times of the day, from street side vendors to swanky eateries. The Vietnamese go potty for a good bowl of Pho and rightly so! 
In Vietnam, much the same as here in KK, there are famous shops that specialize in one dish where a recipe is handed down through generations. Even ex President of the USA, Bill Clinton likes a bowl of Pho, I know, I've seen the photos of him slurping one down in the very same shop in Saigon where I too was slurping one down!
The custom is that your soup arrives on your table and you adjust the flavour according to your preference using fresh chilli, chilli sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime wedges and most importantly fresh herbs. Unfortunately this is my only criticism of Peppermint's Pho, there just aren't enough, if any, fresh herbs provided with the soup. Today when I ordered there were none at all, on previous visits I've had a small sprig of basil or mint. So, please, please, please if anyone's reading from Peppermint's management team or are in contact with them, I urge please provide more herbs in the form of basil, mint and corriander. In my humble opinion this will transform an already great tasting Pho into something magical.
You can choose between five kinds of beef Pho at Peppermint as well as two kinds of chicken noodle soup, which for some reason they don't call Pho, possibly because I think traditionally Pho is made from beef (Pho Bo). 
My regular pick is raw beef where the meat is sliced so thin that it actually 'cooks' when the hot stock is poured over. Your bowl arrives piping hot, filled with rice noodles and meat of your choice in a slightly sweet and savoury beef stock. The stock is where the secret lies, it's the make or break of Pho! All this comes topped off with raw onion rings. Now this is where you get a chance to experiment, accompanying the Pho is a wedge of lime, beansprouts, fiery hot sliced chilli, soy and chilli sauce can be found on the side, all that's missing now is the fresh herbs !!! 
Experiment away and dive right in.

Peppermint have a few branches around town this one is located at Karamunsing Capitol, at the end of the shoplots facing Kompleks Karamunsing.

Opening daily 10am - 10 pm

                                     The Bill : Pho (raw beef noodle soup), Chinese Teh Ping 7.60 MYR

Peppermint have lots of other dishes on their menu to try, watch this space because I'll definitely be returning to 'A Taste of Vietnam'

Nasi Campur @ Super Faezah Cafeteria - Centre Point

Nasi Campur for me is like the Malaysian Russian Roulette of makan, sometimes you just don't know what you're going to get. Even though there's often vigorous pointing "Ayam ayam, ikan ikan" by a friendly smiling server it's still quite often a mystery. Is there going to be dried fish hidden in the veggies? Is that nice looking piece of meat going to turn out to be liver? Oh no I hope not! I guess this is where local tastes and mine differ.

But saying that Nasi Campur offers a fantastic range of great tasting food from meat to vegetables, seafood to salads cooked in a multitude of styles. Its a great way to sample many of Malaysia's awesome tasting food, at a very reasonable price. All you have to do is help yourself or point, I love it.

Super Faezah's Nasi Campur is huge, it has lots and lots to choose from and many people do, its always packed at lunchtime which is never a bad sign.

I have to say, its not one of my favourites though, local people love it and I'm not going to argue with the tastebuds of people from KK, but for me its not the best. Maybe Im just picking the wrong dish, I'll just have to go back and keep trying.

For todays pick I had the obligatory nasi putih, omelette, green veggies and chicken. 

The omelette was plain but very tasty, not too sure what the green veggies are called but they were stir fried with carrot and egg and tasted ok, I always like to pick at least one portion of greens, as it makes me feel like I'm being healthy! At first glance I thought the chicken was in a sweet and sour sauce but when I tasted it, it also had a real kick of chilli, fab, just what I like. The chicken however was tough, at one point I feared for my fellow diners, as I wrestled to get some of the meat off with my spoon and fork thinking at any moment it would fly off my plate and hit someone in the eye! Thankfully it didn't and everyone went home unscathed.

Super Faezah Cafeteria is located in Centre Point's Food Court on the basement floor, you cant miss it for the crowds jostling for a place around the food and the bright light neon signs.

People enjoying lunch at Centre Point's Food Court.

          The Bill : Nasi Campur, Chinese Teh Ping = 7.60 MYR

With so much choice at Super Fraezah Cafeteria and other food outlets, Centre Point's Food Court is well worth a visit any mid morning, lunch or afternoon.

Masala Dosa @ Restaurant Choice - Downtown

Welcome to the taste of Southern India!
Masala Dosa is a staple in South India eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner it's a very tasty and filling meal. I'm lucky enough to have eaten lots of them on my travels and couldn't believe my luck  when I found them here in KK.

A Dosa is a large thin pancake. The batter is made from a mixture of rice and lentils which is then cooked on a hot griddle. A mildly spiced potato filling is added to the centre of the dosa, after which it is folded over to form a rough triangle. In India more often than not a coconut chutney would be served along with dahl and possibly a curry sauce.

So how does Choice's Masala Dosa stand up to the ones I've eaten in India? Let me tell you...........they are absolutely spot on!!!

The dosa is crispy in parts, soft and chewy in others with a slight tangy taste. The potato filling is mildly spiced and both go perfectly well with the accompanying spicy curry sauce and dahl. The only thing missing is the coconut chutney but hey, you can't have it all! 

All this was washed down with a hot sweet Teh Tarik, delicious.

Choice has several branches around town this particular one is located downtown, right next door to Best Western Hotel and directly across the road from Wisma Merdeka.
   

Restaurant Choice Menu

   The Bill : Masala Dosa   3.20

                   Hot Teh Tarik  1.70

                                                                       Total : 4.90 MYR

A final thought, I tried to order Masala Dosa early in the evening one time to be told "Habis" now I don't know if they had no ingredients left or they only serve dosa at breakfast/lunchtime but my advice is, to get in there early. 

Chicken Curry @ Upperstar Restaurant & Bar - Suria Sabah

Malaysian Chicken Curry is a dish that I love. It can be found almost everywhere in KK, it's a favourite of mine and I don't think I've had a bad one since I've been here!

Upperstar's Chicken Curry may not be the best I've tasted but it is still very good and more often than not I'll pick this over other items on the menu.

Generally the portion is huge with lots of meaty chicken in a nice spicy curry sauce, sometimes I could do with more sauce but I'm pleased to say today there was plenty. You get a good portion of rice though I have to say it is often quite dry. Cucumber and tomato come as a small side and it's topped off with a fried egg which is pure Malaysian genius.

Only available at this outlet are the Chicken and Lamb Kebabs, I'm a big fan of meat on sticks so I gave the lamb a try. I'm pleased I did as they where very tasty, pieces of lamb and onion threaded on sticks, grilled and smothered with a sweet savoury sauce accompanied by a thai inspired chilli sauce, not too sure they need two sauces but the thai chilli is great all the same. 

              To drink I had a Vanilla Smoothie which is great on a hot day, topped with cream and chocolate sauce. The Little Nibbler opted for a hot Milo.

                                                                                    

    

Upperstar's Suria Sabah branch is located on the ground floor at the back entrance. 

The decor is, well, full on! With hardly a space left on the walls or ceiling, its jam packed with pictures of all kinds, musical instruments, frescos on the ceiling and old fashioned light fittings. It's what we call in England kitsch, go in and take a look for yourself!

                                        The Bill :  1x Chicken Curry       6.80++
                                                         2x Lamb Kebabs       3.30++
                                                         1x Vanilla Smoothie  6.95++
                                                         1x Hot Milo                2.80++


                                            Total :  23 MYR

Personally I like Upperstar, though I didn't think I would at first and this isn't my favourite branch but they are great places to meet, eat, drink and be merry!

Seafood Laksa @ Success Delicatessen Shop - Sunny Garden

 Laksa Laksa Laksa!

I absolutely love Laksa, its quite possibly my favourite Malaysian dish and for this reason it gets the honour of my very first post!

Not only that but the Seafood Laksa here at Success Delicatessen has to be one of my favourites, its quite simply delicious.

It comes packed with fresh ingredients from the fish slices and perfectly cooked prawns to the tasty homemade fish balls and fried beancurd puffs all in a wonderful mildly spiced coconut broth topped with beansprouts - its just so so tasty, I could quite easily eat this everyday! 
Our choice of noodles were mee or mee hoon we opted for mee but when the dish arrived it had a flat noodle inside, more like kway teow but not as thick and not made of rice so its a bit of a mystery! Not that this made any difference as the noodles where fantastic and made a nice change - if you know the name of the noodle maybe you can let me know?

An extra kick can be added with the addition of sambal and calamansi.

 

The shop is located at Sunny Garden just beside Jalan Tuaran and you should be very carefull when entering or leaving the shoplots as access is on a steep, hard to see slip road, its very easy to miss it if you dont know it's there and the traffic runs quickly on this road! I dont have opening times for you but I can tell you its a morning/lunch affair and I guess closes when they sell up. This place isnt a secret for locals as it gets very packed with happy diners.

The shop has a Chinese menu displayed which I have absolutely no idea about!!! So if anybody wants to translate it for me I would be very happy also any suggestions what else I should try here because im sure theres more tasty food to be had.

The Bill : 2x Seafood Laksa, 2x Chinese Tea Ping = 19MYR

So if your thinking where to go for breakfast/lunch today and you've got a taste for Seafood Laksa you can do a lot worse than head down to Success Delicatessen Shop you wont be disappointed, I know I wasn't.