11 September 2010

Wayne Rooney.. A Reaction..

United

Here’s something I’ve never blogged about before.. Manchester United.. I am a HUGE United fan.. HUGE as in I cried during the Champions League final thinking what would happen if Terry scored, HUGE as in jumping up and down screaming my lungs out and running around the cafe when Owen scored the last minute winner against City.. Ok so you get how big a fan i am.. All my siblings are United fans as well but my relatives are mainly Liverpool and Arsenal fans, so you can imagine the banter that happens during matchdays..

rooney_disgrace 

Anyway, what prompted me to write this post are the recent allegations against Wayne Rooney.. Wayne Mark Rooney has been hit with allegations of him sleeping with a prostitute when his wife Coleen was 3 months pregnant with his now 10 month old son Kai Rooney.. Now, I admit that the moment i read these reports, i ruled them out as absolutely rubbish.. Being a United fan, i guess it was the natural reaction with Rooney being our main man or more appropriately ‘talisman’.. but its been a week since these reports came to light, and now i have to admit, with Rooney’s failure to come out and deny these allegations, i guess they have to be somewhat if not entirely true.. Also, being Wayne Rooney, England’s greatest hope to lead them to any sort of glory, candidate for FIFA World Player of the Year, the newspapers that published this ‘story’ would be absolutely crazy to do so if it wasn’t true.. Given Rooney’s status nowadays, and the damage a story like this could do to him, if it was false Rooney could sue them into bankruptcy.. So taking into account all of this, my view is that yes he did cheat on his wife when she was pregnant.. and yes.. he has proven to be an ass of a human being..

rooney_fergie

I am absolutely gutted that he has done something like this.. Wayne Rooney.. United fans adored you.. and yes many would argue that its his personal life and should have no bearing on his job, a footballer.. Well maybe at clubs like Chelsea where their Captian, Leader, Legend, John Terry, married man, can sleep with the mother of his best friend/teammates child and still be adored by ‘Team Terry’(as his fans call themselves).. Or even Liverpool, where its ok for their Captain Stevie G, to go into clubs and beat up people just because they don’t play your songs.. BUT, this is MANCHESTER UNITED!! We pride ourselves on being better than others.. Better not only ON the pitch, but OFF it as well.. You can read all over the web, interviews, biographies, stories of how Sir Alex Ferguson is as a manager.. He treats each player with respect, and always teaches them above all things, being a better human being is just as important as being a better footballer.. That is one of the reasons I love this club so much.. that even when we’re so successful, the players are not arrogant and are always hungry to win more..

Wayne Rooney, I have no doubt that he will continue to give 100 percent every match that he plays and that he will still WOW us with his ability to do the extraordinary, however, I just do not feel the same about him anymore.. I no longer adore him.. I no longer see him as our future Captian..

(to be cont..)

24 January 2010

SawadeeKaaaaP…II..

Mumzie had a headache last Saturday, so the girlfriend and i had to makan sendiri for lunch.. which gave me the perfect excuse to drive all the way to Ampang to try this place which i’ve heard and read good reviews about..

so off to the hills of hulu langat it was.. ok, well not really.. actually planned to go to another thai bbq place called Nong & Jimmy’s.. i called earlier to ask if they were open for lunch and the moron on the other end told me yes.. upon reaching there i see their sign which reads “Open from 6pm-12am”… zZzz.. conned.. but this actually turned out to be sort of a blessing in disguise i guess.. since i was in Ampang already so thought why not drive to this place which is near the infamous Look Out Point..

If you know Look Out Point, getting to this place is fairly staightforward.. if L.O.P. is on your right, then just drive on for another 1km+(less than 5mins drive) and keep a sharp eye out for this little sign on your right..IMG_0631

its easy to miss but its the first right turning u can make after L.O.P.. the road heading to this place is a gravel road with patches of tarred road as you go along.. driving a 4x4 is a major advantage here.. at the end of the road seemingly deep in the jungle you will see a vege farm on ur left and the Fish Farm Thai Restaurant will be on your right.

IMG_0627The Bumpy Gravel RoadIMG_0592Restaurant on Stilts over the Pond IMG_0598

IMG_0594   The Hungry CoupleIMG_0601 Some Uncles Enjoying their Tody with StoutIMG_0605

Since it was only 2 of us we ordered  just 5 dishes.. haha.. if you’ve seen us, for sure you’d wonder how d hell we can actually eat so much..

First up was the Paku Belacan.. i really like this vegetable for some reason.. its got a great texture.. doesnt go soggy and retains its crunch well.. stir fried with belacan is for me the best way to cook it.. it was really quick to arrive and didnt disappoint.. wasnt too salty like a lot of places tend to do it and had just the right ammout of belacan not too overpower the taste of the vege.. nice..

IMG_0608Paku Belacan

Next on the menu was the Seafood Tom-Yam.. im not sure what authentic tomyam should taste like, cause i havent been to Thailand yet(will be going soon though).. but if i had to guess, then this tastes pretty authentic to me.. sour and spicyness was good but a word of advice, ask them to tone down the spicyness a notch if you cant take the heat cause this version packs quite a kick.. they are not stingy on the ingredients either, there were about 5 medium sized fresh prawns, squid, musrooms, and some other stuff i cant recall.. definite must order..IMG_0612Seafood Tom-Yam

They also specialize in BBQ dishes here.. you will see when you enter the restaurant an area where all the nice bbq-ing happens.. so upon recommendation of the waiter, we tried the BBQ Lamb.. a few post ago, i recommended the lamb at Hing Ket.. but after tasting this, we both conclude that this is the winner of the two.. albeit they use a cheaper cut here(lamb chops instead of cutlets at Hing Ket) the flavour from the marinade was awesome and they grilled it to perfection, the fat crisped up but the meat remained tender.. went well with the thai garlic chili sour sauce that came with it..

 IMG_0614BBQ Lamb

Another BBQ dish ordered were the prawns.. I have been having a craving for grilled prawns recently.. i dont know why especially since i am slightly alergic to them and didnt really fancy them a few years back.. the prawns that were served were super fresh and the flesh was really sweet.. and BIG.. super worth the price.. i can just imagine myself once im old.. drinking booze with tody here together with these sweet succulent crustaceans..

IMG_0616 Grilled Prawns(7 of them)

Dining at a fish farm.. you have to order fish.. i quite enjoy fish.. steamed, fried or baked.. but it has to be fresh.. the fish here is caught upon order(apparently you can even choose your own).. i was tempted to order 2 versions of the fish but after deliberation, thought the better of it.. so instead of the Salt Baked Talapia.. we went for the Talapia Steamed with Lime Thai Sauce.. many people are afraid of talapia because it can have a muddy taste that freshwater fish tend to have.. i admit i hate that taste as well as it can ruin a whole meal.. but the fish here had a very minimal muddy taste.. it was there, but the tangy lime, garlic, corriander and chili broth that the fish was steamed in did a good job of masking the taste.. the meat nearer to the belly had a stronger taste of mud so you might want to stay away from that section.. the combination of ingrediants give a broth a nice refreshing taste which complements the BBQued dishes well..

IMG_0618 Steamed TalapiaIMG_0620 DamageIMG_0621Fishies!!IMG_0622 Man on a BoatIMG_0626Vege Farm   

Overall I absolutely loved the food here and the ambience is just wonderful.. its good to come to a place like this sometimes.. hidden in the hills, away from the city.. price wise i think its very cheap.. we drank a small bottle of Tody(fermented coconut alcohol drink) and 2 sweet Coconuts.. the dishes were mainly rm15 or rm10 apart from the fish(rm27) which is great value considering the quality of the food and the ambience.. oh, 1 gripe though.. there are waaaaay too many flies.. but what do you expect being on top a fish farm..

 

Address:

KM4, Jalan Ampang-Hulu Langat, Ampang
Selangor 68000
Malaysia

15 January 2010

Hing Ket Grill House

Way overdue post coming up..

Came across this place from visiting KY Speaks on my search for really good seafood in and around K.L. and now its one of my favourite places to go when i want sweet fresh seafood..

Located at Kampung Jawa, Klang, its not exactly close to home but a short 30min drive from Kepong will end you here..

IMG_0049 The place is really crowded especially on weekends so its highly recommended to call and make a reservation in advance.. and parking there is extremely limited so make sure you arrive early..IMG_0050             Grill where all the ‘magic’ happens

As you enter the restaurant you’ll notice their grill section located out front.. quite cool as you can see them grilling lots of fresh crabs and juicy lamb chops out in the open.. the smell is fantastic..

IMG_0052                      Finished before i could snap

Problem with this post is that once the first few dishes arrived, it was whalloped before i could even whip out my camera to take pics of it..zzZ.. everyone was super hungry as you can see by the picture above(it was taken 3mins after food landed).. food here took quite a while to arrive, the first few dishes we ordered were Lala Mee-Hoon, Stir Fried Glass Noodles and Stir Fried ‘Kai Lan’.. after that, we had to wait about 15-20mins between each dish arriving at our table.. so we only were done eating after about 2 hours..

IMG_0051 my own plate, clockwise from top: ‘kai lan’, lala mee-hoon, glass noodles..

Fortunately the food here is worth the wait.. for me the glass noodles are an absolute must order.. it was perfect, not soggy(as it may look) but just nice and springy.. the lala mee-hoon was alright i guess.. they use the mini-lalas to cook it and they are not stingy with it.. after noodles were finished a whole load of lalas were still at the bottom of the plate.. the vege, well, was vege.. to give us a false impression of being healthy..:)

IMG_0054                                   Grilled Sotong

Next dish to arrive was the grilled sotong, i skipped this dish the 2nd time i visited here.. it was a little over-grilled.. flavour wise was not too bad and the chilli it came with was not too bad la..

IMG_0055                                       Fried Sotong

Haha, our next dish was this fried sotong, we ordered cause the table beside ordered a huge mountain of it and it looked so nice.. it was well fried with the batter quite peppery which is the way i like it..

IMG_0061                                     Grill Sting-Ray

I was recommended by other bloggers to order the grilled fish here.. i have to say it was nice.. i think they use some curry powder and grill it which gives it a nice smoky flavour while the meat was nice and firm.. not overcooked and dry which is how many places seem to do it..

IMG_0058                              Grilled Lamb Cutlets

You CANNOT come here and NOT order this dish.. the grilled lamb cutlets were absolutely super duper delicious.. i’ve paid a lot of money at expensive restaurants which dont hold a candle to the way this place prepares these lamb cutlets.. super flavourful, juicy and most importantly, juicy.. words cannot describe how good they are.. imagine my mother who hates, i mean HATES the smell and taste of lamb, liked this.. i wont say she loved it but for someone who isnt fond of lamb, liking this version is something major.. the mint sauce accompanying the dish isnt too bad either..

IMG_0065                                       Grilled CrabsIMG_0062 

I dont know where to start about these crabs.. they serve the crab to you whole here.. with all its innards, roe and whatever stuff you find inside crabs.. its not marinated or cooked in special sauces which mask the taste of it.. here, its just grilled with some salt and sent to your table.. this is my new favourite way to enjoy crabs.. grilled in its own natural juices.. its a real pain in the a$$ to eat them but for me, half the joy is in the opening of the shell and digging out the meat with your fingernails.. the first time i came, i ordered the medium crabs.. the 2nd time i ordered the large crabs.. note to self, dont order the large crabs.. they’re huge.. 1 is too much for each person.. medium is fine..

IMG_0077              (Left)Alan..(Right) B’day Boi EugeneIMG_0082                             B’day Girl Yan YanIMG_0080                              Lovely Jing HueyIMG_0081                                             MeIMG_0078                                         Javier

After dinner headed to cineleisure for a movie and saw MONSTERS!!

IMG_0087   IMG_0088

So my overall verdict of this place is a 9/10.. very fresh seafood and cooked using the best methods.. my mother and sister loved the food as well when i brought them here for dinner as well..

Address:
Lot 3569, Batu 3 1/4,
Kampung Jawa,
41000 Klang

GPS: 3.03185, 101.47775
Tel: 03-3371 3913