Magenta @ Publika

I'm a Hainanese and I always boast about my grandaunt's Hainanese chicken rice which is so authentic and delicious that you can't find it anywhere else. It's difficult to find such nice chicken rice in KL because most of the time either the chicken meat is too dry or the rice is simply not up to standard. My dad even says that the best chicken rice he ever had is the one that my grandaunt cooks and he rarely compliments on food because he is picky like that.

But the good news is, the chicken rice is now available to all food lovers at Magenta which is my grandaunt's family newly opened restaurant at Publika.

Magenta is a family concept restaurant which offers a variety of dishes range from western food, pastries, high tea and of course their famous chicken rice. Rest assured that the food experience they offer is not what you will find at other eatery outlets because the entire restaurant is currently run by the family itself, with my grandaunt cooking the chicken rice every day, my cousin baking the cookies, my aunts and uncles making the coffee and taking care of the kitchen. So you can trust that the quality of food served at Magenta will never disappoint you.

Some of the black and white family photos displayed at Magenta which are few decades old. Customers who dine at Magenta can have a look at these vintage family photos.

First dish, the 'not so ordinary' chicken rice and the best way to eat it is to dip the chicken meat in dark soy sauce, chilli and grated ginger. I'm not sure if all Hainanese eat the same way as we do, but my dad sure loves to dip the chicken meat in dark soy sauce. 

Now I can have my favourite chicken rice at Magenta, Publika.

 The second dish recommended by my aunt is Tuna Steak topped with roasted sesame sauce.

You can request for it to be medium-cooked or well cooked but I prefer it to be medium-cooked. As you can see, the tuna steak is cooked and crispy on the outside but raw and succulent on the inside. Slurps~

Me and my parents trying their signature dishes.

For scone lovers, you wouldn't want to miss their scones here.

Cut the scone into half and spread the half with blueberry jam and cream cheese. I forgot to snap pictures of the coffee as I was too busy with the delicious food and all. Magenta coffee is one thing the customers should try and it goes well with scones.

Very cosy ambience. 

Remember there was a time when we used to play paper dolls? Apparently Magenta has its own paper doll which you can dress her up with different style of clothes and handbags. 

Tadaa! Which version do you like the most?

Ended the fulfilling meal with caramel milk pudding. Strongly recommended. 

Cakes are also available at Magenta for tea-time lovers.

I must say that the dining experience here at Magenta is awesome and everyone should give it a try. It's located at ground floor, Publika, right next to Baskin Robbins.

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CSY

CYK & CSY 10th Monthsary!!!

Guess you would know from the post title that it is our 10th month together! Happy 10th monthsary hubby! 10th monthsary is a big deal for us as we are unable to celebrate our 1 year anniversary together =(. The reason is that by that time I will be in a far far away land inhabited by turtles and famous for its Nasi Dagang or Nasi Kerabu. Yeap, Terengganu.

Love you always, hubby! Thank you for being with me for the past 10 months. I cannot express enough how grateful I am to have you as my lifetime partner who loves me back unconditionally. The past 10 months have been the happiest times I ever had.

We ended up celebrating our 10th monthsary at Kissaten, Jaya One because the place is near my university. Ordered chawan mushi and onsen tamago for my dinner. Stole some ramen and potato wedges from Hubby too.

And went grocery shopping with Hubby after meal which is our favourite couple activity.

And that's it! ♥

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CSY

Daorae Korean BBQ @ Metroprima Kepong

Mummy decided that three of us head over to Kepong Daorae for lunch after passing my driving test in the morning, with much relief. Was dreading it since last week and I'm super glad now that everything is over. 

Couple shot #1. 

 Couple shot #2.

 Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant at Metroprima Kepong, next to Carrefour.

 Fresh lettuce is a must when you are having 'heaty food' such as BBQ meat.

Every typical korean meal comes with a set of 'banchan', which literally means side dishes in Korean. Daorae serves different types of side dishes everyday, depending on what ingredients they have. Today's side dishes include bamboo shoot, sesame-oil sauteed spinach, sausages, mini-pancakes, kimchi, marinated radish and a few more which I can't remember. 

We ordered pork belly for our first set of BBQ. For the second set, we ordered pork shoulder but the picture is not worth posting as pork belly is much more photogenic with the beautiful layers of lean meat and fat (this is why Korean called pork belly Sam-gyeop Sal which literally means three-layered meat) while pork shoulder only consists of mostly lean meat. The pork belly meat is really moist compared to the pork shoulder meat due to the juicy and thick fat layers. I wonder how many calories are there for me to burn by putting extra effort in my workout.  

 The meat grilling part will be done by the server. So your job is to wait for the meat to be served.

The server will then cut the meat into pieces. Basically, the proper way of eating Korean BBQ is: pick one slice of meat, dip it into the fermented soy bean paste and some salted sesame oil, add in garlic, onion or kimchi and wrap it with fresh lettuce. Make sure to eat everything up in one bite!  

On a related note, I've noted that today's customer service was alright. Remember I used to complain about the deteriorating customer service here at Daorae. I've come to think that this is a common problem for restaurants with multiple branches as it's difficult for business owners to supervise the standard of customer service. However I'm really fascinated at how the foreign waiters at Korean restaurants are able to pick up Korean language so well that they are able to converse with Korean customers effectively. I wish I can learn how to speak Korean like them. Until now, I've only been able to read and pronounce Korean words. 

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The following will be something unrelated to food as I'm going to post some quickie updates about my house cat, Ashie!

First of all, I got her a new pink dress that matches her pink collar! So pinkish! Even her favourite floor mat to roll on is pink in colour which gives her the ability to camouflage perfectly.

Secondly, Ashie was spayed (neutered) last month. Had a minor abdominal surgery and was under anaesthesia.The anaesthesia effect didn't completely wear off until a day after the surgery and Ashie was struggling to get up and walk but most of the time she just fell clumsily after a few steps. Nevertheless, Ashie was still very much determined to walk to her favourite afternoon nap chair no matter how many times she fell and slept through the rest of the day comfortably. Awww.

This was Ashie sitting on the cork pot-holder before we were having our dinner. Cute eh?

That's all for now!

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CSY

9 Berries Korean Frozen Yogurt

After our gym session in Times Square, Hubby and I took the bridge connecting Pavilion and KLCC and we got down at Jalan P.Ramlee just to take a look at this KL City Walk.

Basically, there's nothing much here as you can only spot some eatery outlets along the straight walkway. We initially thought there would be more than eatery outlets, maybe some makeshift stalls selling food or clothes. Nonetheless our main purpose here was to find this Korean Frozen Yogurt store named 9 Berries. 

9 Berries is a small frozen yogurt shop located at the far end of KL City walk owned by a pair of Korean couples. Sadly the Korean owners are not in the shop when we visited. 9 Berries even came out with a Gangnam style flavour Froyo.

Small topping counter displaying dry topping similar to Moo Cow Frozen Yogurt and also fresh fruit toppings. 

The shop even displays various kpop albums as well as made-in-korea accessories for sales. They are super expensive though, ranging from rm20+ for a pair of earrings to rm40+ for necklaces etc. I can barely afford expensive accessories @.@ And note those anonymous behind me, they were not ordering a single thing yet they were occupying all the available empty tables in this small shop #likeaboss. So frustrated since we had no choice but to sit outside the shop and had to endure the heat while enjoying our gradually melting froyo.

Having desserts under the sunlight.

9 Berries's signature Belgian Waffle with whipped cream.

Mango flavour frozen yogurt with fresh mango topping and almond flakes. Some bloggers claimed that 9 Berries Froyo is better than Moo Cow Froyo and I think I know why. It is because of the extra creamy flavour and texture which are absent in Moo Cow Froyo which means there's a possibility that 9 Berries is made of 100% yogurt which makes it more like half ice cream and half froyo. I will still go for Moo Cow though because of it's natural sour taste.

Hubby got me a new watch! Love it very very much because it looks vintage and the colour of the strap is camel brown. Makes a good accessory too doesn't it? =D

Another thing Hubby got for me is a black hoodie from Uniqlo. Very comfy and light to wear even in hot weather because the material is thin and airy enough!

Thankiu Hubby <3.

by

CSY

How to Cook Like A Housewife - Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ever since all my close girlfriends have got themselves a decent boyfriend, cooking will be one of our favourite topic to discuss about before and after class. Most of the time we will be squeezing our brains hard to think about what sort of dish we should cook for our boyfriends. Well, just at look at my blog. Every now and then I blog about the food that I cook for my Hubby. Housewife transformation in process haha.

Well, to cook like a housewife, first of all you have to know how to cook sweet and sour chicken/pork. This chinese-style dish is so popular that I think any Chinese should learn how to cook it. Including me the housewife wannabe. So let's get started.

Condiments:

Green and red bell peppers cut into cubes, Garlic, Onion, Scallion, Chilli sauce/Tomato ketchup, White vinegar, Oyster sauce, Sesame Oil, Lea & Perrins Worchester sauce

Main Ingredient:

Boneless chicken thigh cut into bite-size pieces

To marinate the chicken meat: hua diao jiu (rice wine), soy sauce, corn starch and oil

Frying Batter:

Ready-mixed tempura flour (Flour + Corn startch + Baking Soda), 1 egg, some water

From left: White vinegar, hua diao jiu (rice wine), oyster sauce, chilli sauce(or tomato ketchup) and sesame oil.

Marinate the boneless chicken thigh meat with a tablespoon of soy sauce, hua diao jiu, corn starch and a teaspoon of oil.

Mix 1 egg, tempura flour and water to get the frying batter.

Housewife in action.

Dip the chicken meat in the frying batter and start frying.

Once done, put the fried chicken meat aside and proceed into sauce making. Stir-fry the garlic, onion and bell pepper.

Add in sufficient amount of chilli or tomato ketchup sauce. Both works well. 

Add in some white vinegar.

Add in a tablespoon of oyster sauce and Worchester sauce. Oyster sauce can really make any dish taste good in my opinion. Let it simmer for a while and the sauce is done.

Pour the sauce all over the chicken meat.

Tadaa! Sweet and sour chicken making success!

Enjoy! Both mum and Hubby love it very much and Hubby rate it as 9/10. Even my very picky daddy said it was good too. All the praises and compliments I got from friends and family definitely has made my day and this will be one of my favourite dish to cook for family dinners and potluck with friends.

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CSY