Murni Discovery, USJ 9, Subang Jaya

After experiencing their very overwhelming and successful business in SS2 (1st branch), Murni had (well, expected) to continue their business legacy by opening 2 more new branches. As mentioned, both of them are respectively located at Sunway Mas Commercial Centre and USJ 9 , Subang Jaya.

The branch at USJ 9 is very easily located. USJ 9 is right opposite Taipan (USJ 10),come directly opposite of Taipan and you'll be able to locate Murni Discovery fairly easy. Not to mention, being located in the middle of the shop lots row and it's very bright neon lighted sign board attracts attention too. The difference between Murni Discovery and the original Murni is that Murni Discovery is much more organized; in terms of paying the bill and getting the waiter/waitress's attention. Also, tables and chairs could be placed more comfortably and safer due to the larger space the premise has.

At last, a complete menu! 1 of the confusion that I've always encountered while dining in SS2's Murni is that the non availability of a menu. Imagine having to ask the waiter to 'chant' (yapping all their food in a chanting manner while being able to catch just 1 or few food name) all their food and yet having trouble to decide what to order after that. Most of the food that I've ate though came from recommendations or blog reviews. Rest assure, the food here are very similiar, if not 100% taste the same as their original branch.

Ribena Special and Mango Special. These ice blended flavored infuse drink is the ultimate cooling concoction after a very tiring and hot day. Depending on the flavor ordered, a few sweet ingredients could be found; nate de coco, watermelon, lychees and longans. The sizes ranges from small to large being Small - RM 4, Medium - RM 5, Large - RM 7. Seen on the picture are Medium sizes.


Nasi Goreng Maryland (RM 10). Comes with a sunny side up egg and fries by the side. As reviewed by me on the 1st Murni Branch, my friend had actually said this was good. Rice was fragnant; spicy enough and chicken was crispy. The only complaint was that the chicken had this 'out of refrigerator' texture; something that is not avoidable in most mamaks.


Nasi Goreng Chicken Chop (RM 10). Similiar to the above dish but with grilled chicken covered in gravy. Very tender chicken meat texture when grilled method is opted.


Chicken Napoleon (RM 12). This dish is pretty unique in a way as it is first being grilled together with ham, sausage and cheese to get it's inner flavour. Then, it's being coated and deep fried to produce the very crispy outer skin. The result, contrasting textures and a burst of ingredient's flavor (cheese helps alot). There's also a Nasi Goreng Chicken Napoleon priced at RM 13 or RM 14 for the big eaters.


Nasi Goreng Ayam Pandan (RM 7). Honestly I find this very worth as the chicken portion is very huge; with the thigh and drumstick part. My friends review: This was good, chicken was aromatic.


Mee Raja (RM 8). You get to choose between 3 infused flavors here as compared to their 1st branch - Tom yam, black pepper, original. I picked the tom yam but felt not much hint of it. Maybe they are trying to not over power the orignal taste. All in all this is 1 fried noodle dish that I would personally recommend; very fragrant and tasty with loads of prawns and crabmeat. The very large portion for RM 8 also make it money worth. Mee raja's texture somewhat resembles wanton noodles; but fried instead.


Maggi Goreng Special (RM 4.50). Suspected they used 2 pieces of instant noodles; and loads of sambal added while frying. Fiery and spicy; worth a try for it's huge serving and price tag.


Roti Beckham (RM 6). Among 1 of the fancy names of their roti; with differences of the ingredients. Roti Beckham has tuna, egg, cheese, turkey and bacon all wrapped up in a layer of roti telur. I wonder though how do they associate the ingredients with Beckham. None the less very tasty for a change from your usual rotis!


Murni Discovery's (Subang Branch) Detail
Address : 39-41, Jalan USJ9/5P, Subang Business Centre.
Phone :
Website:
Price: Depending - RM 4.50+ for foods; RM 2.00+ for drinks

Ah Wong Bak Kut Teh, Old Klang Road

Like any other normal Chinese Malaysian, bak kut teh is the ultimate heart warming food for us. This herb soup concoction with pork, vegetable and other stuffs is supposedly to be good for your body; mainly from the herbs. As far as I know, bak kut teh was the food for the strength source for kulis of Port Klang during the early era of Malaysia; hence the origin place.

Ah Wong's bak kut teh in Old Klang Road has caught my attention for numerous times with overflowed customer starting from evening till late night. We went and give it a try for dinner out of curiosity.

True enough. Customers was flocking in and was full by the time we were half way finishing; around 8.30pm. Business was so good even on a Wednesday.

The normal utensils for a bak kut teh meal. By the way, the only time where I think I could mix dark soy sauce and chili padis; and yet go well with the food is only during eating bak kut teh.

The soup version of Ah Wong's bak kut teh (RM8 for 1 pax portion). Ah Wong's version is the clearer version compared to the others and the herbs amount was not that strong. Just enough to give some hint of herbs. The ribs were good, tender and juicy. All in all, I felt their bak kut teh is acceptable in KL area; but lost quite a bit if compared to ones in Port Klang; or better competitors (will write about this in the future).


Muar Otak-otak (RM11). Not recommended at all given the price tag. As far as I know, this version that is served is bought from shops in a box and just steamed when ordered. The otak-otak felt mushy and hollow. By hollow I was meaning that the center of the otak-otak felt empty; something like a sponge cake. Not sure if it's meant to be like that but not to my liking. Credits to the gravy though; tangy and spicy.

Some Oily Choi Sum (RM5) to go with our meal. Fresh, simple and the garlic provides a crunchy and aromatic biting texture.


For me, a good bak kut teh meal must always be accompanied with some fresh fried Chinese crullers (yao zar guai) to be dip into the soup and some chili padi mixed with dark soy sauce.


The total bill came up to RM30; with drinks for the two of us. Omit the otak-otak, it's pretty reasonable for 2 people for less then RM10 per person. By the way, I heard the steamed fish served here are very good and that's the main reason why people keep coming besides the bak kut teh. Will certainly return with more makan kakis the next time to just try out their steamed fish.


Ah Wong Bak Kut Teh's Detail
Address : Batu 4 1/2, Jalan Klang Lama, Kuala Lumpur
(If you are coming from PJ's direction, locate the large wet market at the opposite direction after you pass by the Kuchai Lama traffic light, and head straight to find it nearby under the bridge)
Phone : 013-228 2288 / 016-234 1319
Website:
Price: RM 8 for bak kut teh(1 pax)

Shook!, Starhill Gallery, Bukit Bintang (RM 3.60 tea time deal)

Recently, Starhill Gallery offered a very attractive promotion whereby you could dine at 4 of it's restaurants for only RM3.60 per dish! No writing mistakes here, RM 3.60, cheaper than any Mcdonalds meal! From the promotion link, 4 restaurants are having the said promotion which are; Shook!, Fisherman's Cove, Luk Yu Teahouse and Pak Loh Chiu Chow. Few of us curious one gathered and gave Shook! a try, well, mainly because we couldn't really afford it normally and thought why not given that inclusive of tax, each dish cost only around RM4.00+.

The few chosen RM 3.60 dishes to be selected. Looks good huh?

Going to be honest here, looks are the only thing that are good here. The 1st dish arrived and hell, we tried to keep ourselves from laughing hardly out of the waiter's sight. The servings was HUGE; which in HUGE i was meaning only the plate! I guess that's the quantity you get given the price, acceptable.

Top: Aglio Olio with Clams, Bottom: Aglio Olio with Prawns
Now don't get me wrong. I'm absolutely ok with the quantity, but quality wise, I'm not so sure if they do retain their normal quality. Dry, cold and no olive oil aroma at all. Failed one. The only savior of it was the prawns.


Top: 6 inch Margarita Pizza, Bottom: 6 inch Pepperoni Pizza
The pizzas were ok. Thin crusted resulting in quite a crunchy texture. The pepperoni somehow felt a tad bit dry to my liking.


Deep-Fried Seafood Fritters with Chili Dip. Damn, I thought I remembered wrongly from the menu. I remembered this is a seafoood dish. SO WHERE ARE THE SEAFOOD? Taste and look more like Vegetarian Fritters. Pffft.


Prawn Cocktail with Spicy Japanese Dressing. This is nice. At last! Thank god, a nice dish at last after 3 bad ones. The prawns were fresh and sweet, the wasabi-soy sauce dressing was good and has these pieces of cheese. Refreshing!


Grilled Cumberland 8 inch Sausage with Mashed Potato and Onion Sauce. Now this is good too. The sausage has this nice bouncy texture and grilled perfectly. Herb bits and flavors are the first thing to be detected once you sink your teeth on it.


Grilled Chicken and Ham Sandwich with French Fries. Did not taste the sandwich, but the fries was a let down. Cold, hard and basically tasteless.


Chicken Teriyaki Sandwich. The bread was sure HARD and dry. Hmm, might be better if toasted as it's not that fresh anymore. The teriyaki chicken was ok.


Fish Tempura with Somen. The somen was good, smooth and silky, something like the Chinese's Mee Suah. However, the soup was BAD. Basically tasteless and I could only conclude that it tasted more like water rather than soup. Nothing extraordinary about the fish tempura though.


Cantonese Seafood Fried Rice. Out of curiosity, we ordered something Chinese just to try. It was a disaster. The visual appearance had already failed in my opinion. The taste? Worse then how it would look. Lack of 'wok hei' (the 'essence' and taste that is achieved through high heat and oil combination cooking - a very important and must aspect in good Chinese cooking), not fragrant at all and sticky rice. And what's with the tasteless starchy gravy? The most failed dish of all I would say. That just proves that my theory is right - good Chinese food with good wok hei is never eaten at posh places.


Banana Pancake with Maple Syrup and Baskin Robbins Ice Cream. Could taste banana flavors in every bite of the pancake. Lol. The ice cream (vanilla I think?) and maple syrup goes very well with the pancake.


Some guava juice and cappuccino to go with the food. Drinks are also at the same price as the food - RM 3.60.


The total bill came up to RM91.10 for the 7 of us. RM13 per person is not bad, considering that we sample almost everything from the menu. But would I return? I would say yes if I were to sample the food from the other 3 restaurants. No, to Shook!. In my opinion, if you were to promote a sampling period for a cheap price for promotion purposes, it is pretty acceptable to cut down on the quantity. But cutting down on quality, a big NO for me. I'm sorry but Shook! has just lost it's' reputation in my dictionary.


Shook! is located at the lowest ground (Feast) and is visibly seen from the open area of every floor near the lifts. Easily recognizable from the live bands that are always on show. Starhill Gallery's RM 3.60 promotion runs daily till 30th June 2010. So if you do want to just taste preview or maybe have some really affordable cheap tea session, head over. By the way, parking for Starhill Gallery is RM2.50 per hour before 6pm on weekdays.


Shook!'s Detail
Address : LG1, Feast Village, Starhill Gallery, 181 Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100, Kuala Lumpur.
Phone : 603 2782 3875
Website:
Shook!'s RM3.60 deal menu
Shook!'s Main Website
Starhill Gallery's RM3.60 deal restaurants information
Price: RM 3.60 for every dish till 30th June - promotion. Update: There are rumors that the promotion is extended till an uncertain date. Do be safe and call first before heading though.

Similar opinions and review from Chocoholic: Memoirs of Chocoholic