Category Archives: Food

FHM 2009 – My Favourite Event of the year

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This FHM is not For Him Magazine.

FHM 2009 is the Malaysia’s Official Food and Hotel show. The previous show was in 2007.
The event held in KLCC Convention Centre on the 11th to 14th August 2009. For Trade Vistors only.

Of course what were really interesting to me are all those coffee players bringing their best for the show. Who was there? Barista Coffee, Bon Cafe, Classic Coffee and Beverage (previously Simplex Maju), Dankoff Coffee Specialist, Mister Coffee and a few smaller players.

Noticeable missing was Coffex Coffee. They had a pretty large booth in 2007.

There were others quite interesting showcase of food technology, pastry art, bakery course, equipments and many more. Of course, one gets to sample some pretty tasty food too.

Ok, back to coffee. Well, I drank quite a few cups of coffee… espressos, cappuccinos, hot chocolate…yum yum yum.

Here are some photos to tell the stories.


Expobar in action in Malaysia. Serving Lavazza. Lavazza is making a comeback too.


Expobar 2 group on display


Here is the Expobar G-10 Single group. Really glad to see the Expobar entering our market. Price is decent and if you have a good barista, it can make you very good coffee.


Nuova Simonelli Aurelia, Official Machine for the World Barista Championship


2 Group Aurelia. Really love the red colour. Really sexy but sexy stuff cost money.


2 Group Francis! Francis! A capsule machine. The IPERESPRESSO.


1 Group Francis! Francis! If all you want is convenience and very average espresso, Francis! Francis! will give you that and looks good at the same time.


The Pressto SuperAuto. Looks expensive. Didn’t bother asking about it. Will make your life easy if all you want is average coffee.


Avanti Espresso. I don’t dare to ask for a drink. First, in such a specialized exhibition with many competitors, and they used UHT milk!!! Not even in a chill box!!! And the espresso extractions I saw were mainly “gushers”.


Korean Stone Coffee Roaster. This guy is interesting. The only exhibitor showing a roasting machine and they were Roasting Coffee thoughout the event. This roaster cost USD5K.


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Another interesting product. Rice Biscuit Maker. This machine can make a rice cracker using only 1 teaspoon of rice. And a rice cracker is produced every 10 seconds. Really cool man. Oh Yes… tasty and healthy too. Imgine they sell for maybe RM5 for 10 pieces. 10 pieces only uses 10 teaspoons of rice man. This machine cost USD5K.

Nasi Lemak at D’Lish

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This D’Lish in Mid-Valley really looked delicious.

Located: G-001 ground floor, opposite Starbucks.

It fulfilled every criteria of what makes a good Nasi Lemak, well almost…

Let’s see.

Main ingredients:-
1. Aromatic Rice – check
2. Fresh cut cucumber – check
3. Crunchy peanuts – check
4. Crunchy fried anchovies – check
6. Nice sambal – half check

Misc ingredients:-
7. Curry chicken – check
8. Sambal sotong – check

One of the most difficult ingredient is definitely the sambal. To be fair, the sambal together with the sotong were well made with lots of onions and tasted fresh. But different people like different types of sambal. Some like it hotter, sweeter, thicker, lighter, redder… you just can’t please everyone.

What is more interesting is the price. It cost RM 12.80. Well some may say it is expensive, but given the portion and how everything is done with care and quality, I say it is value for money.

Still not happy? Well they have really delicious looking salad and sandwiches too. And the final icing on the cake… they charge 5% standard government tax and NO 10% SERVICE CHARGE. Save RM2.80 and you can more than pay for the parking. Go and check them out.

P.S: I didn’t bother with the coffee though.

The Lawn – Chapter 2

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Went to The Lawn again. Had the following:

1. Cappuccino
2. Flat White
3. Banoffee Pie
4. Chicken Sandwich

This is no fluke. The Cappuccino is just as good as the previous visit. If fact, I feel it is even slightly better than the previous one.

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Here’s the Flat White. Funnily, the Flat White is serve in a 6oz cup which is traditionally used for cappuccino. Cappuccino on the other hand is served in a 8oz cup. What you realise is that the terminology they use does not tell you anything. In fact, the Flat White is actually a real cappuccino without cocoa powder.

Cappuccino standard use by the World Barista Championship is served in a 6oz cup with NO cocoa powder.

How’s the Flat White? Good.

Rating: 6.8/10. (I would give a 7 if the coffee is fresher).

I have to admit, as of NOW, The Lawn serves the best coffee I’ve tried so far in a commercial settings in Malaysia.

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Here’s the Banoffee Pie. Very nice. I guess I always like dessert made with bananas.

The Chicken Sandwich is decent too, though I find it expensive at RM 16.00. But it is a healthy piece of sandwich.

The Lawn is now officially my favourite coffee outlet. Nuff said.

Kemaman Kopitiam

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Went to Kuantan for 2 days to meet up with an It partner.
Nowadays in KL, kopitiam are mushrooming everywhere. Notably “Old Town Kopitiam” which I must admit had a great sense of business but the coffee or food are nothing to shout about. In fact, there are hardly any kopitiam worth any special mention.

Kemaman Kopitiam

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Nicely decorated with marbled tables. On the walls were photos of many notable visitors including celebrity like Siti Nurhalisa, royalties and plain rakyat from all walks of life. Old photos, paintings and ornaments were also nicely displayed.

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I had a Kopi Classic. It is their “famous” kamaman coffee (surely robusta) that is overly roasted (They sell pre-ground coffee that is dark like charcoal), mixed with hot water, condensed milk, evaporate milk and a touch of their coco powder. It tasted damn fine. In fact I went there 2 days in a row.

I strongly suspect if you use their “charcoal dark roast” for espresso, it will taste horrible. But with the correct mixture of milk, water and a touch of coco, wow… I very nice drink this is.

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What do you know.. their Nasi Lemak Special with lemongrass chicken is very good. As I mentioned the criteria of good nasi lemak, the ingredients are fresh. Fresh cut cucumber (it’s not a fluke, I went there twice), fresh cut tomatos, fresh fried mata kerbau (sunny-side up), decent rice and very nice side-dish the lemongrass chicken.

Frankly, Kuantan is boring. But for Kemaman Kopitiam, I would want to go back. Yummy.

No Coffee and All Chillies

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Breaking News: Kin Kin Restaurant just opened in Pandan Indah.

This is definitely the de-facto best Chili Pan Mee in Malaysia. Their original branch is located in a secluded place (very hard to describe) and I never got to take down their address. If you know where is Maju Junction, opposite the road, you will see a Sony Showroom. Right in front of Sony’s, cross the road and head towards 11 o’clock direction and you will find it. The original branch is kinda interesting. On the walls were written some disclaimer like.. “We are the original, we have no branches and there are many copycats” or something to that effect.

So I was very surprise and happy to see a new branch. The location is somewhere opposite the main road from Steven’s Corner.

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Oh Yes. I’m sorry for anyone who cannot take chilies. But a word of warning. Many were tempted by the chilies and tempted fate by over indulging on the chilies. Consequences… you are likely to get a free treatment of bowel cleansing.

It is good man. MUST TRY.