Dragon i - Decent Shanghainese Fare at reasonable prices

The first thought that struck me is the uncanning resemblance to Crystal Jade and Din Tai Fung in it's Concept.
Decked in black, the layout of the restaurant is both modern and chic.

Mr HB and I decided to have (one of) our lunch here during our most recent visit to Sunway Pyramid. We were seated at the full length glass panel over looking sunway lagoon (read: hot). While my daughter was having fun looking at what everyone is doing in the lagoon X metres below us, we were struggling a little under the hot sun rays penetrating thru the glass panels.

After browsing thru the menu, we decided to order 1 entree to share and some dim sum items as it was quite early for lunch (before 12). The reason why we had to eat so early was because my son was sleeping and it is ONLY during his nap time that we can eat in peace. I keep wishing that this period would fast forward itself as eating at odd hours is not exactly fun.

But anyway, we ordered the "lion head" (giant meat ball) claypot noodles, steamed custurd buns, shanghainese pan fried meat bun. Unfortunately, one of my favourite dessert dim sum item - the "gao li duo sha" (red bean paste in some egg/banana bun) that I wanted to order was not available.
We were informed that there is a waiting time of 20min for the "lion head", since we are in no hurry we told her that we are ok with that.
The custurd buns are the first to arrive. Mr HB made the mistake of braking up the buns into half in 1 swift motion as the contents of the custurd buns are in liquid form.

But that did served as a good warning to me as I cautiously poked holes to cool the custurd. The custurd bun was delicious with creamy, sweet and salty fluid flowing into your mouth with every bite. The pan fried meat buns were the next to arrive. It looks quite big but the meat to bun ratio is quite low which drastically reduced the shiok factor.
The last to be served the the "lion head" claypot noodles. Piping hot, the meat ball was indeed huge embedded in a claypot full of yellow noodles and a sea of braised gravy/soup(?). The well marinated meat ball tasted really good and the noodles was smooth. I guess I'll be visiting this eatery again when I can.

Must Tries: Lion head claypot noodles, custurd bun

Bread Story - A Good Story

Did I mention that I just turned 30?

With this mini tiramisu cake (and my daughter proudly singing her ever favourite "Happy Birthday" song) that we purchased at the local Breadtalk equivalent at Sunway Pyramid, I am pronouced older (and hopefully wiser).

The cake was rather ordinary, not moist enuf for a tiramisu if you ask me but the redeeming factor is that it is not overly sweet thus making it more palatable.
I was responsible for finishing 3/4 of this cake.

This bakery has an range of assorted bread ranging from the modest raisin bun to fancy ones with names like UFO and BreadPig.

I purchased some raisin buns in anticipation of the visit to sunway laggon theme park for the kids in case they get hungry and needed some food.
But they were dis-allowed entry as food and drinks are strictly not allowed. They even set up a counter to check every bag to make sure that this is executed.
I'm sure their revenue and profit margins have increased exponentially since this act is carried out.

So in the end, the raisin buns ended up partially in my kids' but mainly my elastic stomach since Mr HB is not a bread fan.
The buns were soft and scored high on the fluff meter, I would say these are good quality breads.

The next day before departing, I purchased a raisin loaf to take home.


Bread Story
Sunway Pyramid LG2

Toast Box - Mediocre Fare

The portions served at Pasta De Gohan is rather petite for big eaters like Mr HB and myself, so we adjorned to waffles world for dessert and followed by Toast Box.
My good friend has affectionately termed me as "The Pig" for my voracious appettite.

The toast box here is adjacent to breadtalk, to give you a bigger breadth of the offering.
We ordered

1. Thick toast with butter and peanut butter
The thick toast is not exactly thick as you can see in my picture below.


Toast is spreaded with peanut butter and cut into 9 small cubes for easy consumption.
This toast is quite ordinary, this is not something I'll come back for.

2. Soft bun with butter and kaya
The bun is lightly toasted but not as fluffy as I'd like it to be. It would taste better if they are more generous with the kaya.

3. Kopi
The kopi here is quite aromatic. I do enjoy the cup of coffe, it was creamy and delicious.
Unfortunately my daughter spilled some of it, causing some wastage.




Toast Box
Sunway Pyramid
LG2

Wendy's - A run for Carl's Jr $$

We are supporters of Burgers (Mr HB and I), despite the fact that articles warning about it's artery choking, fatty and unhealthy contents esp those originating from a fast food background.
We spotted this joint during our previous visit, they were doing their opening publicity with ladies spotting red plaits (Wendy's Mascot).

This time round, after having Carl's Jr for 1 meal, we decided to be fair to Wendy's and had lunch over here just before our departure (we also need a morale booster before returning to reality).

It was really crowded. Look at the no. of people wating to have fast food.

We both order the 1/2lbs with cheese. The interesting thing about Wendy's is they have square patties and their slogan is"Our patties are square because we don't cut corners."

Here is Mr HB's hand distributing our burgers. The size of the burgers is slightly smaller compared to Carl's Jr.

Bitting into the burger, I can feel the juice oozing out into my mouth together with the mayonnise(lots of it) and ketchup. Mmm...very nice.

I would rate this as a worthy competitor of Carl's Jr.
Fries are chunky and has a good bite factor.

Wendy's

Sunway Pyramid

LG2

Pasta De Gohan - Novelty Strikes Once

We decided to have our little getaway and make our way to our "fairy-land" once more (albeit a short 2 month absence).

We spotted "Pasta De Gohan" which looks uncanningly like Pasta De Waruku in Singapore.
After further investigation, we realised that it is the M'sia branch by Pasta De Waruku in Singapore.

We had wanted to visit this eatery boasting of Japanese Italian (wafu this, wafu that) food for the longest time, seduced by the many yummy looking display, typical of Japanese restaurants.
So without much consideration, we had lunch here.

We ordered the

1. Squid sphagatti
This was the most outstanding dish in the display and having read quite a bit abt squid ink pasta, I figured I need to at least try it once to see if this is something I will like.

It looks erm....very black and gives a dirty feeling to the dish.

Taste wise, it has got an interesting taste somewhat close to a cream sauce without the heavy feel. I won't mind eating this again.

2. Cabonara pizza
Do you like thin crust pizza?
Look at the thickness of this crust. I think the term "paper-thin" is very apt to discribe this.

Taste wise, the cheese is flavourful and the bacon and egg is a good combi accentuating the taste of the spread. The paper thin crust has practically no taste but adds a good crisp to the pizza.

3. Lemon squash and *can't rmb name*
Lemon squash is very sour and the other drink is quite forgettable.

This is the most expensive meal we had during this visit RM75. The novelty of Japanese Italian is probably worth visiting once but not somewhere I'll be looking forward to visit anytime soon.

Pasta De Gohan

Sunway Pyramid

LG2

Kim Gary (Sunway Pyramid) - Good Dining Experience

Mr HB and myself decided to bring the kids out for a holiday and after much discussion crippled by a limited budget, we decided that we can only afford a self-drive trip to Sunway Lagoon.

We picked this place because it's got everything under 1 roof (a big one) - theme park for the kids, big shopping mall for me and lots of food choices for us!

The main challenge when we come to food was my elder kid as she usually has porridge at home so we have to find something that she would/could eat.
On this particular day, it was decided that we have chinese food as she wanted noodles.

The decor was pretty consistent with the outlet in Singapore and lots of pictures of Bosco Wong(Hong Kong Actor) who is their ambassador.

A quick look at the menu also re-affirms that this is the KIM Gary we are quite familiar with.
The service staff were very prompt and polite (though speaking in cantonese which I am half past 6).

We ordered a noodle set and a Furong Egg with Rice, complete with milk tea and iced lemon honey.
The noodle is nothing anyone has not tried, just instant noodles with ham, luncheon meat and egg. But the Furong Egg Rice is very tasty.
Just picture a giant egg with condiments atop a mountain of white rice drizzled with some sweet dark sauce. It is amazingly delicious for such a simply dish.

As usual, I enjoyed my very milky milk tea while basking myself in the relaxing environment (when the kids are not screaming).

An enjoyable experience with value for money food.Definately worth coming back (when I come to sunway again).

Hong Kong Kim Gary Restaurant (Sunway Pyramid)
3 Jalan PJS 11/15,
OB2-G-U3 Sunway Pyramid,
Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya,
Petaling,
Kuala Lumpur

Kenny Rogers (Sunway Pyramid) - Not Up to Standard

One of the main activities when 1 go for a holiday is definately eating, which also explains why people generally put on weight when they do go for one.I think on average, we are eating every 3 hours for a full meal and now, both MR HB and I are trying to put the blame on each other for getting the other party to down so many calories (we have both piled on weight after this brief trip).

Anyways, Kenny Rogers is pretty well known in most part of the world as a chicken place.
This day, we both ordered a 1/4 chicken which comes with 3 sides (I believe we are having 2 in SG) and a muffin. You actually get to choose what flavour of muffin you want. So I chose banana among the other choices of vanilla and chocolate (i would normally have chocolate as I am a fan but I was suffering from chocolate overdose after 2 straight nights of chocolate waffles with ice-cream and chocolate cinnamon roll).
The muffins were served first and at first look, they are smaller than those that we usually have in SG. The look of the muffin does not really appeal and the taste is also lacking. (Just a note on KR muffins, I do have a real liking for the KR muffins that I have on several ordered 1/2 dozen of muffin for my personal consumption) So this was a real disappointment as I was looking forward to sinking my teeth into the warm and fluffy well-know muffin.

Shortly after, the chicken and side dishes followed.
First on the chicken, they have definately shrunk in size as all it took was just 5 mouthful for us to polish off the 1/4 chicken. The taste is also less flavourful compared to those that I've had in SG. We were counting on the side dishes to fill the remaining space in our tummies thinking that there are 3 instead of 2 which we are familiar with.

We had
1. marcaroni and cheese (the cheese is really diluted and the marcaroni is also different, there was no enjoyment from this dish at all)
2. corn and carrot (this is relatively ok as the corn and carrots are quite sweet)
3. colslaw (just normal)
4. potato salad (the salad dressing is thin compared to the others that we've had and the potato cut in a longish manner which seems kinda weird)
5. fruit salad (just normal, if anyone can screw up with a fruit salad, then something is seriously wrong)
6. mashed potato (just normal)

All in all, this meal was quite disappointing in the sense that the food standard was much lower than what we are used to and both of us are feeling very unsatisfied so we had to continue our 2nd part of dinner in "Waffle World (pls see other review)"

Kenny Rogers (Sunway Pyramid)
3 Jalan PJS 11/15
F2.29 Sunway Pyramid Bandar Sunway,
Petaling Jaya,
Petaling

Waffle World - Sugar Rush

I believe it is quite easy to draw a connection between waffles and a restaurant name like "Waffle World"

We visited this place twice during our 3D2N visit to Sunway.
"Is the waffle exceptionally good?" you may ask.
Well, for a price like RM6 for a 8" waffle complete with 1 large scoop of ice-cream, it's definately worth visiting over and over again.

We've tried the chocolate waffle with vanilla ice-cream and the triple nutz waffle also complete with vanilla ice-cream plus additional strawberries and whipped cream.

Me and Mr HB both had a waffle each after our unsatisfying mean at Kenny Rogers to make up for the experience and fill up on out tummies.

The waffles were fresh from the oven which means warm and fresh, together with the cold ice-cream....umm...yummy.
On another occassion we also ordered a mango smoothie which is quite expected of a mango smoothie even though Mr HB commented that the mango ice-cream used is not the premium type.

I'll definately come back when I visit Sunway again for the warm waffles.

Updates on Visit on 31 May 08

We had our little getaway faster than we thought we would.

As promised, we visited this place again for sweet nice things, this time round, we also had their pancakes with ice-cream on top of our usual waffles.

The pan cakes are served warm with a dollop of vanilla ice-cream and lots of blue-berry. Pancake is soft and has a tinge of pandan. The size is much smaller compared to the waffle.

I think I still prefer the waffle with ice-cream.

Must Tries: Waffles!

Waffle World (Sunway Pyramid)
3 Jalan PJS 11/15,
LL2.37 Sunway Pyramid, Bandar Sunway,
Petaling Jaya, Petaling,
Kuala Lumpur

Ichiban Ramen - Instant Noodles in Disguise

This was the first meal we have in Sunway Pyramid and it was a take away as my elder kid was crying from a tummy ache, so we gathered we had to go back to the hotel for her to rest while we eat.

We order 2 Chicken Katsu Ramen to go and left hastily once we lay our hands on the food.

The staff have nicely packed the soup and the noodles and chicken chop separately so that it will not be soggy when we eat.
Afer settling down the kid briefly, we sat down for our ramen. The noodles looked like a thicker cousin of instant noodles and indeed tasted like one. The soup looked thick and does taste thick but the taste is not those you call a good ramen stock. It's somewhat salty and lacking in the essential taste in the "good soup" department.

The chicken chop did some saving grace for the ramen. It was properly grilled and well seasoned to bring out the flavours of the chicken.

Ichiban Ramen
3 Jalan PJS 11/15,
LL2.31 Sunway Pyramid,
Bandar Sunway,
Petaling Jaya, Petaling,
Kuala Lumpur