Tuesday, 23 August 2011

Spiciness is at its peak @ Chilli Rush, Jaya One

A friend of ours who is chicken wing crazy, told us about this new place where their signature dish or as they call it piece de resistance, chicken wings has 10 levels of spiciness. I told her 10 LEVELS!!! is there such thing meh!! but apparently they do have it. So, before my friend burns her stomach with chillies that might just kill her over, I was send out to do the job for her. Well, somebody's gotta do it right?

As you all know Jaya One is a maze of  restaurant haven, so to make it easy for all of you, it is the same row as Wendy's, next to Duck King. This time around we were a party of 6 (4 adults & 2 kids), we had made our reservations the day before with Aru, the restaurant manager and we were all set for our night out. Location wise it was convenient as the restaurant has a drop off area & you can valet your car as well. Plus points for families with children. The day we went was their 1st day of operation, so it was interesting to see that the place was quite pack.



Interesting information done on canvas

Every part of the wall has something interesting to read, after makan you can walk around & read it :)

Scoville Heat Units. Look at Sambal Belacan...tak pedas puunnnn....
The ambiance gives a very relax & easy going feeling, where you would want to hang out & people watch.  Staff were friendly & accommodating, but due to most of them are foreigners, we had a hard time trying to understand what they we were trying to explain to us but some how or rather the owners were around during that time & they came over to assist. Plus points for being alert.

There are 7 parts to the menu, Asian Sensations (local), Around the World (western), Green & Veggie Lovers, Little Eaters (kid's), Piece de Resistance (chicken wings), Desserts & Beverages. The selections are not too complicated to decide. We found out from the owners that the menu was carefully selected & has gone through many food tasting to get it right for their restaurant. So what inspired them for this concept? The owners adapted this idea during one of their travels overseas and found the concept very interesting. They have in plan for Chilli Rush Challenge, where patrons can sign up to challenge themselves to eat themselves silly to the highest level. That is a cool idea.

So enough of me blabbering.....let's get down to the food that we had that night & hope that you will enjoy it too :)

Starting it off with our drinks........

This Ultimate Mojito is sooooo worth ordering. Wherever I go, I do enjoy drinking Mojito,this was served in this big glass & at RM22.50 per glass....hey this is worth it. Ladies, try it when your are there.

 The only reason why my lil' kiddo ordered this drink was because it is blue & he thinks it could taste like one of his Slurpees. This is Blue Raspberry Slushies priced at RM8.50 per glass is a good shot to keep the kids happy.

Ahhh...this is another one that I will recommend for all to try, Frozen Margarita. The same glass size like the Mojito & the concoction was done just right. Price for this is at RM22.50 per glass. The adults say "Aii"....happy happy about this


Our Caesar Salad arrived & presentation wise it was alright & the taste was moderate. For those who are expecting bacon bits or whatever else in this salad, this is not what you are looking for then. Its a very straight forward Caesar Salad with its dressing & it came with 2 toast instead of the usual croutons. Importantly, it was not drenched in its dressing like some places who intend to over do it. Taste wise was moderate for me We rated this 2/5.

This selection was my 6 yr old lil' kiddos', when he saw the menu he thought it was Mac & Cheese, but actually it is not. Kid's pasta comes with meatballs & bolognese sauce.So knowing this tot of mine does not like meat sauce, I had to request for special order and I was glad they were accommodating to it. Lil kiddo's clear order was, macaroni with cheese sauce at the side (hmm..not bad for a 6yr old,  hahaa...). The taste of the sauce was just nice, not too salty which is good for kid's meal. Frankly, nothing much to rate the food, but I would say 5/5 for being able to accommodate to this special order. Good job guys :)


When I saw Moussaka on the menu, I was like....ok I will give it a try. Yes, I've tried really good moussaka before which I should not compare too much with. But I decided to give it a try anyway. The presentation was good, it came with a mixture of green salads with light dressing. As it is served in a ramekin, this is just nice for smaller eaters.

Moussaka filling
It was nicely baked with 2 big slices of aubergine, minced beef, white sauce & cheese.The taste was just nice, not too salty & at RM21.90 per dish, the price is reasonable. We rate this 3/5.


Jit opted for something local, unfortunately the order for Beef Floss with Spicy Coconut Vegetables was not available for the night, so after much thought, he finally decided on Ayam Percik with Nasi Bojari and Acar.
I must say the rice is very flavorful, it has a hint of some dried shrimps & herbs. For those first timer trying out Nasi Bojari, just to give a lil' background to this, Nasi Bojari's origination is from Indonesia, where it is meant for royalty & its actual rice presentation is layers of red, yellow & white rice (the color effects is by adding in saffron or turmeric ). So when you read CR's menu " serving fit-for-a-king", it does not mean big portion, okkk....you want big portion the Nasi Kandar shop is in SS2...hahhaaa..
Price at RM16.90 per plate it is worth the try. My man rated this at 4/5.


Pan Fried Dory in Cheesy Spinach Pasta.....you wanna be like Popeye, eat your spinach

I love pasta, but somehow or rather I do not quite enjoy any carbonara or pasta with too much cheese on it. Don't get me wrong about this sauces, they are great, but it really gives you that very "muak" feeling. But we still ordered this to share amongst us & boy, was I wrong about this dish. Firstly, I enjoyed the pasta (spaghetti) it was tossed with SPINACH....i love spinach and the combination of cream,cheese & garlic was just done right. The garlic did not over-power the whole dish and pasta was also cooked al-dante. So, everybody enjoyed this dish. Compliments to the chef!!! Make this as one of your must try dishes when you are there ok.. We all agreed on a rate 5/5 :))

Angel Hair Pasta with Grilled Calamari Rings
My lil' kiddo Ethan is a pasta lover & calamari are his fav too, so what better dish then to order :)
The pasta was tossed with some oil, caramelized onions, bits of aubergines & lemon. But you can't really taste the lemon in this meal, so don't worry about it being tangy or whatever. The calamari rings was more fried then grilled, but Ethan was not complaining about it though. The taste was rather blend, it needed a lil bit more of flavoring, which we had highlighted to the manager. But I believe this could be a good dish to try too, it is only RM22.90 per dish, so do try it & share with me your experience. We rate this 3/5.

Coneydogs - Price @ RM17.90 per set
Jan wanted something simple & opted for Coneydogs. This dish is also available for lil kiddos too, so don't fret, my young ones. The meal is served with french fries, meat sauce topping & salad. I find the Coneydog's serving was done so awkwardly. As you can see the bun is cut right through & the meat sauce was sparingly poured over. Suggestion to the kitchen, to have it cut in a pocket like (cut half way) where the sausage is able to rest into it & the sauce can be poured over it in order to savored it at its fullest. In short, like how A&W and the rest does it. I know its good to be abit different, but I feel that something as simple as a Coneydog, should be served in the simplest form ever. We rate this 3/5.

Level 3 - Getting There
Level 5 - Hot















Ok ok...now this is the reason why we are at Chili Rush. Chicken wings with an attitude.Chili Rush boast to have 10 levels of spiciness for their signature chicken wings. Since we are all chilli eaters, so we thought, alamak Level 1, 2 chicken feet la, so Level 3 was our choice & we took 1/2 dozen. The wings was nicely fried & the spiciness level was bearable & we thought ok this is not bad. Very flavorful, even though it was spicy, & it comes with  side of carrot,celery & cucumber sticks in sour cream. But if you cannot tahan the spiciness, please ask them to stand by a jug of water for you :)

Then we became brave, huh, Level 4,hmmm....tak main la. "Waiter, Level 5, 1/2 dozen"....wokey.. (damn action huh we all ...hahah) See the pics, very nice right, so whacked all Level 5 without even thinking. Then I told Rich, "Nothing also, why Level 3 more spicy then Level 5?', you know how chillies are, sometimes from 1 batch to the other, the spiciness can be abit different. Just as we were talking about it, all 4 adults looked at each other & was already rushing for water. The pedas-ness set in after a few minutes & boy was it kicking in. But it was funny seeing our expressions & we had a good laugh. I cannot imagine those who had tried level 6-10. The manager was telling us, earlier in the day there was a group who tried Level 10...wah liao...crazy one. Their tummy must have steel lining. But the chicken wing itself was nice & we did enjoy eating it, however, you must eat it while it is hot, that is the uummpphh that will set in with the spiciness.
 For 1/2 dozen it is RM14.00 & RM26.50 for 1 dozen. We rate 5/5. Nice job :)

Our Sweet endings ........

Tiramisu @ RM9.90 per slice

















 Lychee Cheesecake


 What better way to end our meal with some desserts. We were told that one of the partners is a baker & she did all the cakes in the outlet. Our first was the Lychee Cheesecake, didn't find the cake to be appealing to our palette. The lychee layer was abit dense & the bottom crust too crumbly.  The Tiramisu was not bad & we enjoyed it. We had it with our brewed Illy coffee, so it did well for all of us

Well at the end of the night, we not only had a good time catching up with our friends but we also enjoyed a whole new experience with chicken wings. Will I come again & try for Level 6 onwards? errmmm....let's see about that haaha...but I don't mind coming by again to try the other dishes in the menu. Our total bill came up to RM349.70, which is not too bad for our group

My 2 Cents worth ....
Being a new player in the industry, we hope that the management will try to maintain their signature dish as their selling point. Chillies being chillies, it will be hard to control the spiciness from one batch to the other, but I guess that is the challenge that they will have to take to make it sustainable. The location is great, as it caters to the working crowd & pub crawlers & like I mentioned, nice place to just chill.

So before you go to Chilli Rush, prep yourself for the challenge & if you can go more the Level 6, I salute you bruder/sista...ok. Go to Level 10 & still standing, then you can have your picture on the Wall of Fame.

Try this new place & share your experience with me....i bet it will be a hot hot one....fire off folks :)

Apa macam? Berani or not?

Don't think my photo is ever going to be there
Call for reservation:
Mr Aru 
J-31-G, Jaya One, No.72A, Jalan Universiti
Petaling Jaya, 46200 Selangor.
+6 012 321 8368
+6 03 7960 7368
info@chillirush.com.my
www.chillirush.com.my
Operating hours : 11.00am - 11.00pm - Monday-Thursday
                           11.00am - 12.00am - Friday - Saturday
                           Closed on Sunday
* Pork Free














Monday, 15 August 2011

Teh,Tea,Cha, Teh ri....more & more of it.

What is the first thing that pops up your mind when some one mentions Cameron Highlands? Cool weather, tea,strawberry,scones, steamboat etc....the only place you can feel English. That is what my Junior will tell me.
Over the weekend, we had a good short break up at the highlands, the weather was cold & rainy. We had a few recommendations to try out some places in Cameron, but because of the rain, we could not go to many places.
The 2nd day, the weather was better & we decided to drive up to BOH, Sg Palas Tea Centre. If you are staying at Equatorial, it is only 5 mins down the road, the signboards are at the left side of the road which takes you up to Gunung Brinchang as well. The journey is 9km from the foot of the hill to BOH Tea Centre, the roads are very narrow & it is 2 way. This is where your driving skills come into practice, please make sure you horn at every corner because you never know if there is another car coming from the other side.

The drive was not only challenging but the view was just so nice & serene, it was low harvest season so there was not much tea plucking activity. The first thing we did when we reached was to look for food..... :) Tea & Scones...yum...that was on our mind the whole day. Here are some pictures of the view from the deck (sorry I could not take a picture of the deck as it started to rain, while we were walking up )

Isn't it beautiful....the creation of God :)
And ahh...yess...i remembered to set my dates for my camera this time around :)


These are the workers quarters.




Scones with strawberry jam & cream

The scones texture was soft & warm, it was freshly baked ahahhh....i think the whole atmosphere made our meal just so warm & fuzzy :) The ones that we get in KL are either small or medium size, this was big and at RM7.50 per pc, I think it was worth it. However, they used whipping cream instead of clotted cream, which is the actual type of cream used traditionally. What is the difference you asked? Actual clotted cream is made out of full cream cow's milk & indirectly heating the milk using steam or water bath & then leaving it in shallow pan to cool slowly. During this time, the cream content rises to the surface & forms clots.
As this method is just too tedious & time consuming, most of them use double cream & whip it up for quick use.Never the less, all I can say is that the scones served at Boh Centre is just yummy. We had a few more & even packed it back. Greedy, right. But hey, since we had driven up 9km of tedious turns & curves, we might as well made the best of it, right :) So this was double thumbs up from the lil' kiddos


Strawberry tart....

OK...when we saw this tart, we just had to have it thinking that it will be oozing with strawberry fillings. But it was quite disappointing, it has more pastry crust then strawberry filling. At RM3.50 per pc, I could complain much about it, but the taste was alright. So rating from the kiddos, the response was just "ahh ya ya ok ok"...so that was the rating .



This was the ultimate cake la...Butter Lemon Cake. The texture is soft & buttery, it was that fuzzy warm yummy feeling again. The lemon topping was not too over-powering, so that you can enjoy the buttery cake. The price is reasonable, RM3.50 per slice & of course we tapau extra slices for our supper. This was given double thumbs up from all of us, including 8 mth old kiddo hahhaha.... 
It went very well with our Boh Teh Tarik, kurang manis (less sweet). The variety of tea available was just too much to absorb, so the best is our favorite "pull cha". Teh tarik is priced at RM3.30 per mug, this came with good weather & view. So don't complain it is expensive.

We wanted to take a tour of the factory, but due to low harvesting season, the tour was scheduled earlier & it was closed for the day. The staff told us that July/August is low season due to the rain. The best time for harvesting is November/December, so you can take your family up & do the tour thingy with them. After spending about  2 hrs plus, we drove another 1.5km up to Mountain Strawberry Farm to pluck some strawberries. 

So, what is my 2 cents worth on this? Take a drive up to the highlands once in awhile just to get away from the crazy city & it is all worth it especially when your love ones are there with you. Being with your children & bonding with them is the love message for this time around. Be there & enjoy their company. Peace out my friends!!

Oh ya...just found some nice traditional Scones recipe from the beautiful Nigella Lawson, try it & share your thoughts..ok

TRADITIONAL SCONES

INGREDIENTS

    • 450g SR flour
    • Pinch baking powder
    • Generous pinch salt
    • 50g caster sugar
    • 110g unsalted butter, diced
    • 1 egg, lightly beaten
    • 50ml double cream
    • 200ml milk
    • 1 egg beaten with a little water to glaze
    • METHOD

      Serves: 12 - 14 scones
      1. Sift together the dry ingredients. Stir in the sugar. Lightly work in butter using fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg, cream and enough milk to moisten.
      2. Mix well until you have a soft, doughy texture.
      3. Lightly roll dought out until it is approx 2.5cm thick. Cut out scones and transfer to greased baking sheet. Brush scones with egg wash. Bake in preated oven at 180C for 15 - 20 mins or until well brown










    Monday, 8 August 2011

    getting erm' dirty @ Dirty Nelly's

    This food blog has been long overdue for so many reasons....but now it has finally taken off, I am excited to share my personal thoughts on my food escapades. Before this, I would write down my experiences & thoughts at my own time, about the restaurants that we had patronized and then recommending it to our family & friends. My past experience from the food & service industry, has taught me to explore my taste-buds to various types of food & with our regular meetings with our friends....what more can I say, good company & good food that is what it is all about. Isn't it? I try to give my honest opinions on all of my food escapades & my 2 cents worth at the end of every review. Cannot la, all the time say good & bad things, but don't share ideas also right...hahaha....
    So let us start on our journey.........


    Nice signage, then I realized my camera's date setting is totally out...hahhaha....it was definitely not 2007.
    Sorry about that. 

    So I start off this food-blog journey with this restaurant call Dirty Nelly's at Damansara Jaya. I read about this place & found out that the owners are none other then Phat Fabes & Prem (Fly FM DJs). We were there over the weekend & the place was not so crowded but we had our reservations done ahead of time (our grp was 8 pax). It has a English pub concept with full bar facilities and they have a corner where live music will be played . The place is not very big, so you can opt to sit inside or outside if you are a smoker.

    It is all about English pub food and it is non halal. The selection was quite good & we had to take a good 10 mins or so to read & decide what we wanted. Here are the pictures of what each of us had, so have a go with it & share with me your experience & comments. :)

    We started out with this yummy dish call Garden Absolutely, it is potato skins stuffed with a mixture of mushroom, broccoli, cauliflower & tomatoes with melted cheese on top. Mind you this dish is not a starter, it actually falls under the Mains section. The preparation was like any other potato skins available in Western restaurants, but they had opted for a vegetarian touch. The presentation was nice & the taste was good, the potato skins was crispy & it was piping hot as well.To rate this from 1-5, I would give it a 5, everybody enjoyed this dish.




    The second of the mains was Gammon Steak with Pineapple & Fried Duck Egg. Jit said that the cut was good & has that full porky taste :). The fried duck egg was something different, the yolk is much more creamer taste then a chicken egg. This was priced at RM29.00, which was reasonable.
    If you are wondering what is  Gammon steaks, it is normally thick cut & circular in shape. I found this from Wikipedia " The word Gammon derives from the Old Northern French word jambe for hind-leg of the pig, and may also be used to refer to bacon. The depth of meat to the bone is greatest at the top of the hind limb; cutting this piece from the side and curing it separately therefore cures the meat thoroughly, easily, and this cut is the original and to this extent authentic form of Gammon." See, when we explore food we learn a thing or two about about the food itself. He rated 4 / 5. Good job guys :)






    Jan had Pork Chops with Apple Cabbage Slaw & Passion Fruit Sauce, when the food came we were like wahhhh...looks yummy. But unfortunately the pork chop was over done & could see that Jan was struggling with the chops. On top of that the waiter had given her the wrong type of knife. Taste wise, it was flavorful but the chop was over done & Jan left her meal half eaten, feeling disappointed about it. It could have been a good meal, if it was done correctly.. This dish was at RM28.00, we would rate this as 3 / 5

    All I can say is that Nelly's Belly, is BELLY good hahah....sorry couldn't resist writing that. I really enjoyed this dish, & so did the rest of my friends who also sapu my food...no lah, I offered to them because it was good. The pork belly was cooked to perfection and the potato salad had bits of fried bacon & onions which gave a good crunchy bite to it. The Onion & Apple sauce was not too sweet, which was just nice. The last thing you need is a sauce that over-powers the flavor of the pork that was cooked in a medley of spices. At only RM35.00 this is something you must try when you are there. Rate is 5 / 5.... (happy belly, happy belly). WARNING : If you are conscious about your weight & worried that your arteries are going to burst after this meal...This meal is NOT for you, the vegetarian restaurant is just around he corner  ;)

    Pork Escalopes was Rich's choice of the nite after walloping Pint of Prawns (sorry guys i came late & could not get a pic of it). This is a very simple dish of pork meat fried to crisp served with asparagus & mushroom cream sauce. Really no fuss food at all, Rich was happy with his & whacked it all. If you are not into pork, it come with a choice of Beef or Chicken too. It does not put a dent in your pocket, only at RM24.00...good price? Then you should go over & try. My rate 4 /5.


    Of course if you are the place owned by Phat Fabes, what better then to try The Fabes. Roasted 1 lb of pork ribs comes with steamed vegies & special sauce. Sel, Su & Jan (yes, she had to order another set of food) ordered this dish, it was nicely presented & everybody awed at it. The taste was good but it was a tad bit dry. The sauce was flavorful for them to clean it up together with their ribs. The Fabes is priced at RM45.00 with 4 big ribs, if not enough, get another one. Our rating 4 / 5.

    Finally a fish dish to write about. My beautiful lady friends Vani & Loga opted for something more healthier, they ordered the Sunny Salmon. It is a very light meal, a slab of salmon steak with sun dried tomato sauce, mash & asparagus. The menu describes the sauce as tangy, but there wasn't much of a tang to it. Vani & I agreed that it was a bit over cooked. However, the price was reasonable at RM28.00. We rate this 3/5.

    OUR DESSERTS.....

    Our desserts were pretty disappointing, our 1st order for Peach Cheesecake & Chocolate Fondant was not available that night. So we opted for Bread & Butter Pudding, Steamed Sponge Pudding & Sherry Trifle.
    The first to arrived was the Bread & Butter Pudding, all 8 of us are BBP fans & this was not one of the good ones that we have tried. It was dry & didn't look fresh. Traditional BBP comes with Vanilla Sauce but this came with a watery dallop of whip cream, that just did not compliment it at all. We noticed 1 thing in all our desserts, which I will tell you in the end of the dessert column. Rating : 2 / 5



    2nd dessert : Steamed Sponge Pudding. My lady friends & me, we do bake & we know how the texture of steamed cake is, this was not one of it. It tasted like butter cake & normally steam cakes are more moist, this was not the case. If you noticed the picture, it was over done with watery whip cream again. I think i better not rate this as it is better to be left as it is.


    Yes the final dessert, Sherry Trifle. I am a queen of trifle, this was really disappointing. The glass had 5-6 pcs of bite size cakes, with dark pitted cherries....i think that was what it is. And the best part....half of the glass is filled with...wait for it....wait for it.....watery whip cream AGAIN.

    So the 1 thing that we came to conclude on the desserts that either the person preparing it was trigger happy with the whipping cream can OR they realized that the expiry date was coming soon.



    MY 2 CENTS WORTH
    This place has a nice ambiance to lepak & have a few drinks, however, the service staff has to be alert when the patrons are waving their hands in the air for their attention. Maybe the management would want to highlight on personal hygiene, as one of the staff had BO & it is not appetizing when he serves you & the additional aroma was not from the food.

    Concept restaurants always have problems maintaining their food standards, I hope that the management will continue to make that as their priority. The pricing is reasonable for the average middle income family & portioning is sizable as well. Our total bill plus drinks came up to RM580+, which is expected in a group of 8 pax (unless you drink yourself silly).

    So guys & gals, don't just take my word for it, get off that chair & head on over to Dirty Nelly's & try it yourself. Till our next review ..adios peeps.

    For reservations, please contact below :
    Dirty Nelly's
    No 27, Jalan SS22/19,
    Damansara Jaya, 47400
    Petaling Jaya
    Tel : 7731 3719
    www.dirtynellysmalaysia.com
    Non-Halal