Firecracker Fish Fillet & Triple Dipper

American fast food chain restaurants are growing rapidly in numbers everywhere in Malaysia, but if there is anywhere to find most of them, there is no doubt it is in the city.

One of the most popular haunts of mine, and also my friends, whenever it came to meeting up, was Chili's, while if it is for birthday purposes, it will most probably be TGIF (yeah, to make the birthday celebrant stand up on the table!)

Chili's have branches in KL and also up north in Penang, and it seemed like it is a place not just for friends but also for family gatherings.

They serve mostly Mexican-style cuisine; and they are famous for their ribs (in US), and also fajitas, quesadillas, burgers and fries.

One of the recommended appetizers: Triple Dipper

It comes in a huge serving, and I think can serve between 2-4 pax.
The triple dipper comes with the following three selection; served with its special sauces:
Southwestern Eggrolls

A crispy flour tortilla filled with smoked chicken, black beans, corn, jalapeño Jack cheese, red peppers and spinach. Served with avocado-ranch dressing.

Wings over buffalo

Delicious chicken wings tossed in our spicy wing sauce. Served with cool bleu cheese dressing.

Boneless Buffalo Wings

Breaded chicken breast tossed in spicy sauce. Served with cool bleu cheese and celery.

Firecracker Fish Fillet

Grilled fish fillet brushed and served with a sweet and spicy glaze and garnished with red chili tapenade, cilantro and sesame seeds.

This is one of my favorite at Chili's and I always order it whenever I am there; despite it being a spicy main!
The fish fillet is tenderly grilled and tasted sweet with a tinge of spice, and went well with the fresh broccoli and fried rice.

What's your favorite at Chili's? :)

Taiwanese delights and toast box (coffin toast?)

This was an outdated post, and I just found the photos from my folders while 'cleaning up' the HDD the other day.

The quality of the photos are not as usual, as I remember that I did not bring my camera for lunch that day (something totally out of the norm), and so, I had to use my phone to capture the food.

I've blogged about this Little Taiwan restaurant run by Malaysian in the 1 Utama Shopping Centre in my previous posts :-)

Set lunch rice set with vegetables


Mini Spicy tomyam seafood steamboat with noodles


SUPER Spicy!

Claypot silver needle noodles (remember the rat-tail noodles post?:)


Taiwanese crispy chicken with claypot hor fun (flat rice noodles)


I love their Aiyu Lemon Jelly; a must have each time I am there :)


Now notice the title of my post which had a rather unusual yet scary title including a 'coffin'?
Well, that is no typo error, as the following is the highlight of this meal; which is the Treasure Toast Box

They made a thick and huge bread toasted and then stuffed with meat, seafood and vegetables.

I was told that in Taiwan or Hong Kong, this is also translated literally from Chinese to mean 'Coffin Toast Box' and is a huge hit among the locals.

I am not sure whether this is the exact version, and I am really bummed that I was without my 'best buddy' (Camera) at that time!:(

I don't think I need to explain the origin of the name of this toast; I leave it to your imagination!;)

TGIF Restaurant, 1 Utama

It's finally FRIDAY, YEAY, the day that everyone loved and looked forward to after a long week of work, and it is no wonder how everyone started flooding heaven with praises to God for this lovely day, LOL!:)

I have saved this post on this American chain restaurant, which cleverly named themselves TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) to commemorate this favorite day of the week.

We went there about a month ago, to celebrate my dearest Mummy's birthday (of course, we didn't make her stand on the table - one of TGIF's customs for birthday folks :p)

As TGIF is known for its large servings, we ordered a couple to share in order to enjoy the food and not let it go to waste ;)

For salad, we ordered the Almond Crusted Chicken Salad
Almond-crusted chicken served atop a medley of shredded romaine, dried fruit, toasted almonds and mandarin oranges with celery and Bleu Cheese crumbles. Toasted in our tangy balsamic vinaigrette.



Double-Stack Chicken Quesadillas
Chargrilled chicken, Colby and Jack cheeses and caramelized onions and peppers double stacked in flour tortillas. Served with herb rice, fresh pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream and salsa.



Fish Tacos (one of the newest Mexican dish on the menu)

This was GOOD! :)

Good Ol' TGIF Fish and Chips
Three portions of fish filet battered and fried to golden brown. Served with crispy fries and tartar sauce.

What can I say, this is awesome! :)

The fish fillet were just crispy on the outside but tender and juicy on the inside, the way a good fish and chips should be!:)


We finished off with a round of the TGIF mini delights; with compliments from TGIF ;)


I am missing the food already! :)

Did these make you ready for the weekend straightaway? :p

Wishing everyone a great and fantabulous weekend!
TGIF Folks! :D

Father's Day Lunch @ Jack's Place, 1U

A belated post on my Father's Day celebration, which we only did over the weeekend :)
It didn't really matter to my Daddy, as we loved him every day of the year anyway, and the best part about celebrations is the family gathering; besides the food, of course.

Mum and Dad loved this place; Jack's Place since we came here to try their awesome and value-worthy set lunches more than five years ago, and this is always the place on their minds whenever we mentioned lunch at 1 Utama.


We were a little late when we reached the restaurant, with the traffic and the quest to find a parking space (it is always hard to find a parking space in shopping malls in KL on weekends!)
Set Lunches are served from 11am - 2.30pm, and choices were limited when we arrived.

All of us ordered set lunches from the menu; yeah, the choices were still quite okay. They used to only offer two sets for the set lunches, and nowadays, they have like, almost 6 types of sets for you to choose from.

Garlic bread for starters


Soup of the day; Pumpkin Soup

I don't like pumpkin, but everyone else sure does!:)
According to Mummy, the soup was a thick and rich creamy concoction and tasted of pumpkin with every sip.

Another way to have the pumpkin soup or the garlic bread; dip it into the soup

I heard the raves from the family about how this tasted, though I didn't try it myself:p

The set lunches:
Set 1: Roasted Boneless Chicken Thigh

The chicken meat was seasoned beforehand and was tender with the taste of the slightly spicy seasoning sauce.

Served with green peas and boiled carrots, the dish filled one up with the generous portion.

They have run out of the grilled fish, but I ordered the baked salmon instead.

It has seriously been a long time since I have had salmon, and I have to tell you that I missed them!
The salmon fillet was a generous thick portion and was juicy and succulent in taste!

I didn't like the taste of the creamy sauce though; kinda reminded me of something I don't want to think or talk about :p

Chicken spaghetti

Generous portion of chicken thigh meat served with thick spaghetti and cream sauce.


Dessert comes with the set too; Mango pudding


So does coffee or tea


Each set starts from RM15 (~USD$5) - RM24 (USD$8) per pax.
It is indeed a very nice place to dine in; with the environment and the food and it is no wonder we are always back:)

Little Taiwan in 1 Utama

Shopping can be exhilaratingly fun (only girls will agree with me) but it can be exhausting too, especially if you have spent long hours at the mall.

Shopping for food, to me, is an even more challenging task due to my picky (and probably fussy) choices for food for the time of the day.

1 Utama is a large shopping mall and home to many brands of clothing, home appliances, etc, and even eateries. I am not new to this mall (it is one of my favorite mall too), but I still find it hard to decide what to have for lunch/dinner whenever I am here.

There was this one time, however, where I was a little lucky as I stumbled upon a Little Taiwan on the Lower ground of the New Wing.


The cafe is relatively new, and the bright lime green colors of the cafe are just attractive to any passerby.
The food served here are halal; and the style of their Taiwanese food is infused with the local Malaysian flavor.
It is not surprising, as the owners are local Malaysians themselves, but I applaud and at the same time, curious with the results of this unique fusion.

Bubble Milk Tea with pearls is a signature drink made famous by Taiwan.
This is the green tea version, which was one of the recommendations on the menu.

It was a rather unique taste; and the intoxicatingly exotic taste of the green tea overcame the dairy scent of the milk, making it appealing even to non-dairy lovers.

Spicy noodles with fried fish

The serving in the large bowl itself is enough to send the 'stuffed' signal to the mind.
It is unique how the fried fish was served in a separate plate from the bowl of spicy noodles although it does makes sense as the fried fish could end up soggy when it is soaked in the noodles.


The fried fish tasted slightly salty but it was tender to taste. The serving was definitely more than enough for a single person.

The spicy soup tasted like a mixture of tomyam and curry powder used in instant noodles, but it was still quite tasty nevertheless.


Fried chicken with clear soup noodles was about the same as well.



The noodles were quite nice; perhaps it was to my liking :)

The serving was not exactly small; or maybe it was more than what I could take, but I do enjoy the food here.

The best way to finish off a Taiwanese meal, in my opinion is to have a refreshing bowl of Love Jelly (Ai Yu Bing), which is my favorite dessert!~ :)

The one they have here definitely have my thumbs up!

Who'd have thought that the Malaysian version of Taiwanese food could taste so good even though it was not prepared by the Taiwanese themselves?
I enjoyed the food and the superb Malaysian service/hospitality here too and is definitely recommended.
I am looking forward to my next visit here too.

This goes to show that Malaysian Can indeed do anything :)

Can I have more Japanese food?

Before I say no to Japanese food due to the alleged radioactive contamination issue, I kind of momentarily forgot about the whole warning against my favorite cuisine and succumbed to the temptation at Sakae Sushi.

This is my version of the story; I had lunch with an ex-colleague at Sakae about a month ago, and it was then that I realized that I have not had salmon nor Japanese food for quite a while already (since my home dining episodes started).



It has also been some time since I have stepped into Sakae Sushi and I was enticed by the alluring new dishes on their menu.
I have been wanting to come back to try one of their new dish on the menu, and finally, I have the chance, and yeah, it was right after the issuance of the radioactive warning (how smart of me, right?)


I was really early on a Saturday noon; and the place was just starting up.
It was just too bad for me that their system could not boot up and thus our orders had to be taken manually.

(their implementation of technology in their ordering system had always impressed me :)

Etiquettes of a Japanese meal:
1. Green tea (hot or cold as the beverage)


The Sakae sushi exclusive green tea; which is my favorite green tea too due to the unique and exquisite taste it leaves on one's tongue after consumption.


2. Wasabi and soy sauce (choice of sweet or salty) to dip your sushi in it


3. Never forget your chopsticks in any Asian meal!~


My must-have whenever I am in Sakae or any Japanese restaurant for that matter...
Salmon Teriyaki

(Over the years I have noticed the significant decrease of the serving here)
This is one of my favorite fish, and it is a healthy choice due to its rich properties of Omega 3.

Chicken Katsu Don


This is the star dish I have been eyeing from the menu and the main purpose of my visit to Sakae Sushi :)

Stuffed shitake with salmon on a skewer (RM12.90) is an appetizer which was delectably good (well, at least for the mushroom and salmon lover in me).
Pricey yes, but the taste was good and had me wanting more.

There was an ongoing promotion for Citibank cardholders at that time; whereby the you could buy one maki and get another for free.
California Maki


Soft shell crab maki


If you ask for my opinion, I don't think this is really good, and the serving size was just disappointing too. Well, I guess I can't ask for much as it was after all a promotional item.

It was just so unfortunate that my craving for Japanese food was recent and I was advised against the cuisine for a while.

In the meantime, do join in my prayers for the speedy recovery of Japan from the recent disaster, and may they be blessed with clear skies soon~