Ria Seaview Village @ Kemayan Square Seremban

One of Seremban's few halal Chinese cuisine spots to hit back in the days. In his childhood, Mr Foodpacker and his family spend their weekends finding for good restaurants to have dinner at. Given the limited restaurants available at that time, they were lucky enough to find this restaurant at the end of an unexpected alley. Since then, the whole family kept coming back to indulge in their tasty Chinese Muslim delights.

Note: The dishes ordered from this restaurant are in terms of serving size: for 2 person= small, 3 person= medium, 4-5 person= large

Round table seatings: indoor and outdoor. They can pack more customers inside (air-conditioned) an it is preferably the better alternative as it is noisy outside due to the "active communication" between staffs at the beverage counter. They also have two types of aquariums: indoor and outdoor. The one you can choose and eat fresh fish from is outside =P. Operational hours: 10am-3pm and 5.30pm-11pm daily.



Kailan with garlic and oyster sauce. RM12 (for 4 person). Fresh veggie. When it comes to greens, their cost to quantity ratio is pretty good. Not much taste, just pure, healthy veggie.




Butter prawn (dry). RM30 (for 4 person). Their butter prawns dishes are the highlight of this restaurant. Noteably their dry butter prawns which is better than the wet butter prawns. If you're a fan of sweet egg floss, do request for extra, as they would normally come in a very small quantity.




Butter prawn (wet). RM30 (for 4 person). Coated with flour and cooked with butter. The lack of butter gravy is a big disappointment. This dish is overall dry instead of wet, though the prawns pack quite a crunch.




Venison black pepper. RM30 (for 4 person) Excelles better at taste then presentation. Well cooked and seasoned, with balanced amount of vegetables. Munchy and tender when eaten. A must order!



Three treasure jenahak fish. RM47 (price per grams) The real specialty of this shop is their fish meals. ANY fish meals. From their three treasure to nyonya to deep fried with soy sauce or even steamed, everything is fantastic!! (and yes, we've tried them all)

Since Mr Foodpacker first known this shop and up till now, it has been given frequent visits from China/Hong Kong tourists. But his family never fail to find a table during the weekends even when the place is filled with buses. So don't let the buses intimidate you =)

Dishing it out: This shop serves a quality amount of chinese cuisines. Their chefs are highly qualified with some bearing experience from working overseas (China etc). But as time flies, so did some of their chefs. Even though they have maintained the quality of their food well, but the style of cooking seem to vary over time. Eg: Their wet butter prawn was once full of gravy, soaked and tasted much better than dry butter prawn, but it is now completely a different dish.

Not only that, this shop seems to have a little problem with their serving portions. If you can see, ALL of the portions above do not match well with the number of people eating except when it comes to vegetables. This has been going on throughout the years. And it is even worst when you order for take away! Sometime you wouldn't even believe the amount of food you get compared to what you are paying for. Mr Foodpacker once ordered a meal for 6 people when actually only 4 people came by to eat (since he knows how stingy the restaurant is) but STILL it came out as if it was only meant for 3 people. Wonder how you signal "I WANT A LOT of food on my plate". Though it lacks value for money, it is definitely one of the best and few Halal chinese restaurant in Seremban that is worth a visit.

Coming back for more value: YES (for the lack of quality Chinese food in Seremban and for the fond memories created in this restaurant)
Crowd: YES
Cleanliness: MODERATE
Service: GOOD
Category: HALAL/PORK-FREE

GPS Coordinates: N2.719929,E101.9242


View Ria Seaview Village in a larger map

If you'd like to know the COMPLETE ADDRESS of the restaurant, please click on the "Location" tab below. (After Facebook comments and right before Blogger comments, its in between!)

..and that's our "DISH" of the day!!!!!

"LIKE" Mr & Mrs Foodpacker facebook page!!

Hey there readers! So guess what, yet again another stepping stone objective has been reached! Syukur Alhamdulillah.. without noticing this blog has been up and running for 3 months. The reason for making this post is particularly to celebrate our 10,000 pageviews!!!! and as promised here, it is finally time to come up with our own official Mr & Mrs Foodpacker facebook page!!!

10,000 pageviews in less than 3 months

The image is taken as of 5/11/2011 at 11.45am. Eventhough views last month have been running a little low due to my busy-ness (and also the fact that only ONE post was publish throughout the whole month haha) We were lucky enough to have reached our target by this month!!! So for that, i would like to thank all of you for your never ending support!

P/S: Currently a pre-opening promotion is being held for all NCBL fans to commemorate the end of our 2011 basketball season. So if you'd like to view the videos of the best match of NCBL 2011- Phantoms vs J3, you are in luck! But if this does not interest you and you are more concerned over FOOD (purpose of this blog anyway) stay tuned for Mr & Mrs Foodpacker updates!!!

Yuri Japanese Restaurant @ Allson Klana Seremban (EXTENDED)

Mr Foodpacker and his family have long known this restaurant (since he could remember, say 7-8 years) and he has paid quite a considerable number of visits throughout the years. Safe to say, it is one of his favourite places to have dinner with his family everytime he comes back during the weekends. Some people say that this restaurant is "the best japanese restaurant in Negeri Sembilan" and it is quite hard to argue with that as there are not many of them in this state. The restaurant is quite small but they have 4 private Tatami rooms (where you seat on the cushioned floor with a hole to put your legs below) that are suitable for family gatherings.

The entrance which is sort of hidden below the stairs right before the hotel's coffee house.



The normal seatings. The ones to the back is near the sushi bar where you can see the chef prepare freshly made sushi for you.



Tatami rooms require you to take off your shoes. Good for a little privacy with no extra charges ;)



Multiple awards throughout the years.. proves that this restaurant is very underrated!

Kani tanuki salad. RM15. Consists of crab meat, tempura crumbs, topped with fish roe. The tempura crumbs make this a crunchy and delightful appetizer!

Unagi maki (Eel). RM30. One of the best the restaurant has to offer. The chef wasn't feeling too generous that night so he gave us thin spreads of mayonnaise. Normally it's pretty thick. A+ for taste!

Yuri maki (Prawn). RM25. Mr Foodpacker's other must-order sushi to go with eel sushi. The taste is a little lower than Unagi maki but the crunchiness of the prawns makes it an enjoyable meal nonetheless. Again not to generous with the mayonnaise there. After requesting the chef to add more, the sushi came back with another line of thin mayonnaise. Guess that must be one heck of an expensive mayonnaise.



Sashimi shake (salmon). RM44. Nigiri (a smaller potion). RM18. Trust me, I've been to Rakuzen, Sushi Zanmai, Jogoya, Sushi King and Sakae Sushi and NONE of them taste as good as this! It is very fresh (the orange texture speaks a lot of its level of freshness) and dare I say it, milky to some extent. Absolutely marvelous!!!

Ebi tempura (Prawn). RM30. Mr Foodpacker's mum's favourite when she's on a diet =P

Tori katsu (chicken). RM22. Just an okay dish. Comes with sweet sauce to overcome the dryness.

Yakitori (chicken skewers). RM11. Just a normal appertizer dish and FYI the lemongrass is not edible.

Genkikara tahu. RM25. Huge tauhu(s) inside.



Kaisen tofu. RM18. An instant hit with Mr Foodpacker's family. Gone in a few minutes. Better than Genkikara tahu above.



Garlic fried rice. This comes with the set meal. One word "FLUFFY". This is what all of Mr Foodpacker's family members are looking forward to the most to eat in this shop! 1 fluffy garlic fried rice is normally not enough for each of them (his brothers especially) and they tend to add extra orders. Truly wholesome.

Sirloin beef teppanyaki course. RM48 with rice (above), chawan mushi, salad, miso soup, fried beansprout, and watermelon fruit. The gravy of the beef is simply heavenly (wish they had put more) and the beef is very tender to perfection. The fried onions also helps to add a delightful crunchy texture to the meal. Highlight of this restaurant! A++ for taste! =D
(This dish is cooked using a slight amount of white wine, if you are a Muslim like we are, do request them to cook WITHOUT the wine)

Tempura soba. RM29. A beautiful clear soup garden-like delight. Look at all the fresh ingredients in there harmonizing as a whole. Better eat the prawns fast (or put it aside) before it gets soaked and lose its crunchiness.



Matcha ice cream. RM8. This beats every other ice cream brands out there in terms of green tea flavour (beats even Hagen Daz IMO) The staff said that this is home-made and its powder is brought all the way from Japan. The white threads of 'seaweed' (that's what they said it is made of) is an unusual compliment to the ice cream. Another signature of this shop and another must try!



A matcha green tea for everyone. Ended up ordering 2 more and the staff was nice enough to give it FOC! though it came in smaller portions, we would have gladly paid for the bigger ones. XD

Dishing it out: Given the lack of Japanese restaurants in Negeri Sembilan, this is truly one of the best (if not the best) Japanese restaurant in the state. Every meal is authentically Japanese and they were able to maintain the high quality over the years. They also serve buffet on Sundays from 12pm- 2.30pm. This is the time when it seems the place is full so do make a reservation. Buffet is around RM50++ increased to RM55++ / RM63.80 nett for adults, but i think it'll be worth the price as rumor says they serve huge slices of all you can eat unagi!

Coming back for more value: YES
Crowd: NO
Cleanliness: CLEAN
Service: GOOD but it is hard to get their attention to add additional orders sometimes, especially if you are sitting in the Tatami room. So just clap your hands if they can't here you. That's the Japanese way.

Category: HALAL/PORK-FREE  okay, this is slightly confusing. When we asked the manager whether the restaurant was Halal, she told us that it is and they had acquired the certificate. But when we asked if any types of wine, liquor or sake were used in the meals, they told us that they use it on only 1 dish. Which is the beef teppanyaki. If you'd like further clarification regarding this matter, do give them a call at their number below =)

GPS Coordinates: N2.721676,E101.951044


View Yuri Japanese Restaurant in a larger map

If you'd like to know the COMPLETE ADDRESS of the restaurant, please click on the "Location" tab below. (After Facebook comments and right before Blogger comments, its in between!)

Tel: 06 762 9600 / or call the front desk and ask them to connect you to Yuri at 06 766 7888

..and that's our "DISH" of the day!!!!!

Reviews of Mr & Mrs Foodpacker

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Another milestone reached!!

Before we say anything.. HAPPY 1-MONTH ANNIVERSARY to Mr & Mrs Foodpacker food blog!
Thank you for all your support thus far! This blog would not be up and running until now if it wasn't for your support! Family and friends, don't be shy to give us a shout-out in the chatbox whenever you visit. We would love to know who reads our blog ;)

5,000 pagviews in 1 month 10 days

The image is taken as of 19/9/11 at 05:09pm. During the early stages of creating this blog, we made a promise to ourselves that -when we finally get our 5,000th pagview- is when we would officially establish ourselves as serious foodbloogers. So far, we have recieved numerous enquiry phone calls, food tasting invites and restaurant suggestions/introductions! so i guess we are pretty much in the game XD hope that all of you will continue to show your support for our blog as we continue to spread good food around for you to eat! Thanks again!!

Here is our next future objectives:
Create a Mr & Mrs Foodpacker page on Facebook after getting 10,000 pageviews.

p/s: and with that i present to you.. the total pageviews counter is now ACTIVATED! (most bottom section of the right column) start counting! =D

William's Corner @ Kelana Jaya / Taman Mayang Petaling Jaya (EXTENDED)

Credit to Kokure Arill for the recommendation and introduction.


We first heard of this place a while back before we finally decided to give it a visit. Word-of-mouth was, "this places serves a huge platter of Nasi goreng ketam!" and "the meal looked like it was meant for 3 so I took half an hour to finish it..". Other things that were said, "it does not have a proper premise" and "it is right beside the road". Well, all we can say is that the first half is true, and the later is not so true anymore. They DO serve big portions of everything and they DO NOT locate by the side of the road anymore as they have now relocated to a new permise.

A little interesting info regarding the owner, William is of baba nyonya descent and he also has a smaller brother by the name of Murni who also happen to own a restaurant by the name of "Murni Discovery" which is quite famous too. The difference being, Murni is a franchised restaurant. From what we saw, William is a huge cat lover and a friendly person. But it takes a little while to warm up to him and his sense of humour. Haha. You can tell how passionate he is of what he does, just by looking at his meals. Also he does a massive CRM at work. Don't know what it means? Google it.

There is no signboard that carries the name of the restaurant. Your safest bet is to search for the big green chalk board. Most seatings are outdoor. The indoor is fully occupied by their kitchen. If it rains, your option is to sit below the building or under the umbrellas provided (four of them) Operational hours: 6pm- 3am.

Eventhough this restaurant applies the open air mamak system, the prices (click picture to enlarge) on these board certain are not of mamak standard. Think of it as mamak shop environment meets high class western cuisines. They do not have a menu, so if you are not clear what to order take your time and enter the shop to read the menu first.

Hattan, a local artist (singer) was spotted at the scene. A weird / magnificent thing about this shop is that when you order through William, he seems to remember every single order without writing it down even if you come with a family of 6-10 people. We saw it with our own eyes. He shouts the order to the kitchen and somehow his staffs too seem to get every single order. Talk about an experienced crew!

Beverage menu. (click picture to enlarge) Most of the highlights come from the 'Blended' section.

Soda herb. RM8. A spectacle to the eye, a wonder to the mouth. A friend of ours said "looks like an aquarium". Consists of serai, sour plum, lemon, mint leaves and lotsa lotsa lychee. Must order! Nothing like you have ever tasted before.

Ribena lychee. RM8. The name says it all. And as you expected, it is sweet. This product resembles the one from Murni! ;) 

 

Nenas asam boi with rambutan. RM8. As complicated as it sounds, even the waiter came back and asked us to repeat what we ordered. Tastes sweet and some of the rambutans have pineapples in them! Advicable to stir before drink as the asam boi tend to clog at the bottom.



Kedondong asam boi. RM8. Sweet and sour sensation. We prefer this than the nenas asam boi as the taste was much more simple and not too complex.

Anti Pesto. Premier (Full). RM50. HUGE. We though this was an appetizer. LOL. It is overall a whole-hearty dish consisting of hotdogs, salami, pepperoni, chicken wings, sliced smoked duck, beef(2 medium ones), lamb(2 big ones), ribs(2 big ones) and finally mashed potatoes in the middle. For the quantity you are getting, it is quite worth the price! A meal like this in any western restaurants such as TGIF or Tony Romas would have easily cost up to RM80-RM100. My advice, strictly for sharing. Taste wise, everything tasted just okay individually. We prefer to have more bbq sauce on the ribs.

Meatball carbonara. RM20. HUGE. Biggest bowl of pasta we've ever eaten. The spagetthi is literally "bathed" in carbonara sauce. IMO the sauce was tastless and had a funny texture. It did not have that level of freshness in it. Might be due to fasting month busy-ness. Other than that, the meatballs are fantastic!

Nasi goreng ketam. RM25. HUGE. This dish is like a mountain of rice topped with crispy soft shell crab. Definitely a must try if you come to this restaurant. Almost everyone seem to order it. Just hope that you get a big plate so they can maximize the amount of rice for you. We were not so lucky as we came during break fast(it was during the Ramadhan month) and they were running out of the usual big plates, so they served our nasi goreng on a smaller plate instead. Smaller plate = lesser quantity. We have to say that we were quite dissapointed looking at other customers getting HUGE nasi goreng ketam and ours was just medium. =(

Gouda cheese naan. RM10. William said "kalau nak perempuan suka, kasi makan Gouda. nanti dia tergoda." NICE. haha. 2 layers of naan filled with cheese in between accompanied by butter, caramel and chocolate sauce. Both sauces are mixed with condensed milk thus giving it the thick and sticky texture.  Trust me, the naan is already good by itself, but it would taste much better if you mix it with all 3 condiments together. =D

Butter noodles with beef bacon and grilled ayam pandan. RM20. The ayam pandan is one of the best we've ever tasted. Trully delicious. Don't expect the noodles to taste like butter just because of its name, it tastes of sos kicap with a lot of spicyness towards the edge. A REALLY spicy meal due to the cili api.

Nasi mandy with harissa chicken and morrocon chicken. RM30. A dish for big eaters. Or you can share.

Basmati rice was used. Comes with 2 vegetable dishes. IMHO, the rice lacks in flavour and the fullfillness you get when eating a mandy rice. But it was fulffy enough that we enjoyed it nonetheless.



Harissa (black seasoning) = Garlic sauce. Morrocon (red seasoning) = Paprika sauce. Spicy. Both were well cooked and grilled to perfection.

Vanilla panna cotta. RM10. Served cold with chocolate caramel sauce. An awesome dessert! Somehow the taste and shape reminded us of ricotta cheese. (which was used during our experiment of baking lasagneXD)

Dishing it out: As you can see, everything is HUGE in this shop from the drinks to pasta and grilled items. It is rare that you can find a shop that has both -Quality- and -Quantity- checked in BOTH their meals and beverages. The variety/food combination also makes it more interesting. Just be careful not to overwork on the Quantity side (which you would be prone to given the serving portion) as the law of marginal utility is highly at work here. The meal taste great and of high quality, but the more you taken in the Quantity the less of Quality you seem to enjoy. Get it? We only disovered this after visiting the shop for the 2nd time and we found that the best way to enjoy William's meal, is by SHARING. =)

The service is lightning fast over here (food arrived less than 5 minutes after being ordered) which brings me to one concern, the dishes were not freshly prepared. They might have precooked them and just reheat them before serving. That would explain my slightly cold carbonara and mixed grill. Only the nasi goreng ketam was warm and it came late, indicating they were fresly cooked. Hopefully, this type of service only last during the fasting month as it is understandable to precook a large amount of food to cater the large number of guests catching time to break fast. We were also glad to find out that all of the meals were freshly prepared during non-fasting month period. Props to them.

Coming back for more value: YES this place brings so much wonder you can not help yourself to come back. Will try their Aglio olio pasta and nasi goreng risotto. Yes. Risotto.
Crowd: YES
Cleanliness: MODERATE
Service: MODERATE
Category: HALAL/PORK-FREE

GPS Coordinates: N3.11637,E101.60490


View William's in a larger map

If you'd like to know the COMPLETE ADDRESS of the restaurant, please click on the "Location" tab below. (After Facebook comments and right before Blogger comments, its in between!)

..and that's our "DISH" of the day!!!!!

Homst @ Kota Damansara

Homst Restaurant is allerged to be one of the best Chinese Muslim restaurant in Klang area. It is located in Damansara's eating hotspot where Big Brother also resides. Who knew there are so many nice places to eat in Damansara. lol Try circling around the commercial area and you would find a variety of good franchised restaurants to have a meal at. Anyway, this post is particularly about Homst, so let's get down to business..

Not too hard to find a parking here. Operational hours: 8am- 10.30pm.

Chinese themed interior and an open air seating concept. There are many table shapes and sizes to suit the number of pax you bring. The staff was nice enough to give us the 4-seater table as we order A LOT of food during that visit. (which was during fasting month, so it is highly understandable :P)

Ribena special. RM5. Contains chunks of watermelon and lychee. We found it just a little bit sweet to our liking, but thats what additional orders of iced water are for.

Chinese fried rice. RM6. This is worth the money as there are many chunks of chicken and pieces of prawn inside. The taste is just alright.



Taufu (small). RM8. Our favourtie food condiment to go with every chinese meal. The gravy of the taufu is very good and it helps to give moisture to our fried rice.



Butter prawn (small). RM18. The prawns served are medium of size. Quite generous on the amount of egg floss but unfortunately it lacks of taste. (unlike the floss we tasted from Bamboo Garden which was filled with rich sweet taste!)

Sambal fish (kerapu). RM34 (seasonal price). The most memorable dish from this restaurant. Eventhough we asked for sambal fish, this actually tasted more like sweet and spicy. Nonetheless, very CRISPY and tasty! Highlight of our visit.

Sizzling beef (small). RM14. You would be amazed of how soft and tender the beef is. A must try for its wonderful texture. Another highlight of our visit.

Wet buttered chicken (medium). RM17. After tasting the butter chicken from Gold Chilli, nothing compares to it. This one does not come close. Somehow the gravy tasted like gulai masak lemak. The chicken were not well diced too (you can see they simply cut it in any shapes and sizes they want)

Put all those on a plate of rice and this is what you get. A masterpiece of tasteful delight.

Dishing it out: It is hard to find a good and quality Chinese Muslim food out there. Homst gives the Muslim community an opportunity to dine on the many range of chinese cooking under one roof. So be sure to give it a try! You never know if you'd fall for one of its dishes, as there are simply too many to try. :) Don't believe me? Check out their extensive menu.

Coming back for more value: YES for Sambal fish and sizzling beef
Crowd: NO
Cleanliness: CLEAN
Service: GOOD
Category: HALAL/PORK-FREE

GPS Coordinates: N3.15227,E101.59113


View Homst in a larger map

If you'd like to know the COMPLETE ADDRESS of the restaurant, please click on the "Location" tab below. (After Facebook comments and right before Blogger comments, its in between!)

..and that's our "DISH" of the day!!!!!