Paper Baked Chicken at Tan Village Restaurant in Taman Desa Cemerlang, Ulu Tiram, Johor

I stumbled upon Tan Village while food spotting in Taman Desa Cemerlang. As I am a fan of paper (parchment) baked chicken, I was attracted to the big posters on the wall displaying various flavours of paper baked chicken.

We ordered a simple meal of half an "original flavour" 原味 paper baked chicken, a plate of bitter gourd fried with salted egg yolks and a mutton herbal soup.



I like the mild flavours and aroma of Tan Village's "original flavour" paper baked chicken (RM12 for half a bird).



The chicken flesh was tender yet firm, moist and sweet. Though tender, the flesh had a little spring and needed a bit of pulling and tucking to pull away the last fibres. I love it.



I also love this bitter gourd fried with salted egg yolks. Refreshing, crunchy, with savoury notes from the dried shrimps and salted egg yolks. This nice side dish cost RM6.



The soup costing RM10 was full bodied, smooth, savoury and herbal. Highly drinkable. The thick slices of radish were tasty and squishy. The mutton was firm, not hard, but it was not tender enough for my liking. The soup was neither oily nor gamey. Nice soup, especially for people who don't eat the boiled meat in herbal soups. Since I eat everything in the bowl, I prefer the mutton softer.



While chatting with the (camera shy) boss Ah Seng, he told me that the shop was originally intended as a kitchen to produce these frozen packs of paper baked chicken. Ah Seng's family runs a "kampung chicken" farm in Pekan Nanas and this shop produces paper baked chicken for pasar malam (night market) and food centre hawkers, and restaurants.

As there was excess space at the front, Ah Seng said they decided to serve walk in diners as well. They also added a few side dishes to make the menu more appealing. Ah Seng's wife just whips up the side dishes in the kitchen, when there is an order. No wonder the fried bitter gourd has that distinct home cooked feel that I like.



I liked the paper baked chicken here so much that I bought a frozen pack of Tan Village's herbal chicken to try at home. This take away bird cost RM16. Very reasonable, in my opinion.

Rating: 1-Star



Restaurant name: Tan Village Restaurant
Address: 7, Jalan Tanjung 1, Taman Desa Cemerlang, Ulu Tiram, Johor
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/UPAGm
GPS: 1.561603,103.807572
Hours: 10:00am to 9:00pm (closed on Weds)
Non Halal

Date visited: 28 Feb 2013

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Fa Shao Curry Boars 发嫂咖喱山豬肉 Stall in Chee Hwa 聚华 Kopitiam in Taman Ungku Tun Aminah, Johor

"Where to find wild boar meat in Johor Bahru?" I've been ask this question many times, especially by Singaporeans.

Earlier on, I found one restaurant (Sun Swee) serving wild boar in Kulai and now, finally found another three stalls, thanks to Steve, whose parents run these stalls.

 

Steve's parents run Fa Shao Curry Boars 发嫂咖喱山豬肉 stall since 1996 in Taman Ungku Tun Aminah. Now, Fa Shao Curry Boars has branch stalls in Taman Johor Jaya and in Taman Bukit Indah. Steve is making final preparations to open a new restaurant in Bukit Indah specialising in boar meat dishes.



This is Fa Shao 发嫂, the lady (Steve's mum) from Segamat behind the Fa Shao brand.



This is Fa Shao's signature curry boar. In this picture, the curry practically obscured the boar meat. In terms of taste, it was pretty much like the way it looked. The robust curry flavours and tastes smothered and fully masked any gaminess that was present in the boar meat.
 

The wild boar meat was tender and, in my opinion, hardly distinguishable from domesticated pork.

Steve explained that the boars Fa Shao uses, live in oil palm plantations and feed on the oily palm fruits that fell to the ground. These boars have more tender and fatty flesh. Other boars live near mangrooves and feed mostly on earthworms they dug up from the mud. Fa Shao do not use these animals as they taste "muddy".



My favourite was this wild boar in peppery soup 胡椒根. The soup was thick with heavy body from the dissolved gelatin. The soup had an umami flavour blended with a rather strong peppery, herbal taste. 





The large chunks of boar meat were firm though still tender. The fatty and gelatinous parts made the meat felt softer and smoother. The skin was quite thick, and it was gummy and bouncy. I liked it. Wild boar meat has less fat than regular domesticated pig.



The boar in peppery soup come with a plate of boiled rice at RM6.50. The curry boar also served with boiled rice is at RM5.50.



Many people dip the boar meat in this cut chili and soy sauce before eating.

 

These were pieces of boar leg, before adding the peppery soup.



Customers usually order a dish of this simple but tasty fried cabbage to go along with the boar meat.

If you have an adventurous palate and want to try wild boar meat, Fa Shao is one stall that you must try in Johor Bahru.





Restaurant name: Fa Shao Curry Boar 发嫂山猪肉咖喱山豬肉 Stall in Restaurant Chee Hwa 聚华茶餐室
Address: 2, Jalan Temenggong 11, Taman Ungku Tun Aminah, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/V1M2Y
GPS: 1.512590,103.652240
Hours: 5:30pm to 11:00pm (Closed on Tuesdays)
Non Halal

Date visited: 25 Feb 2013

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Cremoso Gelato at City Square Mall, Johor Bahru

The newly remodelled City Square Mall in Johor Bahru has many new and trendy food outlets. One of the new hip outlets is Cremoso Gelato and Coffee.

Today, I dropped by Cremoso Gelato at the invitation of Jeff, the owner, and tasted their gelato or Italian ice cream.



Jeff, who used to work in the financial sector, had studied with the gelato masters of Singapore for a few years before opening Cremoso in City Square last month. Cremoso offers 16 flavours of gelato like pistachio, strawberry, chocolate, hazelnut, coffee, vanilla, and so on.



Jeff and his staff turning and folding the gelato on the minus 20 degree cold stone.



I tried this Chocoton made with chocolate gelato together with Oreo biscuits, peanut butter and almonds served on a crispy waffle bowl. Made with fresh milk, the gelato was dense, creamy yet soft unlike regular ice cream (made with milk powder) which is airy yet hard. The Chocoton had crushed Oreo and almond toppings giving the gelato interesting variations in taste and textures. The peanut butter added a savoury, peanutty note to the sweet gelato.



This Chocoton, a regular size Cremoso Signature Creation cost RM9.90.



This one regular scoop of pistachio flavour gelato cost RM7.90.



Cremoso on the fourth floor of City Square Mall was located on an overhanging ledge offering a nice view of the centre court below. The comfortable seats make Cremoso a nice place to chill with friends or people watch.

If you are in City Square Mall and crave a sweet, cold dessert, Cremoso gelato may be just what you need.



Restaurant name: Cremoso Gelato/ Coffee
Address: Level 4, City Square Mall, Jalan Wong Ah Fook, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/Ex0Mz
GPS: 1.461570,103.763519
Hours: 11:00am to 10:00pm
No pork, no lard, no Halal cert

Date visited: 26 Feb 2013

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Awana Asian Kitchen in Taman Desa Cemerlang, Ulu Tiram, Johor

Rossman, Manager at Awana Asian Kitchen invited Johor Kaki to visit Awana Asian Kitchen in Taman Desa Cemerlang in Ulu Tiram.



Awana Asian Kitchen occupies two shoplots with an air conditioned section and an open section with total seating capacity of over 100 people.

After trying the siakap dishes at Sutera Village and Bangkok Village, I have become a siakap fan, and so I requested for Awana Asian Kitchen's Ikan Siakap Special.



This is a good sized, foot long siakap for RM32.80, deep fried and then drenched in Awana Asian Kitchen's own special gravy. The gravy was savoury from the belacan, fragrant from the lemongrass and other spicies, and a little tangy and sweet from the tomatoes and unions. There were also hints of spiciness from cut chillies.



The siakap was fried till crispy outside and still retained a bit of moistness inside. I liked this ikan siakap though my favourite style is still tiga rasa (three flavours) gravy, while others were won over by Awana Asian Kitchen's Special gravy.



Awana Asian Kitchen's tom yam soup was a blend of mainly sweet and mildly spicy.



Beneath that tasty soup was a mix of cut broccoli, capsicum, carrots, onions, mushrooms, parsley, chicken, squid and a couple of prawns, all which added sweetness to the soup. Personally, Awana Asian Kitchen's tom yam was value for money at RM11.80.



Awana Asian Kitchen serves good quality rice with their dishes.





To round up our lunch, we had an ice kacang. Basically, it was sweet from the ice cream, evaporated milk, grass jelly, boiled red beans and sweet corn with interesting crunchy, nutty bits from the crushed roasted nuts. The red beans were boiled in the kitchen and the peanuts were also roasted in-house. At RM3.30 in a comfortable, clean environment, I feel Awana Asian Kitchen's ice kacang was value for money.

Awana Asian Kitchen has a extensive menu as they also provide catering services. I will be back to try out the many other local favourites in their menu.



Restaurant name: Awana Asian Kitchen Masakan Selera Kampung
Address: 42-44, Jalan Rawa 2, Taman Desa Cemerlang, Ulu Tiram, Johor
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/R2BsF
GPS: 1.561517,103.806874
Hours: 11:0am to 10:00pm
Halal

Date visited: 25 Feb 2013

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M.I.A.

I've been MIA lately.  Between planning our upcoming trip to Disney World, cursing at Turbo Tax, getting what we need for the contract on our new home, nursing barfing babies, barfing myself and keeping up with the day to day I haven't posted enough.

Obviously it's not because I'm short on material.

We leave for Disney this week, and thankfully the dreaded barfing disease struck this past weekend and not on the plane to Disney.  We started with Moopa Friday night, it hit Hubby and LLG Sunday afternoon, and by early Monday morning me and my Gymnastics Queen were sharing a bucket next to my bed. 

I must say it was neat to have a buddy to share in my misery.  We sat up all night, napping, puking and chatting away. 

We actually had an in-depth discussion about who was sturdy enough to walk to the fridge for Sprite.

After mumbling, give me a few minutes, for over an hour it was me.  A mother's love and all.

In other news, I'm super frustrated with Turbo Tax (I don't speak accountant), super excited for Disney and mentally preparing for our move in a few weeks to Pennsylvania. 

Let the chaos continue.

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Parmesan Salad Bowls

Another fun thing I found on Pinterest!!

When I planned my Girlfriend's Valentine Luncheon this year, I literally planned it around this bowl and a Spinach Artichoke Pizza that will be coming up later this week.

My friend, Sheri, told me she had these when she attended a dinner a couple of months back, and she loved them, so I knew that I had to try them!

They were YUMMY!!

and honestly...EASY.

I found them on the yummy life.

filled with a crispy salad topped with my favorite homemade dressing!

Dressing for Little King Salad!

I will post the recipe here and how I did them.  If you want a FANTASTIC step by step, please click the link above for the yummy life.  She has everything broken down perfectly!

Thanks to her, these were FABULOUS!

Parmesan Salad Bowls

makes 4 - 6" bowls

2 cups of grated fresh Parmesan cheese.  (not the canned stuff!!)

Good quality parchment paper

*2 nesting bowls (or see my comments below)

a microwave safe dinner sized plate

dinner plate

Invert one bowl onto a dinner sized plate, set aside.

Cut your parchment paper to cover your microwave safe plate.  In the center of the plate, on the parchment paper,  place about 1/2 cup of cheese and spread into a circle with your fingers. 

 It should be about 1/2" bigger than your bowl you are mimicking.

You don't need to be exact, and there can be small holes.  

Actually those give a more "lattice" effect when they are done.

Place in the microwave and cook for 2 minutes.

(I followed what she posted and they were perfect. See her blog for difference in microwave wattage)

The cheese will bubble and start to brown.

Take it out of the microwave, and carefully (IT'S HOT!) flip it upside down onto the bowl inverted on to the plate. She suggested nesting another bowl on top to form the bowls.  but my bowls don't nest tightly, and I didn't want to buy more bowls..you know...to make bowls... you get the idea...

So I just laid a kitchen towel over the parchment and formed them with my hands.

Take off of the bowl while they are warm.  They cool quickly, make sure to cool them before stacking them.

I used the same piece of parchment for 6 bowls, and never had a problem.

Stack them in an airtight container, (I used a big ice cream bucket) and they can be stored up to 5 days.

Again, since I didn't take pictures of all of the steps, I highly encourage you to go pay her a visit and read all of her tips and ideas.  She even teaches you how to grate cheese!!

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Ayam Penyet at Restoran Zona Ayam Penyet, Taman Maju Jaya, Johor Bahru

Zona Ayam Penyet was often mentioned in Johor Sedap Facebook Group discussions, so we decided to drop by and give it a try, yesterday.



Restoran Zona is located on a second floor unit, along Jalan Maju just opposite the MacDonald's outlet in Plaza Pelangi.



There were three of us, so we had a chicken drumstick, a chicken breast and an ikan kerisi. I wanted pecel lele (catfish) but it was sold out. Total bill with soft drinks was just over RM25.



Ayam Penyet fans would object that this isn't ayam penyet as it was not smashed. Also missing were the crispy batter crumb toppings, to the annoyance of ayam penyet purists. But, even ayam purists would agree that this fried chicken was well executed and tasty.



Wrapped in very thin batter, it was crispy on the outside, and still tender and moist inside. I like this really, as average ayam penyet is often too dry for my liking (I can hear the howls of protests from the ayam penyet purists.)



The anaemic looking sambal chili also failed in the eyes of ayam penyet fans as it was supposed to be red, stinging spicy, and mixed with savoury anchovies. At Zona, the sambal was made with green chilies and various pulpy ingredients like unions. Again, I liked this mildly spicy sambal chili while my companions felt it was a let down with no kick.



But, we all agreed that this well executed fried ikan kerisi was the best of the three dishes we tried at Zona.



Crispy outside, tender and moist inside. Fresh and no fishiness at all.



This photogenic tempeh was rather tasteless by itself but it was delicious when dipped in the mild sambal chili. The same comments went for the small piece of fried tofu.

The fried dishes were served with simple, boiled white rice and a small bowl of soup. There was, well, nothing in the clear soup, just a slight salty taste.



There is also this interesting section of kumpang style seating i.e. low tables and no chairs. Customers sit crossed legged on the raised wooden flooring. Customers are also required to leave their shoes at the door.

I have not qualms recommending Restoran Zona to anyone, except ayam penyet purists :)

Restaurant name: Restoran Zona Ayam Penyet 
Address: 1A-1, Jalan Maju, Taman Maju Jaya, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/qt7ME
GPS: 1.480682,103.764989
Hours: 10:00am to 10:00pm
Halal

Date visited: 20 Feb 2013

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