Dim Sum at Tai Zi Heen, Prince Hotel Kuala Lumpur

We celebrated dad’s birthday recently at Prince Hotel & Residences’ Tai Zi Heen Chinese Restaurant. Tai Zi Heen is currently running a promotion for halal All-You-Can-Eat dim sum for lunch at RM45.00++ per person on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

We were among the first ones to arrive at 11:30am and were promptly greeted by the wait staff and led to our table. At the table were the dim sum menu and card to indicate our selections. Service was fast, probably because there were not many diners then.

The dim sum menu is divided into several sections, i.e., Chef specialty, Fried, Steamed, Rice & Noodles, Vegetables and Desserts. We tried a variety of the dim sum items listed in the menu such as siew mai, har kau (prawn dumpling), crispy prawn with mayonnaise, cod fingers with mango and oats, rice roll with prawns, shitake mushroom dumpling, Thai fish paste dumpling, stir-fried carrot cake, spring roll with duck, bean curd skin with abalone sauce, prawn pancake, wu kok (yam dumpling), prawn dumpling with jackfruit and steamed salted egg custard bun. There are three stir-fried vegetable dishes on the menu. The first vegetable dish we ordered was Hong Kong vegetables with magnolia petals and kei chi. I didn't quite like this dish.

Instead I preferred the stir-fried long beans with pickled vegetables that came topped with chicken floss.

The dim sum were delicious and not too oily unlike the non-halal version served at other restaurants. Of all the dim sum items, our favourites were the stir-fried carrot cake, cod fingers with mango and oats, wu kok and prawn dumplings with jackfruit. We had many servings of those! The cod fingers is a winner simply because the smooth cod goes really well with the sweet mango slices.My dad really liked the stir-fried carrot cake which was very flavourful.The prawn dumplings with jackfruit is a big surprise. The thought of eating jackfruit combined with prawns is not exactly appealing to me, but surprisingly it was actually quite nice.

To end our lunch, we ordered the Aloe Vera jelly with lime sorbet, Sea coconut & longan with ginseng, glutinous rice balls and Chinese herbal jelly (kwai ling gao). The aloe vera jelly was a nice change from the usual desserts served for dim sum. The lime sorbet definitely cleanses the palate very well! The kwai ling gao was served with sea coconut slices, sago and white fungus. It’s a tad bitter but I’ve no complains because I’ve always liked my kwai ling gao bitter. The sea coconut and longan is a bit of a disappointment. I counted more longans than sea coconut. The sweet soup has a tinge of ginseng which took a bit of getting used to.

The other desserts in the menu are mango pudding and sago honey dew.Tai Zi Heen is located on the 1st floor of Prince Hotel and Residences Kuala Lumpur at No. 4 Jalan Conlay, 50450 Kuala Lumpur. Tel : 03-2170 8888

Jelly mania!

It's been awhile since I made jellies so a couple of weeks ago, I took out my jelly moulds and got down to work! Jellies are always a favourite coz they are light and best of all, colorful so it's always a hit with the kids.

I found the rainbow jelly recipe on the internet and decided to give it a try but alas, it didn't quite come out right. The bottom part was too watery so it didn't hold while the top part was perfect. I separated the parts and the top part was delicious. Too bad it didn't turn out as I expected it to.

I also made the cocoa and corn jelly which I brought to the office for our pot-luck. Chocolate is a favourite of mine and I do love sweetcorn too. So this jelly is the perfect combination of my two favourites. Luckily this jelly turned out perfectly!

Finally, these colourful konyakku jelly are flavoured with apple and grape flavours and filled with fruits and nata-de-coco.

Don't they make a great treat for a hot day?

Sweet treats at Hong Kong

One of the things I like most about Hong Kong is the delectable spread of desserts that are sold at every street corner.

One of our favourite dessert stop is the Hui Lau Shan which has branches all over Hong Kong. We went there every single night of our holiday for our sweet fix of mangoes, mangoes and mangoes.

I've never tasted fresh fruit desserts this good. It's very addictive although they don't come cheap.

Yummy desserts!

We attended a kids' party at a friend’s house over the weekend. As usual, I made the desserts.

I figured since there’ll be a clown at the party, clown cupcakes fits the bill.

And for the adults, fresh fruit tartlets and profiteroles. It’s my most ambitious fete to-date. All in I made 35 cupcakes, 70 fruit tartlets and 70 profiteroles. It took me 7 long hours labouring on my feet but it was worth it seeing how fast it all disappeared!

Restaurants in Siem Reap - Day 2 & 3

We started very early the 2nd day we were in Siem Reap to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. After watching the sunrise, our guide took us to this little foodstop for breakfast. We ordered ham sandwiches which unfortunately took a really long time to get to our table. The sandwich was ok, the usual ham sandwich I guess.

Lunch was just a quick stop at a restaurant near the ruins of Banteay Srei. By that time, we were hot and sweaty from all the exploring, so the most memorable dish was the stir-fried morning glory and lots of cool coconut water.

Dinner is served at The Red Piano

Dinner was a different thing altogether. We decided to try the Red Piano, where Angelina Jolie and the Tomb Raider crew hung out during filming in Cambodia. You can choose to dine inside the restaurant, or sit on the terraces upstairs. We chose a table on the terrace upstairs which afforded us a nice view of the Old Market area. My sister ordered a spaghetti with white sauce, which she thot to be delicious whilst I had steamed white rice with tomyam soup.

Strike a pose! The baguette lady in Siem Reap.

Local & not-so-local breakfast at Terasses des Elephants

Dessert for breakfast? Only in Siem Reap!

On the last day of our visit, we rose early to get to the wet market. We found an old lady selling baguettes by the roadside, and inside the market, was a hive of activity as Cambodians go about doing their shopping. There were many food stalls selling all sorts of Khmer food and we found a stall selling Khmer desserts. We promptly packed 3 types to try back in the hotel. After that we stopped by the Terrasses des Elephants for our breakfast. I had a Khmer noodle soup with chicken and my sister had fish & chips. The soup was excellent! The same goes for the fish and chips. But the star of this breakfast was baked banana dripping with honey! It was rich and decadent, but oh-so-delicious! Back at the hotel we tried the desserts we bought from the market. Unfortunately, all three types were a little too sweet for us. Perhaps we were not really accustomed to Khmer desserts because of the wide variety of desserts already available back home.