Food Review ~ QQ Snowmix Sri Petaling

by BUTTERfly

Another Groupon deal, for RM9, I got RM20 worth voucher to indulge myself in some icy Taiwan desserts. There is warm desserts too. I'm sure many would have agreed with me that the craze started with Snowflake, from their very first branch in Subang. Soon, many competitors (or copy cat) start mushrooming around KL. QQ Snowmix in Sri Petaling doesn't just cater to hot and cold desserts, there is also Taiwanese snack to indulge in. I actually went there for dinner.

Copycat?

Figure 1: Soya Ice Series

I not sure about this, but QQ Snowmix apparently originated in Taiwan and was quoted as one of the top 10 dessert store (or was it the dessert itself listed as top 10? Business gimmick). As for Snowflake, from what I read written on Snowflakes' store, the founder migrated to Malaysia and start longing for Taiwanese desserts. So in the case of chicken and egg, I couldn't confirm which come first. In comparison, I feel the dessert at QQ wasn't as nice as Snowflake. As for the fried snack, again, it wasn't that nice compare to Shihlin. However, they has more variety of snack as compare to Shihlin.

 Icy Hot Affair

1. We ordered only one icy dessert as the weather is quite chill. Soya Ice Series contain soya bean ice, covered in grass jelly (cincau) and toppings of yam and potato taro (texture like muachi -glutionuos rice made into gummy like ball). (Rating: 4/5)

Figure 2: Taiwan Sweet Potato Stick (buy 1 free 1)

2. Taiwanese Style Fry Chicken is nothing to shout about. I feel it's way too salty. and the meat is not tender. (Rating: 2/5)

3. We also ordered Tempura, expecting seafood like squid, prawn, etc. Guess I'm too ambitious. This is comparable to Shihlin's tempura. It tasted something like Korean's seafood rice cake but this is fried in tempura's batter. For those who don't favor garlic, this dish has heavy garlic taste. (Rating: 5/5)

Figure 3: Tempura

Figure 4: Taiwanese Style Fry Chicken

4. Taiwan Sweet Potato Stick has a great offer of buy 1 free 1 since we went on Saturday. That's when we realise we are in deep trouble as the RM20 voucher super exceed our ability to finish to food. The potato stick is nice and I feel it's healthier compare to frozen french fries. (Rating: 5/5)

Overall, we spend all our credit and only has to top up RM1.80. In total, we paid RM10.80 for a very filling meal. Highly recommended if you want to eat Taiwanese dessert on a budget. It wasn't that bad, it's cheaper, and less crowd.

Coordinate: 3.071245.101.692227

Happening - A Laughing Affair

by pEANutbutter

Figure 1: The interior of The Bee, Publika.

It was definitely a good laughing affair at The Bee, Publika last Friday (20th April). I haven't laugh out loud in a very long time. Mr. Douglas Lim was an act to be reckon with among the local comedians in Malaysia, and on top of that, he was a good singer. But if want to compare to Phua Chu Kang, Gurmit Singh is a better singer. When it comes to joke, they are in a different league as Phua Chu Kang was more of a family comedy.

Figure 2: The jokers.

Anyway, back to The Comedy Club event @The Bee, Publika. The acts of the night was Douglas Lim, Paul Myrehaug (Canada) and Jen Brister (UK). The ticket was priced at RM63, inclusive of a drink (which is actually beer, something like Guiness Stout). We was there quite early, so we get to choose where we wanted to sit, either at a dining table, chairs right in front of the stage or on bleachers. I would avoid sitting very close to the stage as I refuse to be a target for impromptu standup comedy. True enough those who was seated around the stage, especially the bleacher was a clear target. If I was the comedian on stage, I couldn't help it eaither targeting the three men that was seated on top of the bleacher as they are three very tall men, one was even bald, and everybody in the room could see them. Paul Myrehaug couln't have describe it more perfectly when he says they look like the muppets way up there.


The first act of the night was Paul Myrehaug. His joke was more on sexual conquest and drunken intoxication. His accent was quite hard to catch, but still manageable. Jen Brister was towards mother's, as a british (although she doesn't look like one as her mother was a Spaniard) targeting their metric system, and also lesbian joke (which she openly admits she is one). Again, her british accent was also a little hard to comprehend, but nevertheless, still enjoyable. However, her ending was a little bit too draggy when she demostrate how the butcher is slicing hams after she had asked for 4kg of it in Australia (because the British doesn't use grams or kilos). So she go on and on and on for almost 5 minutes.


Then comes the act of the night, Douglas Lim. He is a malaysian, so definitely we are more inclined to relate ourselves with his joke. He covers politic, racial and ends the night with a very good rendition of Beyond's song (I not sure what is the title of the song) in the spirit of bringing back the glory days of Cantopop and mock the current craze for K-Pop. Wish I could have recorded it, but video cameras isn't allow. However, I think some audience did recorded it. Look out for it on Youtube. That song really bring back memories of my childhood. The starting of the song was mocking K-Pop, but he ends it singing the real thing. A really good performance. The first two act almost make me regret paying a total of RM136 (inclusive of booking fee) for two tickets. But Douglas Lim definitely save the day. Nevertheless, I wish he could be a little bit more friendly. Not sure whether he has stage freight or pre-show jitters, as the moment he walk into The Bee, he wasn't smilling or looking around. I wouldn't say I am his die-hard fan, but I do inspire by his work starting from way back during his days in Kopitiam. Overall, it was a good laugh.


Note that one has to have an open mind when going for standup comedy. They could touch on race, your mother, politic, ideology, religion, etc. But it was all only for a good laugh, no offense.


Food & Beverage

Figure 3: The Bee burger

As I had state earlier, each ticket is inclusive of a beer. As for food, there is limited options as I think it's their strategy to cope with the crowd for the night. We ordered Bee's Burger (an in-house specialty I assume). It's beef burger, nothing special actually. I find it quite salty. It comes with pickles, tomato, cabbage and lots of shorstring fries.  It cost RM33. (Rating: 3/5)


We also ordered lemonade (as I don't like to drink beer). Normal lemonade. No comment. Cost RM6.90. (Rating: 3/5)

Figure 4: Nutella 100g ice cream in cup.

Lastly, a friend highly recommended their homemade ice cream particularly Nutella and Guiness flavour. But I wasn't daring enough to try Guiness, so I settle for Nutella. It's homemade ice cream from The Last Polka. I find it a little bit too sweet, but it is full of chocolate flavour. Cost RM 9.30. (Rating: 5/5)


Overall rating: 3.7/5


Coordinate: 3.171133,101.66748

Food Review ~ Jade Pot Restaurant

by BUTTERfly

My first food review. Its been delay for quite some time as I'm too busy indulging myself in God's greatest creation, FOOD! My belly has been victim to my addiction, but I think of it in a good way. A bear need a belly. Skinny bear aren't cute. Period.

Figure 1: The soup base. On the left is the Jade Pot Superior.

Of Steamboat and Dim Sums

I bought a Groupon deal for dim sum meal at Jade Pot last year. It was really good,  definitely a good deal. RM10 gets me 5 meals. I can't remember the exact meal, but it does consist of siew mai,  Hong Kong's style chee cheong fun, porridge, etc. Didn't take any picture the first time because once my eyes set upon the meals, let's just say the rest are history.

So when I chance upon Groupon offer again, I took the opportunity to buy more. This time, they offer cash voucher instead which excludes service charge. This means the service charge has to be paid separately. They also offer cash voucher for steamboat. Both at 50% off.

Excitedly, I make my way to Jade Pot the moment they open their business for the day on a Saturday to savor their dim sum again. Funnily enough, the restaurant opens at 11.30am. Maybe they cater to brunch dim sum meal instead of breakfast. However, the second time around, I crash and burn.

Figure 2: The combination platter consisting of two of each type.

The dim sum wasn't like the first time at all. The chee cheong fun wasn't translucent with the right amount of oil. It was thick and sticky. Then the porridge kind of diluted. Their fry wu kuok (not sure whether I spell it correctly) was bathing in oil when it's cool. I actually invited a friend along, so it was quite an embarrassment. I can only conclude that maybe due to the crowd and the fact that they just open business for the day, could be the factors that contributed to the poor quality. I will still recommend dim sum here, but only if the crowd is manageable and you are lucky on that day. The service is pretty poor this second time around too as they couldn't cope. So do expect waiting. 

Get Down to Business
This post is going to be about their steamboat instead. Honestly, I was a bit hesitant after the dim sum but since I bought the Groupon, not going to let it go to waste. So dragging pEANutbutter and flyingraKUN along, we head for a dimsum meal. I came out unscathed, and feel the food was above average although it wasn't excellent. Here is the breakdown of what we ordered:

Figure 3: Clam (lala)

1. The soup, an in-house specialty call Jade Pot Superior Soup was really good. It's sweet and rich. Upon further inspection (and with confirmation from the waiter), it's actually ABC soup, but a real good one.  The Tom Yam soup wasn't bad either. And the best thing of all, it's refillable, free-of-charge. Highly recommended. There is 3 types of soup in total which you can choose from. (Rating:5/5)

2. For the Combination Platter, one can choose 6-, 8- or 10- combination. You can also order all this individually, but I opt to have the 6-combination as I wanted to try a little bit of each. There are a total of 11 types of balls and dumplings to choose from. For Combination Platter, they will give you 2 of each balls and dumplings that you choose. What I ordered in the 6-combinations are denoted in Figure 1. I think it's made by the in-house chef, not something which you can buy from the processed food vendor. (Rating:5/5)

Figure 4: Enoki Mushroom and Pork slice

3. There is a few option for seafood such as clam (lala), fish, etc. I only order the clam as the fish is very pricey (Imagine eating fish in Tai Thong). However, the clam wasn't that good as there is a lot of sand and it wasn't fresh. (Rating:1/5)

4. There is also a few options for vegetables and mushroom which you will find in a typical steamboat restaurant. I ordered the Enoki Mushroom. Can't say much about the mushroom as I overcooked it. (Rating: Inconclusive)

5. We also order thinly sliced pork meat (it's like bacon). Just boil it few seconds as it was suppose to be eaten medium rare. (Rating 5/5)
 

Figure 5: Hong Kong noodle

 6. For me, a meal wouldn't be complete without some carbohydrate. Jade Pot offer a few typical options of noodles for steamboat, but a Hong Kong noodle caught my attention since I never heard of it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't any special than a typical yee mee, except for lighter color. I also kind of feel the noodle has stale (or masuk angin, if you know what I mean) so when you cook it in the soup base, the texture wasn't solid. But it could also be the noodle's texture is meant to be that way. (Rating:2/5)

7. Since it's a steamboat meal, I ordered Chinese Tea (good for detoxification). It came in a funny but cute, kidney shaped teapot. Although the food is pricey, but the tea was reasonably priced. Hot water is refillable, free-of-charge. (Rating;5/5)
 

8. The service is good when there wasn't that many customer. But when it's pack, the waiter and waitress consciously ignore your call. Well, there are normal human beings, like you and me. I don't think they are paid well anyway. So, be a little patience. (Rating:3/5)

Figure 6: The kidney shape teapot

9. A few type of sauces. One particular sauce which look like thousand island sauce but it wasn't. It taste horrible and smell weird. Chilli flake was alright. As for the rest, we didn't try. (Rating: 2/5)

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Environment
It was quite a pricey steamboat as it's ala-carte, not the all-you-can-eat buffet style. However, the restaurant ambient is nice, it's quiet and they are quite attentive with their service (again, I emphasize, this depends on the volume of the crowd). The decor' of the restaurant is typical Chinese restaurant (ie: Tai Thong, Oversea, etc). They do have space for private dining. I would say it's an excellent place to have a quiet family dinner.

The Damage

	Breakdown							MYR
1.	Soup combination (can pick 2 types of soup):							15.00
	a)	Superior Jade Pot (House specialty)
	b)	Tom Yam
2.	6 combination platter (2 of each type)							16.80
	a)	Fish Balls
	b)	Meat Balls with Duck Egg Yolk
	c)	Siew Mai (Jade Pot specialty)
	d)	Meat Balls with Mushroom
	e)	Prawn Wantan
	f)	Dumpling (Har Kau)
3.	Thinly sliced pork							7.90
4.	Clam (lala) - small portion							6.00
5.	Enoki Mushroom - small portion							3.40
6.	Hong Kong noodle (lighter color yee mee)							5.50
7.	Chinese Tea (2 pax)							4.00
8.	Service Charge (10%)							5.86
							TOTAL	64.45

Figure 7: Variety of sauces

Figure 8: The weird thousand island sauce

Coordinate:
3.08634,101.673092