ShihLin Taiwanese Snacks

This outlet, the ShihLin Taiwan Street Snacks has mushroomed in a few major shopping malls in recent years. Although the size of the outlet is not big and the menu selection is rather limited, but I believe it is making good money to be able to withstand the operational costs.

The Story of Shihlin
Thousands of Taiwanese crowd the local night markets in search of their favourite and delicious snacks, and Taipei's Shihlin Night Market is the most famous due to its very wide range of local delicacies in its small streets and alleys. If a snack is nice, you can surely find it in Shihlin! The locals say, "If Taiwan has it, Shihlin has it". With Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks®, the Taiwanese and us alike can now do the same and enjoy the wonderful street snacks of Taiwan!!
(Extracted from http://www.shihlinsnacks.com.tw/MY/story-my.htm)

Being recommended by my house mate to this outlet, I finally went to pay it a visit when I saw this outlet in the directory listing of Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall.

As my ultimate aim is to try out the oyster vermicelli that my house mate recommended, I only tried out that exact snack. I admitted that the way it was presented to me was not what I have thought to be. I blamed it to the stereotype of a typical vermicelli soup. :P



It turned out that, this oyster vermicelli has a thick soup base, tasted a bit like slightly thickened shark-fin's soup with a tad of vinegar (maybe more than a tad, :P). It is ready-made, the 'chef' would just pour a big scoop (don't worry, it is really just a snack) of the vermicelli into a white plastic bowl, add some Chinese parsley, exactly two medium-sized oysters and some chicken-meat strips upon order. The taste was weird to me at the first nibble, but strangely it get better the next few. However, the texture of the vermicelli is quite smooth, maybe due to the fact that it is being kept warm in the pot over a long duration of time. Next visit? On this oyster vermicelli, perhaps once in a long while, but the XXL Crispy Chicken that I haven't tasted before, YES! :D

Oyster vermicelli is a kind of noodle soup that is popular in Taiwan and Xiamen. Its main ingredients are oysters and Taiwanese vermicelli, made to be tasty and full of aroma.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyster_vermicelli)

The Menu
小吃 Street Snacks

超大鸡排
XXL Crispy Chicken

肉松蛋饼
Crispy Floss Egg Crepe

蚵仔面线
Handmade Oyster Mee Sua

甜不辣
Seafood Tempura

开心便当
Happy! Ricebox Set

饮料Drinks

美味豆奶
Chilled Soya Milk

矿泉水
Mineral Water

The Locations
Penang
Queensbay Mall *NEW!*
Gurney Plaza *OPENING SOON!*

Kuala Lumpur
Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
Plaza Low Yat
The Gardens

Selangor
1 Utama Shopping Center
Ikano Power Center
Bukit Tinggi Shopping Center
Sunway Pyramid
Mines Shopping Fair

Malacca
Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall

Johor
City Square Johor Bahru


The Official Website of ShihLin Taiwanese Snacks
http://www.shihlinsnacks.com.tw

Other Reviews
http://www.weatethis.com/2008/03/12/shihlin-taiwan-street-snacks-oyster-mee-sua-xxl-chicken-1-utama-old-wing/
http://riceballz.lilnut.net/2007/11/29/shih-lin-taiwan-street-snacks/
http://kampungboycitygal.blogspot.com/2006/04/shihlin-snacks-one-utama-old-wing.html
http://masak-masak.blogspot.com/2005/11/shihlin-taiwan-street-snacks-1-utama.html
http://wp.peachjon.com/edition_2004_06/2006/03/shihlin-taiwan-street-snack-one-utama.html

Bentong Ice Kacang

It was a hot afternoon.

The restaurant


The Ice Kacang
Ais kacang or ice kacang (Chinese: 红豆冰; pinyin: hóngdòu bing; literally "red bean ice"), is a dessert served in Malaysia and Singapore. It is also popularly known as air batu campur in Malay or ABC for short. The word "air batu", literally meaning "stone water" means ice and "campur" means mixed. It is sweet-tasting and is primarily ice served with sweet flavoured syrup and jelly. The word Kacang is a Malay word for bean, and the word "ais" is a transliteration of the English term "ice".
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_kacang)


The cendol which is quite similar to the Ice Kacang.


The menu and price listing (this was taken before fuel price hike)


The menu (before fuel price hike)


Famous places do have lots of these stuffs, don't them? :P


Newspaper cuttings again...


There are a lot of patrons here though it's already late afternoon and that there are no main dishes offered here (if Yong Tau Foo is more of a side-dish).


If you have been to Jonker Walk of Malacca and think that the ice kacang there suits your appetite, then I bet this absolutely will too!

Sufficient amount of dark-brownish syrup on the shaved ice, generous servings of condiments hidden in the snow, not enough to lure your appetite? What about a home-made ice-cream topping it? And having it on a hot stuffy day??!!!

Hop on to Bentong to this famous dessert restaurant, the Kow Po Restaurant.

Fear not the sin of high sugar intake because the sweetness is just enough (of its taste). To me, the syrup tasted like Gula Melaka (maybe it really is), the caramel taste-alike sugar.

Palm sugar or Gula Melaka was originally made from the sugary sap of the Palmyra palm or the date palm. Now it is also made from the sap of the sago and coconut palms and may be sold as "coconut sugar."
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gula_melaka)

This ice kacang is best eaten when it has melted a little, when the shaved ice dissolved in the syrup. I don't really craze for ice kacang usually, but for this one, one ice kacang is just not enough. :P This is absolutely a perfect treat for a hot day.

At last, thank you HM for recommended and brought us to this restaurant. When's the next trip ar? :D

Extra Information and Reviews:
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/TravelTimes/article/FeatureStory/20070402124604/Article/print_html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentong#Local_Food
http://forum.fooxion.com/index.php?showtopic=532

Location:
Opposite Bentong Bus Terminal

Carl's Jr.

Let the pictures do the talking...

























This is so far the best burger I have enjoyed from a burger chain.
Quality : McD < Wendy's < Carl's Jr.
Price : McD < Wendy's OR Burger King < Carl's Jr.
Conclusion : Price = Quality!

(As the last time I went to Burger King should be some time ago, thus, no direct comparison of quality here.)

I tried the Jalapeno Chicken. The chicken patty is juicy, tender and fresh. Served generously with lettuces, olives slices (I think), it was ok as I don't really enjoy olives that much. Personally, I preferred Charbroiled Chicken Club burger and Charbroiled Santa Fe Chicken burger. Charbroiled Chicken Club burger has chicken bacons in it while the Santa Fe Chicken don't. Comparably, these two burgers tasted nicer than the Jalapeno. The breads are different, they are like the wholemeal bread rather than the normal white ones. The chicken patties wise, they are both juicy and tender. But, I noticed that if the size of a chicken burger is smaller, the bread used would be the wholemeal type. Ya, most likely the bread type earns my vote.

As part of the combo, there is a drink and Fries included. The fries are also very yummy. They are not the typical off-the-shelf thin version fries or the crinkle-cut fries. If you are observant enough (or perhaps you don't need to be observant to notice this), some of the fries still have the skin attached. However, they are soft, crunchy (not too crunchy as that would mean over-fried) and they are served hot!

And the beef burger comes in really hugeeeee size, but not so for some of the chicken burgers. Since I never tasted any beef burgers before, no comment on this.

Another credit to Carl's Jr. is the free flow of drinks and pickles. The drinks are not limited to soft drinks only. There are iced lemon tea and coffee as well. I would certainly want to visit Carl's Jr. again, despite the pricing which costs around RM 20 something for a combo set.

Other Reviews :
http://kyspeaks.com/2008/01/11/ky-eats-carls-jr-burger-screw-the-diet/
http://masak-masak.blogspot.com/2007/07/carls-jr-1-utama-shopping-centre-old.html
http://ipohwav3.wordpress.com/2007/08/21/carls-jr-1-utama-pj/

Branches (the ones I know) :
Sunway Pyramid
One Utama

Hainanese Chicken Rice, Serdang

There are two chicken rice restaurants/stalls in Serdang area which has attracted a lot of patrons frequenting them. I had blogged about one of them some time ago, now I would like to introduce the other one to you all. This is the Hainanese version instead.

Just like the roasted version, this chicken rice restaurant is also full of customers during lunch time, especially weekends. If you want to enjoy your meal, you are advised to go there earlier or later (with risk that the chicken might be sold out already).

Back to the chicken rice, the chicken meat is tender and fresh. It doesn't has the taste of 'chicky' smell in it, which is something I not so like about the roasted chicken. The rice itself I suspect is cooked with chicken stock which make it smell nice and taste nice too, not like the normal garlic rice which normally does not taste like what it smells like. Unlike the normal chicken rice restaurant, this restaurant actually serves you the ginger-garlic version of chilli. It is not really spicy, however, if you love ginger and garlic, you would love this. The specially-made sauce is the blend of chilli, garlic, ginger and some other ingredients that I don't remember or have failed to identify. Anyway, go try out yourself and let me know your opinions!

Address :
Jalan Kolej,
43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor.
(From Jusco Equine Park, you will pass Public Bank, Wing Heong Restaurant, Mexim Dim Sum Restaurant, and a few shoplots. It is corner shoplot and is behind a bus stop.)

Location :
Wikimapia coordinate : 3°1'10"N 101°42'13"E

Operation Hours :
If not mistaken, it is closed on Tuesdays.
(Whoever knows the exact day, please share it with me, thanks!)

Other Reviews :
http://www.ubisoft.biz/dc/2006/05/hainanese-chicken-rice-at-seri.html