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Palm sugar or Gula Melaka was originally made from the sugary sap of the Palmyra palm or the date palm.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

Pun Chun Duck Noodles (Bidor)

Thanks to Eric, we were brought to this restaurant when we were on our way back to our hometown. This restaurant, Pun Chun is famous of various Chinese Biscuits too, besides the duck noodles.

The herbal taste of the duck soup is quite strong, which we liked it very much. As for the noodles, it was the normal egg noodles, which I think tasted normal too. :P You can have your noodles dried or in the duck soup. I found the soup for the dried version is slightly stronger than the soup version. In addition to the herbal soup, you will also be served with either duck drumstick or meat together in the soup. There was some herbal taste in the meat, though the meat was not really juicy anymore due to long period of boiling, but it was still nice.

Other Reviews :
http://www.nst.com.my/Misc/goodbites/Article/20070305111218/pp_index_html
http://kyspeaks.com/2007/02/14/ky-eats-pun-chun-%E5%93%81%E7%8F%8D-restaurant-at-bidor/
http://kampungboycitygal.blogspot.com/2007/08/small-town-story-bidor.html
http://www.ourlilspace.com/?p=4

Address :
38 - 40, Jalan Besar, Bidor, 35500 Perak

Location :
Wikimapia Coordinates : 4°6'42"N 101°17'15"E

Operation Hours :
Opens from 5 am to 10 pm daily

Contact Number :
05-434 1554 /1562