Cheers Pub & Bistro, Damansara Heights

Cheers Pub & Bistro

Not exactly a place where everyone knows your name, but if you are regular enough, you might just be one of the familiar faces. Tucked away in a quiet area of Damansara Heights, this cozy pub & bistro has been a place for my friends and I, when we just want to catch up and relax with some good chilled beers and beer food. It gets quite crowded sometimes and when they have group parties and celebrations, it gets rowdy and packed to the brim.

Food & Drinks

Great Guinness place and great beer food like the fried chicken wings, the superb mutton varuval which is so full of flavour. We normally order 2 rounds for this one. The pakoras (onions coated with chickpea flour together with spices like coriander, tumeric, masala salt etc and deep fried) is good as well. Everything there is quite reasonably priced.

Fried Chicken Wings

Mutton Varuval with Toast Bread

Pakoras

Ambience

Cheers gives you a feel of a nice neighbourhood pub with no frills whatsoever. You can get plenty of drinks there from beers to a good selection of wine to whisky and other popular liquors. So if you are looking for a place to chill out with your friends, you can’t go wrong with this place.

They have a big projector screen and when sports channels are not on, it would be the news channel on the latest hot topic on politics and scandals. Occasionally, you get entertained by a live band. I found out that you can even get to the little make shift dance floor right in front of the band to do your thing ! Make sure you have a few courage drinks before that.

Special Guests

Sanggat's favourite pub ( the last i heard). Maybe it is the combination of the poor men's drink plus the boneless beer food (countrymen style) that appeals to him.

Hanging out with Sanggat & Mike

One of our chill out pub that Hitz The Spot !!!

Have a good happy hours and …Cheers !!!

Verdict

3 out of 5 for the Chicken Wings & Pakoras
4 out of 5 for the Mutton Varuval & Guinness

Location

Address-

8-4, Jalan Batai, Damansara Heights, KL

Tel : +603-20953391

Canton-i Restaurant

Noodles & Dim Sum delights @ Canton-i

I love HK. I have been there many times and i still yearn to return. HK fills me with many warm memories of various culinary experiences apart from the shopping and the nature walks and well established hiking trails. Yes, hiking trails is one of the many hidden treasures of HK. From the Lantau trails to Sai Kung to the Sunset peak and 'Twin peaks', you can enjoy the both the best of nature and the concrete jungle of shopping paradise. You name it, she's got it !

Nothing beats going to the hiking trails and tracking through valleys and mountain for half a day knowing that nicely chilled beer and good food awaits you at the end of the day. So, when i had some of the food served at Canton-i recently, it triggered my taste bud and brought back memories of the some of the lovely food that i had during my trips to HK.

The Food
Nai Cha

Herbal tea with longan & such

Right now, lets talk about food. First, I ordered my tea. Can't be caught having beers in the morning for breakfast, although i can't quite remember seeing beer on the menu. The HK Tea with Milk ( Nai Cha) was ok. Not a tea person, so my comment is "Its OK".

I ordered wanton soup. This rocks. the prawn wanton or (dumpling) is packed to the core .The prawns are crunchy and texture of the wraps...smoooth ! My MSG (mono sodium glutamate) detector was on and after guzzling down the soup and all, i didn’t feel thirsty and my lips didn’t dry up... so no msg.  

Wanton Soup

Then next was the beef ball. Simply gorgeous..similar to the ones i had in HK's Maxim Restaurant. A careful balance of meat & fat portion and the rest of the ingredient includes water chest nuts chopped into small pieces to give the beef ball a very subtle crunchy feel when u savour it in between ur molars and pre molars. Also, the other ingredients like the citrus peel , chopped parsley, gives the extra flavour. You have to serve it with drips of worchester sauce (slightly sourish in taste) and this gives it the final oomph..Definitely Hitz The SPOT !
Steam Beef Ball on beancurd skin

The cheong fun (steam rice noodle rolls) was average. I didnt like the texture of the wrap and also the filling. The wrap was a bit too thick and not so smooth. The filling was a bit dry. The condiment (dry shrimp and chili blend) is good and goes well with it.

Cheong Fun

The prawn & pork siew mai was quite good.It could have been better if i have had it at the beginning coz after getting really stuffed myself , the siew mai didn’t have the intended impact. Taste was good, ingredient was fresh and the portion of meat versus prawn was well balanced. The next time round, i ll just concentrate on having dim sum. They have other stuff like egg tarts and sweet pastries looks quite good actually.

Siew Mai

Carp Fishball & Lettuce Congee
The carp fishballs and lettuce congee is pretty interesting too. The fish ball is quite tasty and didn't lose its taste in that smooth , sort of blended congee. With a bit of those 'crackers' on top, it was a culmination of experience from crunchy to meaty to smooth and creamy. Nice. 

Roast Goose Noodle
You can order roast duck, roast goose, roast pork and char siew individually or have a mix platter of the roast stuff from the ‘roast corner’ right in front of the outlet. You can also have any of those roast meat with noodle. Up to your fancies. And while you are waiting for your food, you can check out the chefs in action. Take away counter is right next to it, so if you can’t try everything, you can always take away for tea later on.

Roast Pork & Char Siew (BBQ Pork) Noodle

On certain occasions, they have a special promotion where you can order a 'fermented beancurd' marinated roast chicken for just RM1. Thats quite a bargain. And we did just that. Thats what you call a "Yat Mun Kai" (1 dollar chicken in cantonese)!

Yat Mun Kai

Ambience & Service

In fact this is my third visit and the taste of the food has been consistent. Service was good and efficient. Ambience is quite interesting with the dark pink shades painted over the entire place with white bird cages hanging across the ceiling. Seats are comfortable. It is simply just a nice environment to have your weekend brunch.

Verdict

3 out of 5 for the wanton soup noodles

4 out of 5 for the Beef Balls

3 out of 5 for the dim sums, noodles & such.

This place definitely Hitz the Spot !!!

Although it is quite pricey for a simple lunch.

Special Guest’s Comments

Well, she likes the dim sum there, in particular, the beef ball. Gave a thumb up for the congee. As for the tea, in her own words …” I have had better!”. Texture of the noodle was good and she prefers the soup based version over the dry or ‘kon low’ version.

Location

Address-
You can find them at the following locations:

1 Utama Shopping Mall

G208 Ground Floor

The Gardens, Mid Valley City

LG-202 & 203A Lower Ground Floor

Queensbay Mall, Penang

Part of GF 12 & GF 13

Ground Floor

Sunway Pyramid

G1.112 & G1.113

Ground Floor, Oasis Boulevard.

Aunt Christina's Sarawak Laksa & Kacangma

Aunt Christina's Sarawak Laksa

Sarawak Laksa
I have a soft spot for Sarawak Laksa. Simply because I am from Sarawak. To me, this particular type of laksa is an acquired taste. Well, most of my friends from east Malaysia love it. I guess they grew up having it as one of the staple breakfast. However, some of my friends here in west Malaysia found it weird in terms of the unique taste of the spices used in cooking it. In general, the soup based is a mixture of sambal belacan, sour tamarind, garlic, galangal, pepper, lemon grass and coconut milk, garnished with omelette strips, chicken strips, prawns, fresh coriander, bean sprout and lime and extra sambal to give it a kick. I would jump at any opportunity to try anything sarawak. So when my sarawakian friends, Vivien and Stephen , told me about this place in Lucky Garden Bangsar that serves authentic sarawak laksa, I didn’t hesitate. Tried it and I liked it !

The next time round, I took my family there although they have been there before (thanks for not telling me about it guys). Well, it was the first for my nephews Nicholas and Nelson who are sort of half sarawakian. So I would expect a different reaction from them . Nick liked it but Nelson ordered char siew rice instead. Well, anyway, this stall is stationed inside the Nam Chun coffee shop next to the wet market in Lucky Garden. The stall is named 'Aunt Christina’s Sarawak Laksa since 1960’

The Food

The sarawak laksa is one of the better ones I had here in Kuala Lumpur. Somehow I felt that something is missing as compared to the ones in Kuching. I can’t quite pinpoint it. According to my mom, the black pepper and also the type of chinese parsley or coriander used in the ingredient makes the difference in terms of aroma and taste. Nevertheless, the portions are quite substantial for RM5 per bowl. Served in a big bowl and mid size prawns which was a bit bland in terms of taste. Overall, it is good and I would return.

Sarawak Laksa with omelette strips, chicken strips, prawns, fresh coriander & bean sprout

Apart from the laksa, we also tried the Kacangma, a typical sarawakian dish of chicken cooked using Motherwort herbs and ginger in rice wine. Women normally consume it during their confinement period after childbirth. But heck, I just eat it. Taste was okay but the soup is not concentrated enough for me.

Kacangma, a typical sarawakian dish of chicken cooked using Motherwort herbs and ginger in rice wine

Pig's Stomach Pepper Soup
We also tried the pig stomach pepper soup just to top it all up. Lets just say, I have had better ones in Paramount, Seapark. This, I will cover in my coming food review.

Ambience
Sit outside along the walkway if you can. It is a bit warm inside. Well, it is typically an old coffee shop so don’t expect anything fancy. If you don’t like sarawak cuisine, there are other stalls that serves Char Kwai Teow, Chicken rice, Wanton noodles and also a small stall right outside the coffee shop that sells nyonya kuih. Apparently, this stall is quite popular with their kuih.

Verdict
3 out of 5 for the Sarawak Laksa
2.5 out of 5 for the Kacangma

Does it HIT THE SPOT ?..... Not quite.Don’t take my word for it. Try it and let me know what you think.

Location
Address-
Kedai Makanan Nam Chun2-4, Lorong Ara Kiri,Lucky Garden, Bangsar,Kuala Lumpur
Opening Time : Morning till 3 pm daily

Location Map

GPS Coordinates :
N 03°07.988'

E 101°40.020'

EXTRAS !!!
Just to show how authentic kacangma is cooked, my sarawakian friends, Vivien and Stephen decided to cook some and gave it to me to satisfy my crave. It was out of this world and the balance of spices, chinese wine and texture were just perfect. I had it simply with plain rice and what a meal ! Check out the pics below. I hope they get into this kinda mood more often… then I ll get to savour more authentic home cooked sarawak cuisine !

Coming soon, I will attempt to do the famous Sarawak Ketchup (Tomato Sauce) Noodles using my mom’s authentic recipe. Not being biased, but seriously, I have never come across a better version of this noodle and this is something you cannot find here in the peninsula.

Food Quest Malaysia Debut - 8 October 2009

Welcome to Food Quest Malaysia. This little project of mine has been long overdue. I have been procrastinating, just like many other things that i want to do in life. But it is starting right now, after being forced to stay at home for 2 days with an eye infection, I finally found the moment in time to start my quest...My quest for good food experiences in Malaysia and where ever I travel to. So stay tune... watch this space.. you are with FOOD QUEST MALAYSIA !!!