Eat, Play, Drive with Nissan Almera - Aunty Koh Best Cendol

Last month, I was invited to join a test drive food trip by Nissan Malaysia. The plan is to drive from KL to Malacca and explore some of the good food there. I was assigned with Kelly and Joshua to drive a stock entry level Nissan Almera which doesn't have the push-start key-less feature. Some of the other teams were driving Impul premium version which comes with the key-less feature and body kit with 16 inch rims. The stock comes with 15 inch rims.

The trusty Nissan Almera that I drove.

The Impul Almera.

One thing about the Nissan Almera is the spacious boot space. It can easily fit two of me inside. I am 178cm tall and weight about 95KG. Yes, so gonna lose weight soon.

The journey to Malacca was quite smooth. Although the pick up response is a bit laggy for the Nissan Almera but once you are in a constant speed, it is a smooth ride all the way. Well, Nissan Almera is built for economy and fun driving in mind. If one wanted a speed demon, one would have gone for a Nissan GTR.

The fuel economy is surprisingly good even after driving some long sub-urban road to reach Aunty Koh Best Cendol in Bukit Rambai we only have to fuel up about RM 16.78 worth of RON95 petrol to reach full tank again. That works out about 6.8 liter/100KM.

The first stop is Aunty Koh Best Cendol as I've mentioned. It took a lot of turnings in the sub-urban area after Alor Gajah exit to reach Bukit Rambai. I was told that Aunty Koh only opens for business during the weekends from 12pm to 2pm but usually sold out by 1pm.

It is actually a stall located in a house with huge land, so parking will be easily available but advised to reach early so that you don't have to wait for too long.

We have a huge orders and Aunty Koh only works alone so we need to wait for quite a while.

And it's worth the wait. The cendol here is thick, springy and rich with the taste of pandan and santan. The gula melaka used is also not too sweet and rich with the aroma of gula melaka. I would have to say that this is one of the best cendol I've eaten so far.

Here are the videos of Aunty Koh preparing the cendols for us.

Besides the normal cendol, I also tried the santan-less Taibak. Pandan infused sugar syrup is used for Taibak instead of gula melaka. For those that can't take santan, this is a good alternative to have a go at cendol like dessert. Personally, I still prefer cendol. Taibak is a bit too plain for me.

Everyone seems to like Aunty Koh Best Cendol.

Kelly, Eunice and Hui Ping

Joshua Law enjoying his cendol.

With Huai Bin aka Sixthseal.

More food posts will be posted on this Eat, Play, Drive trip. Stay tuned.

Address:

Aunty Koh Best Cendol
No. 5113, Jalan Batang Tiga,
Kampung Bukit Rambai.
75250, Melaka.
GPS Coordinates: N2 14.804 E102 11.516

Food Crawl: Sri Sentosa and OUG

I was invited by Ivy to join in a food crawl session to try out the Kung Fu pan mee in Taman Sri Sentosa and then the beef brisket noodle in Taman OUG. The team of foodies for this breakfast food crawl consists of Ivy, WMW, Boolicious, CityGal, Nic, Serene, Rebecca, UnkaLeong, SC, Jason, James, and Tan Kiasu.

The Crocs Gang

I don't really sure why it's call Kung Fu pan mee, maybe it's because they used hand to pull the dough into a long and flat pan mee.



The freshly grind chili and lime is a must have when eating pan mee. There's dry and soup version. I opted for the soup version so that the pan mee can be smoother than it is.

A large bowl will cost RM 6 and small will cost RM 5. We all ordered small because this is not the only meal we're going to have lol.

Dry Version


The pan mee is really very long. The condiments that goes with it is the usual fried ikan bilis, minced pork and potato leafs. The soup is of the clear type but with the saltiness coming from the condiments. The pan mee is really very smooth. If you like smooth pan mee then this is the pan mee for you.

Soup Version

Rating: 3.75/5

Besides pan mee, we also ordered pandan chicken as a side. Yes, they don't only sells pan mee here. The pandan chicken is not too bad but not as good as the one I had in Restoran Ruby.

Pandan Chicken.

Rating: 3.5/5

The pandan chicken is selling for RM 4.50 1 piece, RM 9.00 2 pieces and RM 12.00 3 pieces. When I pickup a piece with my chopsticks to take picture, someone noticed the dripping oil and asked me to hold so that some of them can take picture. This is what you get for eating session of food bloggers.

Can see the oil drop?

Address:

28, Jalan Seri Sentosa 9A/133,
Taman Sri Sentosa,
Bt. 6 1/2 Jalan Klang Lama,
58000 Kuala Lumpur.
Close on Monday.
Tel: 016-288 3911

Click here to enlarge map.

Next stop is OUG. With Ivy leading the entourage, we all drove to OUG. Finding parking took us a bit of time because there's morning market in OUG, and it's around 10 a.m. so most people already woke up. After finding parking, we group up and follow the trail to Restoran Yang Kee. It's the same row of shop as Steven Corner but further down.





When I reached there, some of them already placed their orders. I find that the beef noodle here is somewhat similar as the one near Jalan Tun H.S. Lee in KL.

I had noodle with stewed beef brisket instead. According to Ivy, the taste is not as good as she previously ate. I found it to be ok and not too special.

Rating: 3/5



After finishing the beef noodle, WackyBecky brought a few of us to the butter marble cake stall that she crave about. It's just outside the restaurant where the famous pork noodle is selling. I bought a quarter of butter marble cake to be eaten later in the karaoke as me, WMW, Nic, James, Ivy and SC are going to sing. It cost me RM 7.50. Not a bad deal.

I also bought a piece of freshly prepared apom balik, and it tasted great. I'll give it a 4/5.



Everyone that ate the butter marble cake in the karaoke gave it a thumb up. It's really good, especially the texture with is firm and soft. The butter taste is quite strong too, which I like.

Rating: 4.5/5

After singing our hearts out, we detour to Otak-otak Place, 1 Utama for tea. Serene, Nic and I purposely wait until 3 p.m. only to place our order to be able to get the tea time set promotion. I ordered the steamed otak-otak with toast and teh tarik.


Grilled otak-otak.

Jason shared his keropok with us.

My steamed otak-otak.

The steamed otak-otak here is really good. If I have more money, I would have ordered more lol.

Rating: 4/5

My cup of teh tarik.

That day was a busy day for me from the morning food crawl to karaoke to tea time. Later in the evening, I was at Tiger Nuffnang Standout party. That explain why I was too tire to go join the bloggers in Murni's.

Kepong Food Crawl

Simon Says: It's the first week of the month again. This means Time Out KL: Comedy Thursday Night is on the 5th of Feb 2009. Remember to get your discount voucher here.

This happened about a month ago. Yes, I was busy. I remember that I was going to take a short nap at about 8 p.m. I checked my mobile and saw a missed call from WMW. I called her and she asked me whether I know about Sen Kee Satay in Taman Desa Jaya. I don't quite know the name Taman Desa Jaya but I know there's an area we call Desa Jaya in between Kepong and Selayang. She then asked whether I am intrested in a food crawl in Kepong. I of course said yes. Even though I have limited money in my wallet lol.

So, I drove to Carrefour Kepong where WMW is waiting for me. Took me 20 minutes, normally only 5 minutes from my place. It was a Saturday so there's many people shopping. Once I get on WMW's car, I was greeted by a very hungry CityGal. Then Jason show me a street directory which is almost 5 year old. Metro Prima was not even there yet. -_- Once he pointed out our destination, I already know where's the place is at. So, I navigated them to Taman Desa Jaya. You can read how it all begin here.

First stop, Seng Kee Duck Satay. I've been living near Kepong for more than 20 years and I don't know about this place. What a shame.


They used to sell pork satay too but now it's replaced with lamb.

We ordered 10 sticks of satay for each of us, which is 40 sticks. CityGal tapao another 10 for KampungBoy and WMW also tapao another 20 sticks.

The staffs diligently preparing our duck satay.

The satay sauce is very creamy and peanut-ty.



Alas, the yummy duck satay with the side dishes of onion and cucumber. The texture of the duck meat is harder than chicken but softer than lamb. It doesn't have the gamey taste that duck has. It doesn't taste like roast duck, it's more like a kebab. At first, I only planned to have 5 sticks due to budget constraint but alas I can't deny such a temptalicious affair. I had 10 sticks instead.

Rating: 4.5/5

Address:

Sen Kee Satay
Jalan 12, Taman Desa Jaya
Kepong
Tel : 019-218 7538/019-249 2572
Opens from about 6pm - 10.30pm
Close on Mondays

Google Map here.

Other ppl's view:

VKeong
WMW
KampungBoyCityGal


Next stop, I recommended Gou Lou Chao Fun (Tall Man Fried Noodle) that I tasted a few years ago, which I think is not too bad. I warned them that we might have to wait very long though. Located along Jalan Kepong Besar, this restaurant has been serving the residents of Kepong for almost more than 25 years.

The restaurant is called Seng Yuen but the locals call it Gou Lou Chao Fun.

The noodles are cooked by this uncle alone, hence the long wait.

I ordered Hokkien Char (hor fun and mee, some might think it's weird but this is how I like it), Cantonese fried Ying Yong, and Loh Mee.

Hokkien Cha

After an hour long wait, our noodles finally arrived. Not sure whether it's because there's too many customers hence a drop in the quality. As, WMW put it, there's not enough wok hei and the lack of pork lark.

The Cantonese Fried Ying Yong tasted quite bland but WMW say it's ok for her. Maybe, I'm more towards the heavy tasting side lol.

Cantonese Fried Ying Yong

Sigh. Quite disappointing. It's not what I've tasted before. The disappointment doesn't stop there. The Loh Mee I ordered turned into Yee Mee instead. -__-

Afraid of waiting for another hour, we gladly took the Yee Mee. Not too bad the Yee Mee but it's never my plate of noodle.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Mun Yee Mee

Our disappointment ends when the pork lard that we ordered arrived at our table. Pork lard saves the day. Woot!

Trust me, it's not enough for the four of us.

Address:

Kedai Makanan Seng Yuen
19E Jalan Besar (Main Road)
Kepong
52000 Kuala Lumpur
Opens evening till early hours of the morning

Google Map here.

Other ppl's view:

WMW
KampungBoyCityGal


It's almost 12 midnight when we reached our last stop for dessert. We passed by Tim Pun Gor Gor when we started our journey from Carrefour. Since my car parked in Carrefour, we make it out last stop of the night.

Since I only left RM 3 in my wallet, so I ordered one of the cheapest dessert sold here. Almond Sweet Soup + Red Bean + lotus seeds, RM 3 for a small bowl. It's a quite interesting mix. Never did I know that almond can taste so well with red bean. Yummy and fulfilling.

Rating: 3.75/5


Sweet Soup + Red Bean + lotus seeds


CityGal ordered Black Sesame sweet soup + Almond sweet soup, RM 3 for small bowl. Hence the colours are black and white. Read her review here.

Black Sesame sweet soup + Almond sweet soup

Jason and WMW shared on of the most expensive yet nicest dessert here. The mango with noodles (RM 7.50). The noodles is actually coconut jelly shaped like hor fun (rice noodle). The 'noodles' are really refreshing and smooth. Blended very well with the mango. Next time will come back to eat one bowl.

Rating: 4/5

Mango with noodles.

Why is CityGal laughing?

Well, the staff there speak some very Hong Kong style Cantonese. The waiter told us that they need to 'ta yong' (means closing time) instead of 'san moon'. WMW which is not very well verse in traditional way of speaking don't get he waiter, hence created a very funny scene.

And we end the night of food crawl in Kepong here. Ah, such fun going on food crawl with fellow foodies. It's been a long while that I haven't done that. I wasn't even a blogger yet in my first food crawl. Total damage for the night is RM 15. Not too bad. That's all I have in my wallet lol.

Address:

Tim Pun Gor Gor
(opposite Carrefour)
D-G-6, Jalan Metro Perdana
Taman Usahwan, Kepong
52100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : 03-6251 0209


Other ppl's view:

WMW
KampungBoyCityGal