Western Food at Morganfield's, Dave's, La Boca

Haven't been writing for a while - have been preoccupied with many agenda after work: busy trying to learn about trading; spending TV time with DH watching Big Bang Theory, Castle, Yong Pal, Oh My Ghost, etc; and recently got hooked onto knitting again.

So, I'll be combining my experiences dining in 3 different restaurants over the past few weekends in 1 post.


Morganfield's @ Empire Shopping Gallery, Subang Jaya

It isn't our first time here, but first time ordering the Platter to be shared amongst MIL, DH and myself.

We arrived there at 5.30pm and the place is empty except for 2 tables with Happy Hour drinkers. We love dining early so that we don't have to wait too long for our food (yes, we're impatient when it comes to food!) and we don't have to make reservations or wait for a table. This place can get really crowded on weekend nights.

Morganfield's is situated on the Ground Floor and we usually enter from the front whereby you have to take the escalator up outside of the mall - go to the end of the mall on Lower Ground Floor towards Coffee Bean or Empire Hotel and exit through the sliding glass door and you will see the escalator on your right.

We ordered Chilli Cheese Nachos for RM 22.90 for appetizer. The portion is big - 16 slices and they are very generous with the cheese and guacamole and sour cream. They were tasty but needs to be shared with 2-4 pax in my opinion as the immense amount of cheese can easily fill you up!

Chilli Cheese Nachos

 

 

Since Morganfield's tagline is 'Home of Sticky Bones', we decided to try their Sharing Platter - The Carnivore for RM159.90, said to be for 3-4 pax but the portion is HUGE, I'm telling you!

The Carnivore

The Carnivore Platter comes with (copied from their website):
1. A full slab of spare ribs - choose from Hickory BBQ, Garlicky BBQ, Smoked Peppercorn, or  
    Spicy Asian BBQ;
2. 1/2 Chicken - choose from Herb Roasted Chicken or Tequila Spiked Chicken;
3. Grilled Spicy Devil Sausage;
4. Grilled Herby Hog Sausage;
5. Garden Salad;
6. 3 x Grilled Corn;
7. 3 x Corn Bread;
8. Crispy French Fries.

:

Close up View of the Smoked Peppercorn Spare Ribs we ordered

 

 

In Summary:

I regret to say that the meal was not really enjoyable. The nachos were good, but not the best we've tried. Cheesy I good, but not too much (in my opinion) for an appetizer.

The Platter is huge even if we hadn't ordered the nachos, I think. Plus, everything were just too salty! The sauce for the spare ribs were too salty (we had to balance it out with a spoonful of corn with each cut of spare ribs!); both the sausages were too salty as well!

We couldn't even finish the fries and eat any of the Corn Bread and had to take away.

Back home, we were thirsty the whole night up to the next morning and we were all drinking water nonstop (Imagine the frequent visits to the toilet in the wee hours of the morning!) Mouth stays dry and dehydrated no matter how much water we drank! Not going to go back there for their Platter - feels reluctant to try other Platters in future too - Phobia!

Having said that, I wouldn't mind going back for drinks as they have a wide variety of beers and cocktails and I love their beer-battered mushrooms (tried that in another occasion). Maybe, back for their cheesy nachos too.. Without the Platter combi, of course!



Dave's @ 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Bandar Utama

Back to Dave's again for DH's cheat meal. What cheat meal, you say? Well, DH have been on a strict 6- day diet a week for many many weeks! So, Sunday is his only cheat day whereby we'll eat out most of the Sundays to satisfy whatever cravings he has. Then, it's back to dieting on Monday and for the next 5 days after. DH has managed to lose close to 15 kg of weight and even managed to have the 6-peck abs he'd always wanted. Although he is dieting, but his diet is the healthy kind and DH has never looked and feel better! A friend who hasn't seen him for a while actually thought he went for Botox 'cos he look much younger!

Anyway, I digressed. Back to our meal in Dave's. It's definitely not our first time dining here, in fact you may read about our last visit HERE, just a month back.

The interior of Dave's - simple and average looking.

 

 

 

I wasn't very hungry so I ordered a salad with roasted pork - Crispy Pork Belly Shavings Salad (RM 29.50). The serving was quite big so we shared.

 

 

  All the perfectly roasted pork were hidden beneath the healthy greens.

 

 

                                             The jewels in my salad - the roasted pork!

Just 1 more close-up shot of the delicious pork

 

 

 

DH ordered our favourite nachos and it's good, as usual...

Dave's Signature Nachos - RM 29.90

 

 

 

 

DH ordered Braised Lamb Shank (RM59.90) for his main course and it was really tender and flavourful!

 

 

 

 In Summary:

DH and I always leave Dave's feeling satisfied with our meals - Dave's never fail to deliver! I must say that Dave's lack some variety in food choices when compared to similar restaurants like Chilli's or TGI Fridays, but we find the food quality here surpasses many other restaurants around its price range. Will be back here again for sure!

Location: Lot G209, The Promenade, One Utama Shopping Centre.
Contact: 03- 7725 4017






La Boca Latino Bar - Pavillion, KL

Our second time dining here. La Boca gives me the feeling of a Mexican restaurant (erm.. not that I ever been to Mexico, but La Boca plays similar music to that of Mexico).

Here's what La Boca has to say (excerpt from La Boca menu):

La Boca is a colourful seaport town in Buenos Aires, Argentina; and a world famous Latin American Restaurant and Bar in Pavillion, Kuala Lumpur.


The restaurant is casual looking but serves superior quality food.

Casual setting of La Boca

 

The bar where they serve all sorts of funky cocktails and liquor.

 

 

'Hand painted original artwork depicting the rough brilliance of the houses in the Tango street of "Caminito" which was built with cast-off ship building materials and painted by local immigrants' (extracted from La Boca menu)

 

 

 

Part of the kitchen and a pic of their menu showing the different cuts of beef

 

 

Nachos are our weakness and we always end up ordering one. No regrets in ordering this! One of the best nachos we've had - not the usual triangle pizza-like pieces coated with meat and cheese top with guacamole and sour cream.

 

La Boca's Nachos Rancheros - RM 26 comes with crispy tortilla chips with plenty of meat, refined red beans, tomato slices, jalapeno, sour cream, guacamole and some other sauces. They are super delicious! Only thing is the dish lacks presentation and they are served in a simple blue bowl which kinda reminds me of a dog's food bowl... But the stuffs in it is really good, so who cares?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location: Lot C3, 10-03, Level 3, 168 Jalan Bukit Bintang, Pavillion, KL

4D3N Taipei - Street Snacks Heaven (Part 3)

Shopping in Department Stores

DH wanted to go shopping in a proper departmental store. Went to Sogo and we were both disappointed - kinda empty and everything was soooo expensive. Didn't feel like spending so much, as we have 2 more overseas trip coming up. (YES!!..)

Just to show some pics taken from the 9th floor in Sogo...

 

 

Went to ShinKong Mitsukoshi Department Store nearby our Hotel after Sogo. There are a total of 3 Mitsukoshi Department Stores, all as disappointing as Sogo. We were initially happy that our hotel is within walking distance from 3 buildings of Japanese Department Stores, but there's nothing interesting in the dept stores, really...

 

Back to the hotel after an hour of window shopping.

 

 

Next destination: Xi Men Ding

 

 

Off to Xi Men Ding we go...

 

We took the Metro to Xi Men Station (means West Door in Chinese) on the Bannan Line (Blue Line).

 

Xi Men Ding is one of the famous spots for youngsters and tourists, hence you'll see many locals wanting to show off their talents on the street - from playing the harp to break dancing.

 

 

 

There's a 4-Storey Watsons in sight once you get out of the Metro. Went in to buy buy buy!

 

 

 

 

 

Went to eat the famous 'Ay Chung Rice Flour Noodle'. There was a long queue but the line shortens quickly. Only 2 sizes are available - small for NT$50 and large for NT$65. You may choose to add vinegar or chilli (which is really spicy by the way) to your liking although the 'mee sua' is already very tasty on its own. DH is not very fond of 'mee sua' but had to admit that it was really nice. I on the other hand wanted to enjoy it as much as he does but burnt my tongue while eating the piping hot noodle! Nevertheless, no regrets!

 

 

 

I was admiring this talented artist spray painting while DH was queuing up for the famous fried chicken.

 

Loved this! The chicken meat were tender an very flavourful. Some of them had bones though.

 

 

Some other talents being showcased and sold in Xi Men Ding...

 

Caricature

 

All sorts of things made in scraps of metal

 

 Even my 3 yr old nephew Ethan knows this is Gundam.

 

 

 

 

Tried this super cute ice cream - Mini Melts

 

Basically just ice cream in mini balls.. Cute concept though..

 

 

 

Lovely BBQ beef cubes for NT$100 per serving. You may choose your sauces but we decided to choose the Rose Salt and it was perfect! Meat was tender and super yummy!

 

 

 

Guess what, I found the 'Little Three Beauty Store' in Xi Men Ding! Oops, it's actually called S3 Beauty Store. Bought some more face masks here.

 

Will do a separate post for all my beauty purchases later on...

 

 

 

The Next Day...

 

At the airport, we had our lunch in the first chinese restaurant we see on the first floor of Terminal 1.

 

 

Beef Brisket Noodle - I like it. A tinge of spiciness in it.

 

Seafood Noodle - a bit tasteless for me. Swapped with DH. :P

 

 

 

Alas, we were back on Airasia en route back to KL. Love taking pics of clouds in the sky when I get the window seat. They just look like cotton candies and icy mountains.

 

 

 

Short trip, but a very fruitful one! At least I get to convince Dh that Taipei is not that bad after all.. :) 

4D3N Taipei - Street Snacks Heaven (Part 2)

2nd Day in Taipei


The first half of the day was spent working, and then our generous business partner treated us to a nice full lunch course at Chamonix 夏慕尼- apparently belongs to the same parent company with Ikki - the one we went to on our first night for dinner.

This restaurant is slightly more posh looking when compared to Ikki. We sat right in front of the chefs and watch the skilful chefs cooked. It's a really interesting sight to see how the chefs cook various food in different techniques on the big iron griddle.

A bit of google and I found the following info on the restaurant. Chamonix is a mixture of traditional Teppanyaki and French Cuisine. It's a part of Wowprime corporation which is the largest and the most experienced local dining group in Taiwan.

Click HERE to view the set menu in English.

 

 

The set costs NT$ 1030+ per pax - about 8 course meal.

First they served Appetizers. It's not written in the menu so I think the appetizers change from time to time.

 

2 spoonful of appetizers: one with fresh rolled fish with a dash of caviar and fruit cubes;

the other was jelly with fresh shrimps and fruit cubes I think.. The waitress did explain, but they spoke in fluent Chinese and I couldn't pick them up! Nevertheless, 2 very refreshing and yummy appetizers there...

 

 

 

Bread was toasted on the iron griddle before being served with mayo and fish roe.

 

 

 

Soup was next. I chose Truffle-Infused Onion Soup as opposed to the other Seafood soups 'cos I'll be having lots of seafood later. :)

 

 

 

 

My choice of salad was Truffle and Mushroom Salad - lovely!

 

 

Thereafter, we were served with free-flow Lemon Sorbet to ease our digestion as well as to cleanse our palate for the next course. Sounds familiar? Same concept with Ikki (place we had dinner last night) because they belong to the same parent company.

 

 

 

That's our Chef preparing DH's dish - Grilled Short Ribs with garlic, and that's my fresh fish being fried, and somebody else's chicken.. My Taiwanese companion told me that it's an Ice Fish - meaning that the fish was caught in the ice. I'm not sure how true is that though.

 

My Main Course is an assorted Fresh Seafood Combo - a whole fresh 'Ice Fish', with one fresh oyster, and a fresh scallop.

 

The Chef served me the fish first after deboning the fish.

 

 

 

Fried Rice with crispy fried shrimps was served after. I couldn't finish it even though it was served in a small bowl only. Passed the balance to DH.. :P

 

Then I was served my Fresh Oyster and Fresh Scallop and they were simply heavenly!

 

Just as I thought I couldn't stomach anymore, the remaining of my fish was deep fried (the bones, to be precise) and was served to me! My companion warned me this was coming and I thought he was pulling my leg. But no! The Chef served it to me and said every part of the fish could be eaten. Nothing goes to waste!

 

 

 

 

I feel like a cat eating the bones of my fish.. But yea, it was so crispy that everything breaks easily in the mouth without trying too hard. The taste.. just merely tasted a bit like fried bones, a bit burnt taste, even. I didn't quite enjoyed it but was impressed that no parts of the fish goes to waste this way.

 

 

We were then moved to the dinner table on the other side of the restaurant for our desserts.

 

 

 

My dessert: Dark Chocolate Ice Cream served with Hot Passion Fruit Sauce. This was pretty cool. Vanilla Ice Cream was served in a ball of dark chocolate which will melt partly when the hot Passion Fruit Sauce is dribbled over it.

 

Last but not least, I had some hot herbal tea in my attempt to balance out my meal. Tasted funky.. :P

 

 

 

All of us were given a survey form with a free pen and some Lindt Chocolates after the meal.

 

 

Here's a list of the things we ordered in Chinese.

 

 

 

All in all, DH and I were very satisfied with our lunch. Only drawback was, the lunch took about 2 hours and we were super full after the lunch around 2.30pm.

 

Jesse (Taiwan Biz Partner) then drove us to a shopping mall (forgot the name) near his company (near Costco and Carrefour) to buy Almond Tea for my MIL.

 

 

At Yongkang Street...

 

We went to Yongkang Street (short walk from Dongmen MRT Station) after Jesse drop us off 2 stops away. Yongkang St is where the Original Ding Dai Fung is. We were there looking for a pharmacy/ beauty shop called 小三美日  'Little Three Everyday' at Yongkang St 2. This particular beauty shop chains are generally smaller than more popular ones like Watsons and Cosmed; but they do carry a wide assortment of brands that the former two pharmacies don't carry Eg: Annie's Way, 1028 (makeup line created by local celebrity), 3 Concept Eyes (3CE) just to name a few.

 

After searching for 15 min, a local from nearby 7 Eleven told me that the 'Little Three' moved to another location but not sure where exactly. So we gave up searching and went back to our hotel to freshen up before heading out for another round of makan trip - to the Shih Lin Night Market.

 

 

 

Shih Lin Night Market

 

 

Our trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to this famous Shih Lin Night Market, similar to our local 'Pasar Malam' or Hong Kong's Temple Street ('Miu Kai') and Ladies' Street ('Lui Yan Kai')- but Shih Lin is much more organized and has many more street snacks.

 

How did we get there?

 

 

We took the Taipei Metro to Jiantan Station on Tamsui Line (Red Line). There's only 1 exit once you reach Jiantan Station and you can actually follow the crowd towards the market from there. The market is said to operate from 5pm to about 11pm or some say 1am.

 

If you think you are lost, rest assured that there is a Visitor's Information Centre to your left once you exit the train station. Just for the record, Taipei Metro uses a blue coin instead of a ticket or card.

 

 

 

 

 

We bought this custard filling thingy in the shape of fish from the 'Sushi' store right outside the Metro Station as we couldn't resist the strong Waffle-like smell it creates. 8 pcs for NT$50 and they were yummy! Hot and sweet.

 

 

Once we're out of the station, walk straight and you will see the Metro Tracks above you, heading towards the next station - ShihLin Station.

 

 

Cross the road and you'll see shops and street food stalls along the main street already.

 

 

Our first stop was at the colourful fruit stall. We usually don't buy and eat fruits that are already cut 'cos they are exposed to all sorts of pollution and bacteria. After seeing the special types of fruits available and the large crowd purchasing them; we thought eating some cold juicy fruits in the warm weather isn't a bad idea after all.

 

 

Look at the colourful array of fresh fruits!

 

Taiwan's version of bitter gourd I think. Apparently less bitter than what we get here in KL.

 

Such cute Heart Shaped Guavas - they're my favourite! And large pink guavas next to them (not so sweet). We also bought Mangoes (super sweet and juicy), Starfruit (to reduce my body heat), and Milk Pineapple (another favourite - only available here and first time trying the pale coloured pineapple). Prices in this fruit stall is severely overpriced and they go by the kilograms, but at that moment, we didn't care so much.

 

 

 

Funky umbrella invention being sold - creative though!

 

 

 

Some R-rated snacks - and NO, we did not try them!

 

 

 

We bought the Deep Fried Ice Cream for NT$25 each. Nicely fried, but the ice cream wasn't flavourful enough.

 

 

There's a Food Court at B1 somewhere in the middle of Shih Lin Market.. We had Milk Ice Shavings with Mangoes and Oyster Omelette.

 

 

Milk ice shavings with sweet mangoes

 

 

 

'Or Jian' or Oyster Omellet - not as nice as the ones in Malaysia. Not as fragrant, but the many oysters were given, as compared to the Malaysia ones whereby you're lucky if you can get more than 4 or 5.

 

 

We didn't eat that much as we were still full from our heavy lunch.

 

Besides food, there were many shops (proper rented shops - not street stalls) selling a variety of things - clothes, shoes, ABC Mart, handphone covers, accessories, selfie sticks (the IN thing nowadays), bags, and etc.

 

We left the place around 11pm and were really tired. The crowd too has lessened by then.

 

Off we go to department Stores and Xi Men Ding the next day!

 

 

To be continued... (Part 3)