McDonald Samurai Beef Burger

The launch of the latest promo product Samurai Beef Burger in Mcdonald struck a cord in my belly when I first got notified via SMS.

I knew I have to try it.

And one couldn't help but to compare it to its famous counterpart, a permanent menu item in Thailand's McD: Samurai Pork Burger.




Order large and it comes with Katsu Curry Shaker Fries.

I have never missed a shaker fries. It's one of the perks (for me) of dining in Mcdonald.

I wasn't so keen on the sakura fizzy drink so I opted for mineral water instead.









The verdict:
Good sizing for a burger, not too big but the usual cheeseburger size, lots of samurai sauce (which sort of resembles more of teriyaki sauce; sweetish, I like it), with an unhealthy dose of mayonnaise on top of the brown sauce, lettuce and very well cooked beef patty - soft, tender and juicy.

This is from the Mont Kiara branch,  They do serve very good beef burgers in their outlet here.

The shaker fries is a let down, though. Overly salty, which made me bloat that night. The katsu curry flavor wasn't there and it has a yellow-ish stain like most curry or satay sauce would; which is weird coming from some artificial seasonings. This is the first shaker fries that I actually do not like. :(

I will be back for more of the Samurai Beef Burger alone and here's hoping that McD adds this to their permanent menu item. 

Kuih Bakar

I've always been a fan of Malay Kuih-muih (cakes); last I tried Kuih Lompat Tikam though I still prefer my all-time favorite Kuih Talam (green pandan top white coconut milk bottom), my second favorite has to be Kuih Bakar.



It's an egg-based cake using pandan as dye, hence the aromatic pandan flavor  ❤ . Usually drizzled with sesame seeds (not my favorite :S)

Kuih Bakar is a very traditional Malay kuih, you can find this in almost all malay cake stalls.
And it's always the cake I will always keep my eyes peeled for whenever I approach one of these stalls.






What's your favourite Malay kuih? 

Kuih Lompat Tikam

Which is very similar to Bubur Sum-sum, the latter which only contains only the white part of the cake made of rice flour dipped in palm sugar sauce (or gula melaka).

However, with kuih lompat tikam, it has a layer of green color (pandan flavored) base at the bottom with white layer (coconut milk) on top; usually also served in palm sugar sauce.

A modern day Kuih Lompat Tikam looks like this, found in a warung near TTDI.







It's a lot of softer than the usual kuih talam (green bottom white top malay cake); though my favorite Malay kuih will always be pandan kuih talam, the modern kuih lompat tikam is an interesting variety.

Menya Musashi @ Isetan

RM26

When the old wing of 1 Utama mall had a revamp and had its first Isetan store opened in the area, Menya Musashi ramen became the hype amongst the foodies.

Thus the first thing I did when I got out of my model search was to dive into the Isetan and sinked my teeth into a hot bowl of the highly-raved ramen.

I ordered the Musashi Ramen with Shiro broth (onion flavoured oil broth) consisted of two pieces of Chashu (roast pork) and half an egg. Which was a bit of a let down considering in Marutama they give a whole egg for a similarly priced bowl.




The broth was thick rich and despite the oiliness, very delicious. The bowl was big so it's enough to share between two people. Chashu was big in servings but tougher compared to its competitor's Marutama tender roast pork slices. The egg yolk was not as runny as expected and lack in flavour for a ramen egg.


A very 'meh' ramen egg. RM2


RM26

We ordered another Musashi Ramen with Kuro broth (Special oil of fried shallots and garlic oil). The garlic scent in the broth was very noticeable but personally I prefer the Shiro broth.


Musashi Ramen with Kuro broth

My favourite in the shop, ironically, was the Chashu Gohan (rice with roasted pork pieces).


RM9

Something about the sweet sauce, the shallots, the soft perfectly cooked vinegar rice and the nicely proportioned fatty roast pork pieces made this dish my nirvana. At only RM9 it was very affordable and very delicious. I would order this for lunch everyday if it were near where I live.


Menya Musashi
Level 2, Eat Paradise
Isetan, 1-Utama
Bandar Utama City Centre
Petaling Jaya

Lewisgene Espresso @ Solaris Mont Kiara

Made a breakfast trip to the newly opened Lewisgene Expresso at Solaris Mont Kiara (above Chilla Cup).

I don't drink coffee but I read that they serve waffle with peanut butter, mmm...

The place was locked when I arrived in the morning even though Chilla Cup was always packed with business people. After comtemplating for 2 minutes whether to leave and settle for Chilla Cup's pretzel, a waiter came over from the counter (blind spot) and unlocked to let us in.




Partner and I ordered two pieces of waffles, one each, and settled for water, neither of us is a coffee drinker. The irony of dining in such a place. lol.

Crispy, a tad too hard but overall nice. Lovely peanut butter. Free refill of peanut butter was always a plus.

Saw some chocolate velvet mille crepes over the counter and had to order one.



turned out to stone cold. Tasted like overnight cream cakes. Completely inedible. Had the waiter taken the whole piece back, good that they didn't charge us for the cake. 

Would have been nice chill-out place for a cup of coffee, well hidden on the second floor.


Lewisgene Espresso Tea & Machines
2-1, Jalan Solaris 3, Solaris Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.
016-328 4438

Pineapple Rolls

Ahh... Chinese New Year cookies. Who doesn't love them.

Actually I don't.


Except for these. Pineapple rolls.


before entering the oven.


Though people have the habit of calling them pineapple tarts since they originated from tarts. Or mini pies.


I never knew how these were made till recently I witnessed it myself in bb's house.




You roll those pineapple paste mix into an oval shape ball and then wrap it around a long strip of pastry.




Then cut when the pastry meets.


Pop into the oven, the whoila!





Freshly baked Pineapple Rolls. YUM!

Burning off CNY Weights

Chinese New Year has come and gone and I have found myself two kgs heavier right after the festival.

I have a shoot in two weeks so I'm setting a goal to lose off these two kgs in 14 days.

Now I'm not an exercise buff but I don't mind walking. I disgress going to the gym, or any sort of sports because frankly, I don't really have that sort of stamina to last long. Strangely enough, due to my travelling habit, I have adopted a skill in walking.

And I don't just mean a walk in a park. I mean I can walk for hours non stop in a day and I can still find myself going on. I once walked an average of 5 hours a day for 10 days in Beijing.

Or even once hike-walk across a tiny peninsula on the Isle of Skye (in Scotland) in search for some lost village, one way journey took me five kms across the green hills and land, and another five km back. And I had been walking all over the island that morning.


So I decided to dedicate two weeks starting from today to walk. As my form of exercise. On a treadmill. Thank god for that. No sun for me thanks. I don't mind the sweat, I just hate having darker skin.

Now here's the calculation.


One kg of fat = 7700 calories (holy!)
(One pound is 3500 calories)

So to shed off that much, I can't just cut off on my daily intake of calories (which would be 1800 calories since I'm a girl) by 500/1000 everyday because then my body would take the carbs I consume and transform it into fat to burn.

And I can't just cut down on carb while cutting back on calories either, and focus on protein. Because then my body would transform protein into carbs in my liver (called Gluconeogenesis) and the process will just repeat itself.

And technically, due to the complexity of our metobolism, it would take more (than 7700) calories to burn off one kg of fat.


Generally, I should cut back on 500 calories a day and exercise at the same time (aka walk).
So by calculation, that would mean I should limit my consumption to 1200 calories a day.

But because I've been binging so much during CNY. It's actually healthy to detox for the first three days of the two weeks; because then it allows the body to burn your bodyfat first before realising it's calories deficient.

I'm talking about fruits, fresh juice, lots of water and no heavy solid food yet. Limiting myself to only 500 calories, this would help me cut back a further 700 a day on the first three days.


As for walking,

1 hr normal walking = 150 calories

But I'm doing a slight brisk walk at 4km/hr so 45 mins walking would take 155. (estimate, base on personal treadmill walk)

Hence, 1 hr 30 mins walk = 310 calories.
That would be 6km of walk every day.


First three days: (1200 + 310) x 3 = 4530

Following days: (500 + 310) x 11 = 8910

Total: 4530 + 8910 = 13440 calories.


Fat lost in two weeks: 13440/7700 = 1.745

That's a whooping 1.75 kilo of fat!

In two weeks and simply by walking. Not limiting much your intake as long as you stick to a 1200 cal daily benchmark.


Considering the possibility of water retention and undiscarded stools in my body, I'd say two kgs in two weeks should be a healthy and very possible achievement.

Wish me luck! (on my determination)

You should try it too.