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I seem to be returning to my newly found favourite restaurants these days, so apologies for all the repeat reviews. Anyways, we had dinner at Wok Hei again yesterday evening with M, and I finally remember to bring my camera! Since I’ve already written about the food here, I’ll let the pictures do the talking this time, k?

Salted vegetable and tofu soup: We eagerly started on the soup before I remembered to take a photo…

Ladyfingers with minced chicken

Kung po lai lui har (mantis prawn)

Steamed egg

House special chicken wing

The full monty!

Tried making gui ling gao today. Bought the powder for RM5 from a Chinese medicine/herb shop near Central Market (it’s below Oriental Bowl)…though I’m sure it’s easily available from most Chinese medicinal shops.

It’s really easy to make. Just add about 240ml boiled water and two teaspoons of granulated sugar to the powder. Stir till the paste is smooth (best way to do that is to add the water slowly, not all at one go). Pour into a pot and add 960ml more of boiled water, and bring to the boil while constantly stirring. It’s like agar-agar/jelly…you can feel it get more viscous). One packet like this yields about 10 cups.

My little bowls are now sitting in the fridge…it should be cold enough to eat by tonight. Just need to buy some honey to go with it!

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If not for spam snail mail, ie. flyers, we wouldn’t have stumbled across Bonjuk, a Korean porridge restaurant. I was sifting through the mail last night, and this caught my attention as I’d seen the place at Desa Sri Hartamas, but never felt inclined to go in coz I thought it was just another *normal* Korean restaurant. But a porridge restaurant? This is new!

Anyways, after dropping hubby’s car off at the service centre this morning, we decided to try it out since the restaurant opens at 8am. When we arrived, two customers had already finished their breakfast…talk about waking up really early!

The restaurant is nicely done up in dark wood, with a tv on top of the entrance playing Korean music videos. There also appears to be a little corner to surf the internet, with some magazines for customers to read.

Hubby decided to try the Black Sesame Porridge, while I’d already set my heart on having the Mushroom and Oyster Porridge after reading the flyer last night. The porridge comes in two sizes, large and medium, whereby the medium size is about 65% of the large portion.

While waiting for the food to arrive, Andrew Kim, the owner, came over to chat for awhile and told us about the background of the restaurant. Bonjuk is actually a franchise…there are already 700 Bonjuk restaurants all over Korea, Japan and US, and this one here in Desa Sri Hartamas is the first one in South East Asia. The restaurant places emphasis on health and unlike many places, the porridge here is not pre-cooked. So while it might take abit longer for the food to be served, you can be assured that it’s freshly cooked.

Our orders arrived shortly, and boy…does it look good, especially to a tummy growling for breakfast! The porridge is served with kimchi, shredded slices of beef, and…I forgot what was the last thing…I think it’s chilli pickle(?). Ohh…and a small bowl of cold radish soup. We eagerly dug in…and it was GOOD. Hubby’s black sesame porridge was somewhat interesting…it’s like eating a non-sweet version of the black sesame dessert! It’s very smooth and creamy, me likey!

As for my mushroom and oyster porridge, it tasted like…come on…say it with me…mum’s cooking! It’s slightly sweet, probably from the mushrooms and oysters, and oh-so-very tasty. The cold radish soup threw an interesting mix to the dish. It’s slightly sweetish-sourish, and I tried taking one spoonful of hot porridge, one spoonful of radish soup vs. mixing the soup together with the porridge…it’s nice both ways!

In addition to porridge, Bonjuk also serves bibimbob, and according to Andrew, they also plan to have some healthy desserts as well. As for drinks, there are a few different types of tea to choose from…hubby had the Date Tea, while I ordered Aloe Tea. Both were equally good.

I would definitely love to come back here for dinner to try the Seafood Combination Porridge, while hubby already has his eye on the Sweet Pumpkin Porridge. There’s also a Vegetable Combination Porridge…I suppose this should be suitable for vegetarians.

Pricewise, some people may find it on the high side, especially for a bowl of porridge, but I think it’s quality over quantity…the ingredients are fresh, and the food is prepared when you order it.

Definitely two thumbs up for this place!

Bonjuk
No. 18, Ground Floor
Jalan 25/70A
Desa Sri Hartamas
03-2300 2302 (call 20 minutes in advance to order for takeaway)
http://www.bonjukmalaysia.com (do check out the website as they have droolworthy photos of all the different types of porridge served there!)
Open daily from 8.00am to 10.00pm, Monday to Saturday (close on Sunday)

Tried it? Rate it here!

Last night, 10 of us gathered at Il Divo to celebrate Sharryberry’s birthday. I didn’t manage to take any good photos of the food (really gotta bring my dSLR along next time), so I won’t put any pics up, but among the 10 of us, we had the following:

Starters:
Bresaola with rocket salad, parmesan flakes and balsamic reduction
Beef carpaccio with radicchio, parmesan flakes and mushrooms
Eggplant parmiggiana
Sautee fresh clams with cherry tomato, asparagus and white wine sauce

Mains:
Spaghetti allo scoglio with clams, prawns, mussel and baby octopus
Homemade fettuccine with wild mushrooms and duck ragout
Beef angus tenderloin with wild mushrooms and radicchio
Lamb scottadito with spinach pizzaiola (Pan fried Lamb with kalamata olive,sundried tomato and white wine)
Roasted lamb shank with baby artichoke and truffle mash potato
Pan-fried aglio olio jumbo prawns with sundried tomato, kalamata olive served with Italian mix salad

Desserts:
Tiramisu
Chocolate mousse and strawberry
Homemade ice cream

plus two bottles of Muscato (a warm up before Somo!).

I hope the rest of them enjoyed the food as much as we did…I had my favourite jumbo prawns and chocolate mousse again! Hubby had the lamb scottadito as recommended by Ena, who left a comment on my earlier post, and he said the lamb was cooked really well.

The place was absolutely buzzing with activity…there wasn’t an empty table in sight! And there was this guy taking photos of the food with his dSLR (complete with flashgun…ooo…I really want to get a flashgun!!)…I wonder if he’s a food blogger or food critic for some magazine?

Vincenzo kindly arranged a long table to accomodate us all, complete with a nice centrepiece of flowers. Even though I could see he was really busy, he would come over on and off to ask if we’re ok with the food, etc…and I got to take a photo with him!

We finished dinner at almost 10.30pm (poor Mr. Lamb…he was there since 7pm *ahem*), and while the rest adjourned to Somo, hubby and I went home coz I was feeling quite tired.

I’m already thinking who we should bring next to this place!

I didn’t make the above up, k?

I saw someone holding up a banner during the show about 2 weeks ago, and the phrase got stuck in my head. You’ve got to admit it’s catchy!

Anyways, I’m sure Simon Cowell can sleep well tonight. The world is no longer a topsy turvy place…

I’m hoping two out of the final three will be Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis, and I’m really rooting for Jordin. She has really shown progress throughout each episode, and her performance in last night’s country theme was nothing short of superb. And she’s just so lovable and sweet!

I guess the definite shoo-in for one of the top three placings is Melinda Doolittle, and while she can really sing well, I just don’t…or rather, can’t…like her very much. That ‘fake surprise’ look after hearing the judges’s comments just drives me nuts.

I was previously rooting for Lakisha as well, but she seems to have a chip on her shoulder in the past few episodes. She doesn’t smile much, doesn’t talk much…sigh…not very charismatic, that one. As for Phil and Chris…I think Phil is boring, and Chris sounds like a more manly Fran Drescher.

Anyways, that’s just my opinion… …so don’t throw a rock at me if I accidentally dissed one of your favourites, ya?

So who are you rooting for to win this year’s Idol, assuming you’re following the show, that is?

[Here's Jacjac's take on AI so far!]