Malaysia: Hawker food in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Hawker food in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is an adventure worth embarking on. Don't we just all love street food? Last month, I was in transit in KL on the way to Bali. So I decided to spend the few hours I had on a street food adventure.

Hawker food is actually an important part of life in these parts of the world. I noticed my Malaysian and Singaporean friends can drive kilometers to a single hawker stall, sometimes in dingy locations, simply because the food is excellent. And I can't blame them! So walking around Chinatown, I decided to chow on some of the food available. My stomach couldn't handle everything, so I took photos of the rest instead.

All around the Jalan Petaling area, hawker stalls sell almost everything from claypot chicken rice, roasted duck, beef noodles, bah kut teh, popiah, beef and chicken satay and other Malay dishes, and roti chanai and other Indian dishes.

For my afternoon snack, I decided to have some chicken and beef satay with a rich peanut sauce which reminded me so much of the one I had in Jakarta. Since I also was craving for roti canai and roti telur, I went to a nearby Indian restaurant for a serving, of course with my favorite Horlicks ais drink!

Later in the evening, my Malaysian friend Kenneth brought me to Jalan Alor to savor the famous Ngau Kee beef noodles. It's most famous for the minced beef which they top on the noodles of your choice since they have several types of noodles. If only too much food was good for us, then I wouldn't stop eating.

Exploring the hawker stalls and street food in Malaysia is an adventure in itself. And did I say we had mango loh for dessert at K.T.Z. Food in Petaling Jaya? Yummy!

White House chef Cristeta Comerford visits Manila

White House Executive Chef Cristeta Pasia Comerford is here in Manila to receive an award from BPI. And I got to meet her yesterday since she was the latest honoree of Asia Society's Filipino and Proud series which was held at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel last August 25.

Chef Cris talked about her life and the road to the White House kitchen. It was a very inspiring talk where she talks about success and the importance of treating every achievement as a stepping stone for the next one, even if the next one is smaller or less important than the previous one. You can never be at the pinnacle of your career since what you are doing today is just a preparation for your next role in life. Always do your best, regardless of how menial or large your responsibility is.

It was a very intimate and private gathering with Asia Society members, renowned chefs and restaurateurs such as Glenda Barreto of Via Mare, Conrad Calalang of Intermezzo, Margarita Fores of Cibo, Jessie Sincioco of Le Souffle, and Claude Tayag, and serious foodies in attendance. And since they were all there, I got my Kulinarya book autographed as well!

Binondo: Carvajal Street is a food haven!

Carvajal Street in Binondo is another food haven for those looking for a different kind of culinary adventure. To any certified foodie, Carvajal can be a very intimate and charming street market. It's a really narrow street that has been closed to traffic. In fact, it looks more like an alley than it does a street!

Among the Binondo locals, Carvajal is still called Ho Sua Hang, which is Hokkien for umbrella alley. That's because the main product of the street used to be umbrellas rather than food. Well today, one can find seafood, fruits and vegetables, as well as ingredients for Chinese dishes. If you need a hard to find ingredients for a Chinese dish you've been wanting to cook at home, it must be in Carvajal!

But if you're too lazy to cook, stalls there also sell food that's ready to eat. Don't you just love Chinatown?

Binondo: Dong Bei Dumplings are the best dumplings in Chinatown!

I can't stop raving about Dong Bei Dumplings! It's along Nueva Street (well they call it Yuchengco Street now). There are times that I'd drive all the way to Binondo just to buy my stock of frozen dumplings and pancakes which I could easily cook at home when I crave for them. The dumplings are actually from Northern China (most Chinese dishes we see here in the Philippines are from Fujian Province).

You can choose what you want inside your dumplings, from plain vegetables such as kutchai and cabbage, to dumplings with mixed pork and vegetables, plain pork, or shrimp and vegetables. You can also order them steamed or fried. Both are actually good!

Same goes for the pancakes. You can pick what you like in them. But they're usually served fried. These posts are really making me hungry! I want to go to Binondo now!

Binondo: Wai Ying Fastfood serves great dimsum!

Binondo is a food paradise. And Benavidez Street is a treasure trove of restaurants and hole-in-the-wall stores which serve some of the best Chinatown goodies. If you want some cheap but delicious dimsum, troop over to Wai Ying Fastfood!

Everything is great! But since our stomachs could handle only as much, we couldn't pick them all. We had (1) kutchai dumplings, (2) hakaw, (3) thaipao, (4) beancurd roll, (5) beef mami and (6) wanton mami. Even with the black gulaman and almond jelly, our bill was less than PHP500!

Wai Ying actually has another branch in Binondo and one in Tondo (also along Benavidez Street), which is near Metropolitan Hospital. That's were we got to savor these delectable dumplings. Writing this post got me craving for even more dimsum!