Speed review: Yes another Souka post! And what's more, it's not cake!! Souka offers some nicely done calamari rings for RM 10. Cripsy on the outside, not overcooked on the inside. Hey it's a little expensive compared to potatoes but the size of the rings are huge! If I could afford it I would eat em up like chips! 😭

Ok guys. I need to make a trip to Hong Kong. I need to know if it's supposed to taste like this. Fook Muun has just opened recently and is located beside Kar Heong in SS18. Upon sitting down, you're given the choice of eating either typical Chinese communal style or steamboat style. The owner seems to be from Hong Kong and we were told that the cook is also from Hong Kong. Don't really know if the steamboat experience would be different but I definitely didn't enjoy my dinner. We ordered salted egg squid, black pepper stir fried beef slices, garlic stir fried (qing chao) veggie, steamed egg as well as tofu. Once again, I don't know if they do it like this in Hong Kong but I wouldn't come back here ever again. Why? Well the salted egg deep fried squid didn't have a tinge of salted egg at all, rather it was wet (yes wet, not crispy) and tasted like butter. Our black pepper beef stir fry was sour and sweet and tasted like tomato beef more than black pepper. The steamed egg was cooked over too high a heat and the surface was all rough and looked like the surface of the moon. The tofu... Well it wasn't anything to shout about. It was basically firm white tofu with miced meat on top with soy sauce. I guess the only thing I could eat with the least complaints was the stir fried vegetables. The only upside? It's cheaper than wha you would get outside. All these with a rice each came to slightly over RM 70. So there you have it. Anyone lived in Hong Kong? Do Hongkees all eat their dishes like this?

Ojien (oyster omelette in hokkien) is an omelette that uses egg, starch, oyster as its base. Good ojien- at least to me- seems like a dish hard to find done right outside. Most people swear by Penang but really? 5 hour drive? Well Nanking in Taipan USJ sells nicely done ojien under one condition: go when no one or little people are present. We went on a rainy night (floods, whole day rain bleargh) and our ojien came out like I like it: crispy with juicy oysters big by Malaysian Ojien standards. Tho a friend that came with me said his ojien the previous night didn't taste as good so it might be a hit and miss kinda thing. Large goes for RM 17, Medium RM 13 and Small RM 10. Not a fan of their chili sauce tho. Maybe I should bring mine the next time 🙈

Rak Somtam is relatively new in the Malaysia food scene. Opened for about 4 months at the time of writing, the place is opened by a Malaysian and his Thai wife and aims to introduce thai food to the populace of PJU. Street food style. But of course, everyone's favourite attention catcher has got to be the coconut ice cream. I mean. What? Coconut ice cream? Non-Sangkaya? Whaaat? Will it taste as good as Sangkaya? Isn't that on everyone's minds?

But sorry folks, no room for comparison here, since I believe it caters to two totally different groups of people. Sangkaya's ice cream is rich and creamy in texture and goes for 4 scoops (ping pong ball sized) for RM 10.50.

Rak Somtam's ice cream however, spots a little coconut water and shredded coconut flesh in it and made with no stabilizer. Giving the coconut ice cream an almost snow-like crystalline texture which may or may not appeal to some. Cause you know... some people like it to be ice CREAM. And not ice snow... but it all comes down to the taste. Due to the way it's made, the ice cream is like fine snow and doesn't taste as rich as Sangkaya's, giving it a "refreshing" image. Topped with peanut, corn and nata de-coco, 5 scoops (ping pong size) go for RM 12.90.

So it does really come down to what type you are. Are you the heavy creamy, rich typr? Or the fluffy, fine, soft, subtle and refreshing type?

Ok fine. Not a thousand miles. But it did cost me 2 tolls and 22 minutes if driving, 5 minutes of traffic congestion and unfamiliar roads. But was it worth it? 😏 The pork neck is nicely flavoured, delicious even on its own. Juicy and tender, the fat and meat just work together in unison to keep each other moist. But wait. What's this? Dipping sauce? Yes. Go for it. Drown your pork slice in it. And people might not know this, but I actually like the neck meat more than the pork belly. Yes. Working at the butchers has thought me a lot. All in all, this relatively new place seems promising. BBQ Pork Neck with Seafood Sauce is priced at RM 26.90 and eat it with Thai Fragrant Rice (RM 3 for 2 pax) for a quick bite. Or go Thai communal style and order more and share.

For RM 29, you get free flow of thinly sliced pork belly, black pepper chicken breast (thinly sliced), miso soup, garlic fried rice, salad (no dressing) and udon. Garlic fried rice is not bad, don't expect much from the udon and sadly, ice cream not included (you'll need to buy the RM 45 package for that) and parking is a rare Pokemon. Service is slow. I mean, salad, udon, fried rice only arrived after 2 rounds of meat arrived. Apparently the kitchen was busy despite the lack of customers but ok. The grill takes some getting used to because unlike Korean BBQ, the meat cooks fast since it's thinly sliced so be careful not to burn your food. So how much are you paying for free flow? RM 29 and a little bit of time and patience.

Just wanted a really good nasi lemak? Or a not-that-spicy-but-still-spicy nasi lemak? Well MACE's whole leg chicken (RM 22.00) provides just that.

While not sporting the typical "lemak rice" as I call it or santan rice, the rice that comes with the dish reminds me very much of yong chow fried rice 😂.

The chicken itself is nicely seasoned and marinated, full of flavour and brings flavour even with the rice.

The star of this dish is however, the sambal. A little spicy, a little sweet, a little salty. Depending on your spicy tolerance level, this is actually not spicy at all for those who can take on the heat and I believe this is actually pretty good for those who can't take the hear but want a little ommph in their dishes.

Papdam gives the whole dish a nice blend of textures - crunchy, tender, soft- all in a plate. Needless to say, this was probably one of the few dishes I really enjoyed and I believe is quite up there.

But I probably would have preferred the thyme rice to go with this - personally of course.

We've kinda established by now that Mace seems to be a hit-and-miss sort of place so far with their menu still being in the midst of being improved. And while some things are almost there and some need much improvement, some just confuses me like my university lecturer when he teaches financial accounting.

Mace's Seared Fish with Chilli Padi and Garlic Cream Sauce goes for RM 21 with no service charge and is GST inclusive.

The dish is seared dory fish with pieces of potato wedges underneath, a corn salad by the side with carrot sticks and chilli padi garlic cream sauce.

First, let's talk aesthetics. The dory piled on top of potago wedges with a corn salad and carrot sticks, a genie lamp. What is going on here? I would stick to a side of greens, just a side of greens and if you really want your carbs in there, how about some herb panfried potatoes by the side or rice. And perhaps sear it with some herbs or sprinkle some minced herbs over, garish it with a parsley or something! Because the dory looks absolutely dead.

Now let's talk taste. The dory fish is full of flavour. Good job on the seasoning there. But the sauce on the other hand, tastes like a watered down version of Nando's garlic sauce. Dipping the fish into the sauce and then putting it into your mouth seems to contribute nothing but make your dory more wet than it already is.

But I have been told this is in the works! So who knows? May the 2nd try go well.

Mace by Coffe Chemistry in Damansara Uptown aims to serve fusion asian food, bring the west and east together on a plate. While some dishes need improvement (read: pasta post) as they are only a month old at the time of writing, some dishes are pretty spot on and need less tweaks.

Mace serves Buttermilk Chicken (RM 17.00) with a twist: their rice has thyme in it. A generally western-used herb, thyme does go well with meats in general and the rice does not clash with the flavour of the sauce, but rather gives your palate a bursy of thyme-ly freshness past the friend chicken chop and the creamy buttermilk sauce.

The buttermilk sauce is thick, rich, and creamy. Not a bad thing since it's preferred to ones that have the consistency of soup and taste bland like Spritzer bottled water (Sponsor me Spritzer). However despite it's consistency, the sauce does lack in intensity in terms of flavour. Eaten with the chicken, the flavour of the chicken covers the taste of the sauce and paired with the rice- sayonara sauce-kun! Which makes me wonder if the star if the dish is the rice, or the buttermilk sauce?

Unlike typical buttermilk chicken, the buttermilk chicken by Mace is more of a chicken chop that is cut. Much like a tonkatsu and laid on top of a terrifying piece of green veggie leaf that looks like a sad attempt at garnishing. If I recall correctly, this form of garnishing is often used in either chinese restaurants or those cheap hawker stalls. For a product positioned as it is, I'd say you either change it into something else (a salad, grilled baby carrots, boiled veggies or somthing) or drop it. Add some red chilli to the sauce to make the dish look more vibrant and that itself is garnishing.

Out of all the dishes I tried that day, this is probably one of my favourites. Can be better, but one of those that seems pretty much there

Mace by Coffee Chemistry has just opened a month ago at the time of writing. If you aren't sure where they are they're 2 stops away from the Baskin Robins in Damansara Uptown. They seem to known in the coffee scene since some cafe hoppers seem to know about them. Oh not me. I don't drink coffee. Coffee to me is death (quite literally).

Al Funghi Mushroom Olio Pasta (RM 16.00). Well Funghi is mushroom in Italian so it'll be like Mushroom Mushroom Oil Pasta.... Could just rename it to Pasta Aglio e Olio con Funghi or.... Mushroom Aglio Olio....

Disclaimer: Food was reheated so I won't comment on the texture of the pasta since the pasta probably cooked itself to death while everyone was snapping pictures. And I'm sure the reheating dealt the final blow.

The pasta itself didn't stand out. The mushrooms, the sauce, the pasta all tasted bland. There were seaweed strips on top, and button mushrooms, shiitake or chinese mushrooms and eryngii msuhrooms from what I could see. To me, the mushrooms didn't really blend well together (Probably would substitute the shiitake or eryngii with oyster mushrooms) and lacked taste when eaten together with pasta. Most people tend to forget that the pasta will tone down the taste of the sauce so it's good to go a little heavy on the sauce. And I'm still asking myself if it was just me or did the person who made it not season the pasta water enough.

Red and brown seems to be the overall theme for the dishes and as you can see, the entire dish is red, brown and yellow. Now we all know food is about scent, taste, texture and presentation. So in terms of presentation, this dish doesn't really seem to be the most appealing. A little green would be appreciated. Probably a handful of parsley or basil, chopped. Ditch the seaweed. There's too much going on in there and the few stalks of seaweed make it look like it was added because there wasn't enough garnish. The main thing is the mushroom, so you want to keep it simple. Here's a garnishing idea: grated cheese and parsley or crest.

Oh and large chunks of garlic alert. I would either slice it thinly, but wide, or just mince it all or maybe even crush it.

Well I guess there is Mushroom for improvement on this one. But that's just me

Ps: prices are gst inclusive and guess what? Drum roll please... no service charge!! What you see is what you pay for! All restaurants should do this...super cereal...

Oh and one more thing. Remove your bayleaf before serving. Some things are not meant to be on the plate.

Cendol. Have you lined up in Penang for the famous cendol? Well you don't need to line up for this one! Hidden from plain sight, Nyonya Delight is located by the roadside and sells kickass Nyonya Laksa. But wait! What's that? You don't want to travel again fir dessert? Fret not! This place has cendol as well for RM 2.50! Simple and basic cendol, RM 2.50 sounds like a pretty high price to pay. But the size of this cendol, in my opinion justifies the price. The cendol isn't overly sweet and sports a rich, gula melaka fragrance. The cendol itself is also fresh and the santan just gives it that creamy, coconutty fragrance that reminds you of coconut ice cream. Hot day? Look no further.

Located in Klebang, Melaka, Nyonya Delight is hard to spot. By the roadside with a signboard that may or may not be shielded by trees, the place is small with only few tables available. But let us look past that. Let us just take a moment, a short moment from our daily busy lives to admire this RM 4.50 Nyonya Laksa. Ignoring the fact that you can't get decent chicken rice in Kuala Lunpur at this price, the Nyonya Laksa comes with huge blood cockles (siham) and the sambal is delish. If I could I would buy a bottle back because it'll go well with anything. The acar (pronounced "aceh") is good too and just something about this place with its humble look, nice amount of light and unexpectedly kickass food just makes you wonder back to the days years ago when food was commonly best enjoyed by the roadside, with a bunch of friends.