Nashville fried chicken at Hot Bird ~ Damansara Uptown

A Nashville-styled fried chicken is now in Damansara Uptown and they seem to be full house even at non-eating times of the day which sparked my interest to try it.

On the table was a 2 pax set of 5 pieces of fried chicken (choice of 2 flavors), Cajun fries and coleslaw. An extra order of Mac and cheese was made to satisfy curiosities.

This fried chicken has to be the juiciest fried chicken I've ever had - the meat is moist & tender, the skin crisp like crackling and the chicken freshly fried with piping hot juices burning your fingers and dripping onto the piece of white bread. It had all things good about a good fried chicken.

Except flavor.

The flavors were rather muted for me with the Level 4 Hot being hardly hot and strangely the seasoning did not have the depth of flavor I was looking for. The Come Back sauce was very enjoyable and I dipped practically everything in it. 

As for the sides, the fries were good but again that seasoning didn't do much for me. The coleslaw was refreshing. The Mac and cheese was just okay and for the portion, a little pricey.

Do come for the experience of moist but crunchy fried chicken. Perhaps to get more flavor, I need to kick the heat option up a notch.

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Hot Bird

83 Ground Floor, Jalan SS 21/1a, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Opens daily, 12 noon - 3pm, 6-10 pm

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Bon Appétit Recipe Test : Cinnamon Oat Peach Crisp

I admit for this recipe, I was trying to use up a can of peaches I've had for a while. Fresh peaches are expensive in our tropical country that doesn't produce them and it's not readily available like other imported fruit.

I've also wanted to try making a cobbler for a while so this was the perfect opportunity of killing 2 birds with 1 stone. This recipe is featured on the Bon Appétit website but isn't actually a BA test kitchen product. It's by B's Cracklin' BBQ, a barbecue joint in Savannah, Georgia but hey, if it's good enough to be featured, I'm willing to try it.

I halved the recipe as I had more or less a kg of peaches (actually less haha) and half the recipe called for a kg of peaches. It's a straightforward recipe with simple ingredients but because my butter was too cold, I ended up using two forks to slowly mash the butter into the dry mix till there weren't any dry bits left.

It still turned out delicious. The topping was crisp, sweet and buttery. Because I didn't have a lot of peaches, the bottom layer and the topping layer turned out pretty even in size. More crisp to savour! I served it with a little whipped cream so the dairy component was still there. In my opinion, vanilla ice cream would've made it a tad too sweet. If you like nuts, I'd suggest adding toasted almonds or hazelnuts for an additional crunch.

Get the recipe here at bonappetit.com. Enjoy!

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Coffee Sprex ~ Taman Mayang, PJ

Coffee Sprex, located just a stone's throw from St Ignatius Church also happens to be really close to the office but I've only had the opportunity to visit it recently.

The menu has a small selection of food but there are enough choices to satisfy most.

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Isaac Toast ~ Chebu-dong (Gyeongbokgung station Exit 2)

Isaac Toast was a 'by-the-way' kind of meal because we decided against joining tbe Tosokchon samgyetang queue but wanted something to eat before visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Click to zoom in on the menus!

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Mcdonald's Hong Kong

When visiting a foreign country, I try to make it a point to try the Mcdonald's there. Some items are country specific and we found a items we loved at the Nathan Road branch.

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Built Custom Burgers ~ Nu Sentral

You'll have to forgive the photos in this post as my camera was out of order at the time but burgers beckoned! Other reviews with prettier photos are available here and here.

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Melts' Philly Cheese Steak ~ Avenue K

Falling for drool-worthy food images is probably my biggest weakness. 

Ever.

While organizing an event at Avenue K, the biggest question came around a little before lunch time:

"What to eat?"

A quick scroll on Avenue K's directory revealed that there was a Philly Cheese Steak diner named Melts in the building and this photo from Avenue K's website sealed the deal.

Are you salivating like we did?

So the ever gullible me with ever gullible friends in tow set out to find this diner. It's located right in front of  Presto Grocer. Take the lift down to the supermarket floor and you'll see the diner on your left.

Below is Time Out KL's gorgeous photo of this American-themed diner so you know that you're there when you get there. Click the image to have a look at Time Out KL's review.

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Tryst ~ SS 15

Our search of good pancakes after the meal at Naughty Nuri's brought us from Breadfruits in Sri Hartamas (who only serves their breakfast items till 5 pm) to Tryst in SS 15. This was based off a list of 'Best Pancakes in KL & Subang' that Ezel found online.

Tryst offers an al-fresco and indoor air-conditioned dining with shisha on the al-fresco side.

The quirky side to Tryst had rustic bookshelves, paintings on the wall with a graffiti touch and a lone mannequin in the middle of the cafe. I loved the magazine cutting covered staircase to their upper floor but missed a photo as it was dark.

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Johnny Rockets ~ Pavilion KL

This post was first posted at  Johnny Rockets ~ Pavilion KL on Deliciouslogy | Wordpress.

Johnny Rockets first set foot in Malaysia in the last quarter of 2013 and have recently expanded to it's 5th branch in Pavilion KL. It's very first branch opened in The Curve followed by KLIA, Avenue K and Sunway Pyramid. I considered visiting a branch when I heard of the hype of dancing waiters but their locations were rather out of reach till this branch in Pavilion opened. Unfortunately, the dancing waiters only appear at night so a lunch visit would be rather quiet.

The All-American restaurant was bright and eye-catching with it's retro diner decor which left me reminiscing my holiday in the US where I had one too many burgers and decadent desserts every night.

Even the straw holder was an original replica of the old days.

The milkshake is made in a metal flask before being poured in a tall glass. Any extras are given to you so you have a drink and a dessert at the same time. My chocolate milkshake was so thick to the extent that it refused to budge up my straw. I have no doubts that they use a lot of ice cream for your milkshake as it's evident in its sweetness. Although it was rich and creamy, I found it lacking the richness of chocolate and way too sweet. My guess is that they use chocolate syrup so there was additional sweetness to the already sugar-laden ice-cream.

My colleague's cookies and cream milkshake was better. I liked the chunks of cookie crumbs as it gave the milkshake some texture and some bitterness to counter the sweet. I would order this over the chocolate milkshake anytime.

Because my colleague is vegetarian, she ordered the grilled cheese which came with thick cut fries and purple cabbage slaw.

It looks pretty decent but I felt it was not worth the price paid. This was RM15.90 I believe?

I ordered a Rocket Single which came with a salad and fries. I was thankful that my salad didn't have onions but the dressing on top tasted like an awful mix of mayo with ketchup.

The bun was huge and thick - bigger than the burger patty itself. But because the patty was the same width as the bun, it made it seem as though the patty was large. I probably got full because of the bun and not the patty.

The patty was grilled to medium well but wasn't juicy or charred so I wasn't too impressed.

As far as 'service with a smile' goes, I had trouble hailing a waiter a few times and most of their workforce seemed to be made of foreign workers whose grasp of English is rather poor.

I'm rather indifferent to their food as it's neither good nor bad and their service, mediocre. I will however, leave you to decide if their fancy decor is worth examining upclose. 

Perhaps the experience would have been better with dancing waiters.

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The Daily Grind (Revisit) ~ Bangsar Village

This post was first posted at  The Daily Grind (Revisit) ~ Bangsar Village on Deliciouslogy | Wordpress.

It has been awhile since my last visit to The Daily Grind so for this year's Father's Day, we took the opportunity to celebrate the occasion with burgers and milkshakes.

I still believe that The Daily Grind serves the best milkshake in Klang Valley as the Chocolate & Hazelnut milkshake that LC and I shared was every bit rich and creamy  as I remembered. The Nutella inspired milkshake had strong flavors and was very satisfying.

LC's Superstar Slider was a sinful deep fried burger. I was impressed at how well fried the burger was - it seemed to be coated with a very light layer of batter then dunked in whole. You're first approached with a delicious meld of crunchy textures followed by a soft bun and a tasty beef patty. A must try if you're not on a diet.

I decided on the Portobello Moza Stack, a vegetarian burger which proved that vegetarian burgers are not necessarily boring, bland or unpalatable.

The whole portobello mushroom cap is topped with cheese, tomato slices and a dollop of pesto. Even though I'm not a big fan of basil pesto, this combination of the woody mushroom and the pesto was really good. I didn't miss the meat component too much and it turned out to be a filling burger even without a meat patty.

Other burgers ordered that day was the Classic Beef Burger which was well-received by my mum.

The towering Tempura mushrooms on the Japanese Yodel burger sat on a bed of sauteed mushrooms which was topped with a cheese fondue sauce. That is one sinful burger that my brother managed to finish.

My dad ordered the Lamburgerni which was one of the two lamb burgers on the menu. It was good too though he commented that he misses the thick lamb patty he had in the US.

To end the meal, I ordered a Chcolate Smores Pie and Old Fashioned Waffles.

The Chocolate Smores Pie was a pretty sight but the tart itself fell short of our expectations. The chocolate tasted cheap and I would have prepared a proper tart shell instead of the chocolate cinnamon mixture they used.

The Old Fashioned Waffles had wows all over my Facebook when I posted up a photo. The waffle was nice and fluffy while the strawberries were surprisingly sweet and the cream in right amounts even though it looks like it's overflowing (and I don't like whipped cream mind you!).

The Fisherman's Pie in my previous post is no longer available on the menu but the rest of the items are still available.

More recent reviews are available here and here.

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Louisiana Crab Boil at The Crab Factory ~ SS2

This post was first posted at  The Crab Factory ~ SS2 on Deliciouslogy | Wordpress.

Crab Factory was very intriguing when I read about the concept of crab boil (a spicy mixture in which seafood is cooked in) and being a seafood lover, I just had to try it!

Click to view in full size!

I'd admit, the prices are quite intimidating but I was prepared to splurge, just this one time.

Click to view in full size!

The lunch pastas are not cheap either.

We decided on a Cajun fried calamari, Cajun fried chicken wings, 500 g of prawns with chicken sausage and potatoes (you get to choose 2 sides FOC with your seafood of choice) with O'ly Crab sauce and 2 meat crabs with corn and button mushrooms in the same sauce.

The eating will get messy, I assure you so put on your bib and make full use of that stack of serviettes. Also, whack the seafood with all your might, nobody will care as they're busy killing some seafood themselves.

The Cajun Calamari came first - warm and heavily battered. The cajun seasoning was rather uneven and we couldn't shake off the seasoning of pieces with too much powder. I was also not fond of the heavy, crumbly batter. The calamari drowned under all that seasoning and batter. I was crossing my fingers that the chicken wings would fare better.

To my disappointment, the chicken wings was drenched in the same batter and more batter crumbled onto the table than in my mouth. The chicken wings were well done on the inside but my un-fondness for the batter ruined them for me.

The large prawns came in steam-filled bags which needed some cooling down before digging in. The prawns were quite fresh sans the odd soft prawn or two. The chicken sausage went very well with the spicy garlicky sauce and the potatoes were soft and fluffy. However, the prawns lacked sweetness, probably due to the manner it has been cooked. The O'ly Crab sauce was short on seasoning but was spicy and garlicky. Your lips will burn slightly and your stomach will be warm for a long time. I wished there was a little more salt and lemon in the sauce though.

The crab fared better. The meat was firm and fresh and I loved the taste of the corn in the sauce. After awhile, the richness of the sauce (too much garlic and too much spice) got to us and I had to request for some lemon wedges which we gladly squeezed onto the seafood. The freshness of the lemon made everything better and I regretted not ordering them sooner. A word of advice would be not to be silly like me and order the same sauce for both dishes. The mushrooms were swimming in the oil of the sauce and was a turn-off. I sadly abandoned them because of the oil and because I was too full.

The aftermath.

It was definitely a unique dining experience - hands-on and fun! However, the prices are steep and because the seafood is only cooked in one way (boiled), it loses the subtle flavors and textures of fine, delicate seafood. LC commented that he'd rather go to an all-rounder restaurant like Unique Seafood and I couldn't agree more.

Reviews can be found at winniekepala, Eat Drink KL and Chasing Food Dreams.

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Once Upon A Milkshake ~ Suria KLCC

This post was first posted at  Once Upon A Milkshake ~ Suria KLCC on Deliciouslogy | Wordpress.

I was introduced to Once Upon A Milkshake by Jaslyn saying that their milkshakes are thick and smooth and the best she's tasted. Thanks to Groupon, I had a reason to go all the way to KLCC. And it turned out to be a nice date with LC too.

Once Upon a Milkshake has several outlets in Asia namely Thailand, Philipines, Singapore and even South Korea. The Malaysian outlet is located at Suria KLCC's food court (a new outlet is opening soon at Sunway Pyramid) and offers Premium and Special Flavors of Milkshakes.

Click the photo to enlarge the menu.

Premium milkshakes are the less fancy flavors like Banana, Hazelnut, Butterscotch, Cookies & Cream and Milo while the Special Flavors are the funky flavors like Nougat, Red Velvet, Bubblegum and Avocado.

But the most interesting flavor here is Durian. You get to choose the intensity of the flavor! Something I appreciate.

The milkshakes come in 3 sizes - Mini, Regular and Large. The mini size is the perfect size for those who'd like the thick, sinful drink in a manageable portion.

LC got a Hazel Nutella - Hazelnut milkshake and it was delicious! Perfectly blended, not a single ice crystal and full of flavor. The balance of ice cream and milk was perfect and I can't get over how beautifully smooth it was.

I got a Butter scotch milkshake which was very buttery with just enough sweetness. The most accurate description would be slurping butter ice-cream. It took me forever to finish this, 2 hours later I was at the last quarter of a cup and eventually gave up cause the buttery taste was too much to handle. Probably stick to the less rich flavors or a smaller cup.

I like the milkshakes offered by Milkshake Factory but Once Upon a Milkshake turned out to be better! I would love to try their other flavors one day, probably one mini cup at a time eh?

Other reviews are available at EatDrinkKL and ChinesePinkAddict.

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