27 Jan 2007

Yummy Yummy @ Tun Sambathan Banana Fritters

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Food Type :
Snacks (Malaysian Style)

About the Food :
The Banana Fritters and Fried Nian Gao. Of course, there are curry puffs, sesame balls as well. But I only tried banana fritters and fried nian gao before. For the fried nian gao, it has three layers, there is a yam slice on top, a sweet potato slice below and the niao gao slice is in the middle.

Nian gao or Niangao, (Chinese:粘糕 or 年糕 lit. "sticky cake" or "year cake"; pinyin: nián'gāo), sometimes known in the West as "rice cake" or Chinese New Year's cake, is a food prepared from glutinous rice and used as an ingredient in Chinese cuisine. It is available in Asian supermarkets and from health food stores. While it is eaten all year round, traditionally it is eaten at Chinese New Year. Despite numerous varieties, they all have similar recipes: cooked glutinous rice is pounded or ground into a paste, and, depending on the variety, may simply be molded into shape or cooked again to settle the ingredient.
(Extracted from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niangao)


Price :
Banana Fritter @ RM 0.70 each
Nian Gao Fritter @ RM 0.70 each
Sesame Ball @ RM 0.70 each
Curry Puff @ RM 0.80 each

Location :
It's a stall in front of Yit Sang Restaurant. There's another stall selling bananas beside. It's opposite YMCA, and is near to a 7-11 franchise store.

Directions :
From Tun Sambathan Monorail Station, it's around 5 minutes walk. From the Monorail Station, walk along Jalan Tun Sambathan 4, walk pass The Association for the Blind People (on your right), The Methodist School (on your left), 7-11 (on your right) and YMCA (on your right), you will see the stall. When you see YMCA, it's just indirectly opposite YMCA. It's open from around 12:30pm to 6pm everyday.

Address :
In front of Yit Sang Restaurant,
Jalan Tun Sambathan 4.

Specialty :
Both the banana fritter and fried nian gao are extremely crispy, and the crispness can last for at least more than one hour. Another interesting fact is that, the whole banana is used to make banana fritter, unlike some other banana fritters available from most of the stalls in which have been cut into halves.

Personal Comments :
They are crispy, very crispy. I had tried to eat the banana fritter after 2 hours and it's still crispy. As for the fried nian gao, after some 3 hours, it's still crispy either. However, they are best eaten when freshly served.

As for the fried nian gao, it makes a special combination with yam and sweet potato. When it's eaten hot, the gooey nian gao together with the sweetness of yam and sweet potato and not forgetting the crispness of the crust, the taste is just fantastic.

Regarding the price, it's a little expensive. But they're just too good to be resisted! At least, I think that the level of satisfaction the food offers still deserves the price it demand.

My Personal Rating (of its kind) :
8.5 / 10

25 Jan 2007

Yummy Yummy @ Pantai Bersih

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Food Type :
Chinese Cuisine

About the Food :
The list of food - "Drunken Prawn", Curry Fish Head, Signature Tofu, Fried Squid, Stir-Fried Vegetables.

"Drunken Prawn" - It's actually prawn cooked in herbal soup. The fact that dang gui is used in this dish makes the soup tasted lightly bitter at the first sip but then you will experience the sweetness when the soup flows down your throat. Thre is a very light alcoholic taste as well, I believe to be the effect of some chinese wine being added as ingredient. Errm... I hope I can explain this in a nicer way. :P Oh ya, the prawns were fresh too.

Angelica sinensis or "female ginseng" is a herb from the family Apiaceae, indigenous to China. Its root is commonly known in Chinese as dong quai or danggui (Traditional Chinese: 當歸; Simplified Chinese: 当归; pinyin: dāngguī) and is widely used in Chinese traditional medicine to treat gynecological ailments, fatigue, mild anemia and high blood pressure. Danggui possesses the distinction of being the only non-animal source of Vitamin B12, along with some varieties of yeast.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dang_gui)

Curry Fish Head - It's not too spicy or sour. Honestly, I don't quite know how to enjoy a fish head dish, but the fish meat tasted fresh.

Signature Tofu - I like this. It tasted soft with the mixtures of vegetables in it.

Fried Squid - The fried squid is not very crunchy.

Stir-Fried Vegetables - Tasted average.

Price :
It's considered cheap, especially after years in Penang. A meal consisting of prawn, fish, squid, tofu and vegetables for 5 costs normally around RM 60 over.

Location :
Along the Pantai Bersih seaside. There are sufficient parking spaces.

Address :
323 Seafood Restaurant,
Pantai Bersih,
Butterworth,
Penang.

Specialty :
The food is not oily, not salty, not very ajinomoto-flavoured. The seafood is pretty fresh. For the taste, it's not heavy (as in too spicy, too salty, too ...).

Environment :
It's open air restaurant. So, the warms breezes might be able to cool you down.

Personal Comments :
It's cheap! It's quite delicious! For family and friends gathering and if you opt for Chinese cuisine like this, this place is certainly recommended.

My Personal Rating (of its kind) :
7 / 10

Previous Post on this Restaurant :
323 Restaurant

24 Jan 2007

Home Sweet Home Series - Squid in Curry & Japanese Tofu with Mixed Vegetables

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Food Name :
Squid in Curry and Japanese Tofu with Mixed Vegetables

Food Type :
Chinese Cuisine (Home-styled)

About the Food :
The curry tasted just nice, it's not too spicy, nor too sour. The mixed vegetables is of a pretty unusual combination - Squid, Japanese Tofu, Broccoli, Button Mushrooms, Prawn, Tomatoes, Onions and Baby Corn. It's weird, I know, but tasted not bad ooh! :P

Price :
FOC (Only for invited guests).

Location :
Home Sweet Home, Penang.

Address :
Not available.

Specialty :
The food is available in abundance and they are fresh, free of ajinomoto, not oily, what else??!!

Environment :
Perfectly comfortable.

Personal Comments :
I missed my mom's cooking very much... :(( It's going to be CNY break anyway. :D

My Personal Rating (of its kind) :
10/ 10 and Priceless.

23 Jan 2007

Yummy Yummy @ Cheang Kee, Nibong Tebal

This is a restaurant which happens to be quite famous in Nibong Tebal area. I accidentally saw this in wikipedia :

Nibong Tebal is famous for Cheang Kee, a Chinese restaurant specializing in old school Hakka cuisine.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibong_Tebal)

There are some signature dish such as boiled baby octopus and fried pandan chicken. However, we went there for supper instead of dinner that time. Being recommended by my friend that its crab porridge is nice, we decided to try it out.

The Restaurant.
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The inner view of the restaurant.
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The crab porridge for one serving.
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Food Name :
Crab Porridge

Food Type :
Rice Congee - Chinese Cuisine

About the Food :
It's just a nice porridge with one whole crab, with some chopped coriander leaves (chinese parsley) and some chopped scallions (spring onions).

Price :
It's RM 10.00 per serving.

Location :
It's a typical restaurant with a typical size in that area. I was told that the parking space availability is ok in which you can park along the street where the restaurant is located.

Address :
璋记饭店
Cheang Kee Restaurant
113, Jalan Atas, Nibong Tebal.
04-593-1728

Specialty :
The crab was very fresh, making the soup tasted sweet also. It's not so common to have crab porridge with a whole crab rather than the shredded crab meat (I think), but Cheang Kee does serve porridge in that way.

Environment :
During the time we went there, there was no crowd, so we opted to sit outside where it was cooler. I supposed that sitting inside would be a little stuffy as it would be nearer to the kitchen. However, there are plenty of fans inside the restaurant to cool you down.

The shop is usually crowded during dinner time around 6:30pm till 8:30 pm. However, it's opened until around 2 to 3 am.

Personal Comments :
The soup tasted sweet, the crab tasted very fresh and nice. In addition, it did not tasted like highly anijomoto-flavoured. The crab is not too big, but I believe it's enough for a single serving and for an average-eater like me. However, I found it uneasy to have to shred the meat myself. Anyway, this might be a way to preserve the freshness of the crab meat.

My Personal Rating (of its kind) :
8 / 10

(P/S: Special thanks to a friend of mine who offered me some information about this restaurant.)

17 Jan 2007

Yummy Yummy @ Serdang Chee Cheong Fun

The restaurant where the stall is located.
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The stall in the restaurant.
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The stall from the inside.
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The normal serving of Hong Kong-Styled Chee Cheong Fun.
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The big serving of the Hong Kong-Styled Chee Cheong Fun.
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Food Name :
Hong Kong-Styled Chee Cheong Fun (LaiCheong 拉肠)

Food Type :
Chinese Cuisine (Singapore & Malaysia)

About the Food :
Chee cheong fun are square rice sheets which are used in Singaporean cuisine and Malaysian cuisine. The sheets are made from a viscous mixture of rice flour and water. This liquid is poured onto a specially-made flat pan in which it is steamed to produce the square rice sheets. These wide rice sheets that are steamed are then rolled. They are often filled with different types of meats or vegetables inside but can be served without any filling. Popular fillings include beef, dough fritter, shrimp, and barbequed pork. Often topped with soy sauce.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chee_cheong_fun & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dim_sum)


The Chee Cheong Fun follows Hong Kong style. The stuffing choices are only available from shrimp and char siu (barbequed pork). The default one would be a mixture of both the shrimp and char siu. There are two choices of servings available, which are the small one and the big one. There is a half-spoon of sambal for those who fancy spiciness, it's not too spicy anyway.

Price :
A small plate of Chee Cheong Fun is RM 3.00, for a bigger serving, it would cost you a RM 3.80.

Location :
It's a stall in a restaurant and the restaurant is located along the main road of Serdang which leads to KL or Balakong. The market is at the back of the restaurant. So, it's pretty crowded with people in the morning especially on the weekends. The parking spaces are rather limited since it's near to the market.

Address :
强记香港猪肠粉
Restaurant Sin Choo Sang Kee
Jalan College, 43300 Seri Kembangan.

Specialty :
The rice sheets are thin and smooth. A generous offer of the sauce to eat with the cheong fun is highly appreaciated too. The shrimps though not big in size , but are rather fresh too. :P

Environment :
The environment is so so, just like the normal coffee shops. If you have a choice, don't sit on the inside as there's a stall selling stir fry food located on the side of the inner part of the restaurant.

Personal Comments :
It's delicious. I love it for the thinness and smoothness of the chee cheong fun and the generous serving of the sauce. Often, I found it hard to swallow the chee cheong fun without the sauce, but not with this one! :D As for the fillings, the seller uses small or midsized shrimps and average-tasted char siu only. A big serving of this Hong Kong-Styled Chee Cheong Fun is often more than enough for an average-eater like me.

My Personal Rating (of its kind):
8 / 10

12 Jan 2007

Yummy Yummy @ Wing Heong Chicken Rice

The Shop
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The Stall Front
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The Stall Front
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The Chicken Rice
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The Char Siew Rice
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The Chilli Sauce
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The Char Siew Sauce
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Food Name :
Chicken Rice

Food Type :
Chinese Cuisine - Rice

About the Food :
It's all about meat! lol ... You can have a choice of Roasted Duck Rice, Roasted Chicken Rice, Roasted Pork Rice, Char Siu (Chinese Barbequed Pork Rice), Assam Fish, Tofu, Vegetables and a variety of stewed soups as your meal.

Char siu (Simplified Chinese: 叉烧; Traditional Chinese: 叉燒; pinyin: Chāshāo), also known as Chinese Barbecued pork, BBQ pork, cha siu, and char siew, is Cantonese-style barbecued pork. It is usually made with long strips of boneless pork, typically pork shoulder. The distinctive feature of char siu is its coating of seasonings which turn the meat dark red, or occasionally burnt, during cooking. The seasoning mixture for char siu usually includes sugar or honey, five-spice powder, red food colouring, soy sauce, and sherry or rice wine.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_siu)

Price :
A plate of normal Chicken Rice is RM 2.80, same goes for a normal plate of Char Siew Rice. As for Chicken + Char Siew Rice, it would cost you a RM 3.30. Different pricing applies on different mixture of dishes, which also means you can order a plate of Char Siew + Chicken + Roasted Pork + Roasted Duck Rice. Yes, you can! Just don't expect it to cost you only RM 3.30. :P

Location :
It's located along the main road of Serdang which leads to KL or Balakong. It's between a Fatty Loh Chicken Rice Shop and Mei Sim Dim Sum Restaurant. Thus, parking spaces are rather limited. If you are lucky, you will find a parking space in front of the Public Bank. It's a very short distance away from the restaurant and it's a very good choice already. Though if you are luckier, you might be able to get a nice space just in front of the restaurant (which is often unavailable).

Address :
永香烧腊(補品)饭店
Wing Heong Chicken Rice Shop
260, Jalan College, 43300 Seri Kembangan.
016-272 2196
11 am To 4:30 pm(Rest on Tuesdays)

Specialty :
There's the Char Siu Sauce which is best served together with your rice as nice gravy. The sauce is defaultly available if your ordered Char Siu Rice, however, if you need more, you can always serve yourself from the stall front. It's sweet, however, the sweetness is just appropriate for my liking. There are also various stewed soups available. I always ordered the Herbal Chicken Soup there, though it's a little too ajinomoto-flavoured. But nevertheless, the herbal taste is slightly strong, which is good. :P

For the Assam Kampung Fish, I personally think that the fish tasted just average. However, the generous serving of the assam sauce might just be a good gravy for your rice. It's a little sour and not spicy. It's quite appetizing as well.

Environment :
The environment is ok, just like the normal coffee shops. But it might get a little stuffy on a big hot day. Anyway, and again, for the delicious food to be offered, who cares? Do you? :P

Personal Comments :
It's cheap and delicious, a rather good choice for lunch, especially on weekends when you do not wish to visit any shopping complexes and when you are on a tight budget. :P

My Personal Rating (of its kind):
7 / 10

11 Jan 2007

Yummy Yummy @ BM Tua Pek Kong Wan Tan Mee

There's a stall selling Wan Tan Mee besides a Tua Pek Kong Temple in Bukit Mertajam town.

The Location : The stall selling Wan Tan Mee.
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The Food : Wan Tan Mee Dry Version
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The Food : Wan Tan Mee in Soup
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I've included two images of the Sarawak's Kolo Mee for comparisons.
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Sarawak's Kolo Mee
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Summary
Food Name :
Wan Tan Mee

Little piece of fact :
Wanton mee or Wantan mee (Chinese: 云吞面) is a Cantonese noodle dish which is popular in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. The dish is usually served in hot soup or dry stir in black soya sauce or Oyster sauce, garnished with leafy vegetables, Char Siew (roasted barbecued pork meat slices), and together with wanton in a separate bowl. The types of leafy vegetables used are usually kailan also known as Chinese kale. There are various versions to the dish, with the Hong Kong version using prawns and no char siu inside the noodles. Another type of dumpling known as shui gao is sometimes served in place of wanton. It contains prawns, pork, spring onions with some chefs adding mushroom and black fungus.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonton_noodles)


Food Type :
Chinese Cuisine - Noodles

Location :
The stall is located in the market area, beside a chinese temple in the center of Bukit Mertajam town.

Specialty :
It's similar to the Sarawak's Kolo Mee which is using a different types of noodles rather than the ordinary wan tan noodles. Besides, it does not have the dark soya sauce either.

Environment :
It's located in the market area, so most of the time the floor should be wet and the environment is a little bit damp, however, it's still tolerable, especially in view of the nice food. :P

Personal Comments :
Though it's nice, but I was a little thirsty after finishing the noodles, which would most probably as a results of having too much of artificial seasonings. I still think the Sarawak version offered me better taste to my liking, anyway, this is just a perfect substitute for Kolo Mee which is available in peninsular Malaysia.

My Personal Rating (of its kind):
7 /10

9 Jan 2007

Yummy Yummy @ Telok Gong Seafood Restaurant

It was a nice morning and a nice afternoon as well. In the morning, we went to cycling in Putrajaya's Botanical Garden. The place is pretty nice for some morning and evening exercises with the well-kept surrounding of flora and fauna and a lake (an artificial one, I suppose) by the side of the garden. For a little piece of information, the rental for bicycle is RM 4 per hour.

After some rounds of cycling, we decided to pamper ourselves with a sumptuous lunch of seafood. Well, at first we planned to go to Port Klang, but it just happened that we ended up in another part of Port Klang - Telok Gong. It's some one and a half hours from Seri Kembangan, Serdang. Being a place famous for seafood, there is absolutely quite an amount of restaurants for you to choose from. Being a stranger to that place for seafood, we just decided to visit the Telok Gong Seafood Restaurant randomly.


On the way to Telok Gong...
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Our random choice of a seafood restaurant - Telok Gong Seafood Restaurant.
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Another view of the restaurant from its compound.
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Inner view of the restaurant.
This restaurant has a rather shady environment. The Nipah palm (attap) roof did help to cool the hot weather. And I thought I felt some warm breezes.
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Another view of the restaurant.
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The sweet and sour crab.
The taste is ok and quite appetizing.
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The "Kam Heong"-styled crab which is the signature dish of the restaurant.
However, I prefer the sweet and sour one rather than this. Anyway, it's not that bad, I would say it has average taste.
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Stir-fryed Fish Fillets
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Vegetables
Nothing special.
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Another signature dish of the restaurant - the Tomyam Prawns in Coconut.
My friend love this so much. The tomyam taste is not too sour and yet it's very appetizing. It's not too spicy either. It's definitely worth a try.
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The tomyam prawns served in bowl.
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And finally, the bill for a rather satisfying meal of 5 persons.
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吕芒芭海鲜园
Telok Gong Seafood Restaurant
No. 705, Jalan Udang Galah,
Telok Gong,
42000 Port Klang,
Selangor Daruh Ehsan.
03 - 3134 1918

4 Jan 2007

Yummy Yummy @ Fondue House

The first time cheese fondue came to my knowledge was from a Japanese drama - Over Time. The second time I saw it was also from a drama, but a Hong Kong's one - to Catch the Uncatchable (栋笃神探).

Some facts about Fondue:
Fondue refers to several French Swiss communal dishes shared at the table in an earthenware pot ("caquelon") over a small burner ("rechaud"). The term "fondue" comes from the French "fondre" ("to melt"), referring to the fact that the contents of the pot are kept in a liquid state so that diners can use forks to dip into the sauce. The sauce is usually warmed either by a separate burner containing an alcohol-based fuel or simply by tealights. Though cheese fondues are the best known kind, there are several other possibilities for the contents of the pot and what is used for dipping.

As with other communal dishes, fondue has etiquette standards ranging from practical to amusing. Some people consider it rude to allow one's lips or tongue to touch the fondue fork, and with meat fondues one should use a dinner fork to remove the meat from the dipping utensil. The "no double-dipping" rule applies here as well, once a taste has been taken of a dipped morsel it should not be returned to the pot. If the bread or fruit is lost in the cheese or chocolate, it is tradition for that person to buy a round of drinks or to be punished in another way.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fondue)


And about one year ago, I came to know from newspaper advertisements that there's a place in Sri Hartamas which offers cheese fondue. Eager to indulge myself in this special dish, I brought my family to this restaurant during the past Raya holiday.

The Cheese Fondue
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A closer view of the pot of cheese.
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The vegetable platter (Cauliflower, Broccoli, carrot slices, celery slices and mashed potatoes).
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Biscuits and crackers.
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The set of garlic cheese fondue and vegetable platter.
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The chicken fillets with some vegetables.
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The biscuits and crackers.
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The original cheese fondue and chicken fillet platter.
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The fork to dip your servings into the chocolate fondue. It's a smaller and shorter than the one for cheese fondue.
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The plain chocolate fondue.
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The small fruits platter.
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The chocolate powder, crushed peanuts and grated coconut served together with your chocolate dip.
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The Chocolate Fondue
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Overall, I think chocolate fondue tasted nicer than the cheese fondue as I personally thought that the cheese fondues were too salty to my preference. In addition, I actually could not differentiate between the Garlic Cheese Fondue and the Original Cheese Fondue. And these views were shared unanimously amongst my family members. Anyway, there are still a lot of people out there which love it very much, so take my opinions at your own risk! :P

The cheese fondue in Fondue House comes in 6 types of flavours :~
i) Original Cheese Fondue
ii) Garlic Cheese Fondue
iii) Cream Cheese & Crab Fondue
iv) Bacon Cheese Fondue
v) Creamy Mushroom Fondue
vi) Creamy Veggie Fondue

And there are different sets of platter to go with the cheese fondue (Price ranged from RM 29.90 to 49.90) :~
i) Chicken Fillet (breaded, crispy and golden)
ii) Lamb Cubes
iii) Sirloin Beef Cubes
iv) Seafood (fish fillet, shrimp and crab sticks)
v) Jumbo Mix (a mixture of the above items)

Vegetables (carrot slices, celery slices and broccoli) and a basket of bread and crackers come together with those set meals. A-la-carte style is available for your choice as well.

For the dessert (The chocolate fondue) :~
i) Plain Chocolate Fondue
ii) Orange-Flavoured Chocolate Fondue
iii) Peanut Butter Chocolate Fondue
iv) Whiskey Chocolate Fondue

To go with the chocolate fondue, there are fruits and strawberries available in the menu. There are other snacks available as well, such as pandan chicken (5 pieces for RM 9.90), curry samosas(6 pieces for RM 4.90), spring rolls (6 pieces for RM 4.90), calamari (RM 10.90) and various kinds of cakes. For beverages, there are teas, coffees(hot,blended or iced), fruit smoothies, fruit juices, soda drinks(pasion fruit soda & pink guava soda) and mocktails.

Now, for the most important piece of fact :~
Fondue House
5, Plaza Prisma Ville,
Jalan 26A/70A,
Desa Sri Hartamas.
Tel: 03-62033346
Business Hours: Daily (11am-11pm).

I was told that it's better that you reserve your seat before you go as the place will easily get crowded especially during peak hours (though the place was not crowded when I went, it was a dinner time, but no harm making a phone call in advance, right? :p).

Additional bit of information is available from http://kuali.com/news/story.asp?file=/2005/12/1/eatingout/12627429&sec=eatingout.

Cheezeeee~~ Enjoy!