Friday 8 September 2023

Coffee Shop Wars Ara Damasara, PJ: New Beginnings

 

In the Beginning….


In the beginning, before there was Covid19 and the Lockdown, there was Tien Tien Lai, a coffeeshop stalwart of the breezy, Ara Damansara neighbourhood. Tien Tien Lai was a no-frills corner coffee shop in a block of light industry and motor workshops.

Monday 31 July 2023

Cheng Jing Steamfish

 July 31, 2023

There’s a rather out of the way MBPJ foodcourt in SS3, the type that was once popular in residential areas, with a variety of stalls selling various types of food.  This one, the Medan Selera Wawasan, looks like it’s in a small town, with a separate building for the toilet and common seating on tables in the verandah beside the stalls.  Something vaguely nostalgic about it.

Cheng Jing Steamfish opened in the second quarter of 2023 and occupies one of the stalls, but in the evenings, it has an outsize presence in the number of customers occupying tables in the common dining area. 

Thursday 10 November 2022

Walking the Camino de Santiago

 First published in Options, The Edge, on July 4, 2022 @ https://www.optionstheedge.com/topic/travel/going-distance-walking-camino-de-santiago-spain-and-portugal


The scallop shell, symbolic of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, has a series of converging lines which fuse at the base of the shell. It’s been pointed out that this is representative of the many routes that lead to the cathedral at Santiago de Compostella.

Legend has it that the remains of St James the Greater, Jesus’ disciple, was brought and buried here by his followers after his beheading in Jerusalem.  What was once an unmarked grave has since grown into the great cathedral of today.

Monday 20 June 2022

A First Timer's Practical Guide to walking the Camino de Santiago

 June, 2022

I wrote this simple guide for those interested in walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.  It covers in a single place such practicalities as what to bring, accommodation, etc. It is not intended to be a comprehensive 'how-to' guide. There is plenty of information on the Internet on the details of various aspects of the walk. 



A brief note on Planning.

There are many Camino routes.  Do some research and select the one you want to walk, the distance and your starting point. There is no fixed starting point, although practically, people start from towns where they arrive by bus, train or plane. 


 Walking the Camino your way.

There are many ways to walk the Camino:

-          Complete self-sufficiency, carrying everything in a rucksack and deciding each day how far you want to walk.  Many who opt for this will seek out accommodation when they’ve walked far enough for the day.  Walkers can decide how long to walk, whether they want to stay an extra day to rest or go sightseeing in a stopover. There is the uncertainty of finding suitable accommodation at the destination town. During high season, all accommodation can be booked out. Some hotels charge more for walk-ins compared to pre-booking.  The logical stop points are in the larger towns with accommodation.

 -          Going with a company that pre-arranges accommodation. Specialist companies in the Camino can prebook accommodation for you before you leave.  It means a fixed itinerary with a determined distance to walk each day to the booked accommodation. This provides the assurance of accommodation at the end of the day, but also the relative inflexibility of a fixed walking schedule.

 -          Guided:  companies offer full guided services, with a guide familiar with the route who accompanies the walker.  A support vehicle can also be arranged.  The guide provides assurance and local knowledge as well as intimate knowledge of the route and what to look out for.

 

Accommodation

There is a wide range of accommodation on the Camino routes in the larger towns. These suit a variety of needs and budgets. Among them:

-          Albergues are part of the Camino history and tradition, set up to provide shelter to pilgrims. They are usually right on, or very near the actual Camino routes and so are very convenient in terms of location.  Albergues can be public or private, and are usually dormitory style with shared facilities. Typically, they cannot be reserved beforehand, so you turn up and check on availability.   Usually the most inexpensive accommodation on the Camino route.

-          Hotels in urban settings vary widely in terms of quality and price and offer the amenities of typical hotels.

-          Cottages.  These are set in rural areas, usually a little distance away from towns, and may need some extended walking or a taxi ride but they provide a taste of the rural farm life and can be very charming.

-          Apartments, etc through online channels such as AirBnB, Booking.com.

-          Paradors are luxury hotels, which are State run in Spain, usually located in a historic building such as a castle or ex-monastery. The best known of these is the Parador Santiago de Compostella, housed just beside the cathedral Santiago de Compostella. Now a 5-star hotel, it was historically a hospital and an alberque, and considered to be one of the oldest hotels in the world.


 Training

Much depends on the fitness of the individual, there are many online resources which go into detailed training plans and there is no intention to replicate them here. 

There is no fixed distance to walk every day. Generally, assuming a walking pace between 3km/hr and 5km/hr, as a rough guide, daily walks average between 20-30km a day. Camino walks can be tailored to the individual, so distances may be longer or shorter as preferred.  A natural constraint is the availability of accommodation at the end of the walking day.

 

Luggage

-          Carry your own luggage in a rucksack along the way with everything you need.

-          Some companies offer forwarding services: walkers carry a light rucksack with the essentials for that day. Bulky luggage is collected every morning and sent to the next destination for a fee. For this, travelers must have prebooked accommodation at their next destination.

Meals

Most prebooked accommodation can provide breakfast and dinner. If the accommodation is in a rural setting, such as a farm, this may be the only option. Travelers who stay in town can go to a local café or restaurant for their meals.  Meals in Spain are late, lunches start around 1.30pm and dinners start around 8pm or later, which is when restaurant kitchens open.

In the late afternoons, especially in the provincial towns, shops and restaurants close so getting a meal can be difficult.  In the larger towns, some cafes may stay open and offer informal meals such as cold tapas, tortillas and empanadas between meal times.

In the larger towns with a bus or train terminus, there is usually a café open at odd hours to cater to incoming trains and buses. Usually these serve quick, informal meals which do not require kitchen service.

For meals along the trail, there may be cafes to stop at for coffee and snacks. These can be few and far in between along rural stretches. Usually these provide informal easily prepared meals such as empanadas and sandwiches. Some cafes can be crowded with hikers if there are few other cafes along the route during meal times, or if it is raining. 

Travelers should also consider carrying snacks in their rucksacks in case there are no cafes or bars encountered for long stretches, eg, forested trails.

 

What to Bring

-          Walking shoes/boots. Many walkers wear hiking boots, although a good pair of walking shoes will suffice. Make sure that the shoes are broken in and comfortable as you don’t want to develop blisters wearing new shoes on the trail.

-          Sandals/informal shoes for after hiking each day.

-          Socks.  Woolen socks with good padding are recommended.

-          Raincoat/poncho

-          Sunglasses. The sun can be very harsh in the afternoons.

-          Water bottle

-          Trail food/snacks (optional)

-          Hiking pants should be light and well ventilated with pockets. Avoid wearing jeans.

-          Walking jersey/T shirt made from quick drying synthetic material.

-          Jacket/fleece for cold weather

-          Torchlight

-          Personal medication

-          Toiletries

-          Hat/cap

-          Sunscreen

-          Rucksack/Day bag

-          Camera

-          Chargers for camera/smartphone

-          Walking poles (optional, depending on preference)

-          Plastic bags for rubbish while walking.

 

Navigation

The route is well marked with milestones and other markers, so if you don’t see a marker after some time, there’s a good chance you’ve gone off route.  If there are locals around, they are usually very obliging in helping travelers.  There are also many smartphone navigation apps for the Camino, eg, Camino Ninja which can be downloaded and installed.

Markers feature a stylized scallop shell design and/or a yellow arrow.

It is easier to go off-route in towns with many buildings and streets.

 

Others

A local prepaid SIM card is recommended to avoid expensive roaming charges. These can be purchased at the airport or in towns. Useful for communicating with accommodation, for local navigation, eg, finding the way to your hotel in town, as well as browsing for information on stopovers or places to eat, etc.  

 

The Pilgrim’s Certificate

To be eligible for a Pilgrim’s certificate, or compostella, issued at the Pilgrim’s Office in Santiago de Compostella, travelers must walk the last 100km of the Camino, or complete 200km if riding a bicycle or a horse.

The Pilgrim’s certificate is written in Latin script. After a short interview, if the traveler is eligible, the certificate is issued with the traveler’s name and the date of certificate issue. There is no charge for the certificate.

A longer “distance” certificate with additional details is optionally available for a fee of 3 Euro at the time of writing.

 

The Pilgrim’s Credencial (“Passport”)

The credencial is a document carried by the traveler which is stamped along the Camino, like a passport. The credencial can be purchased for a nominal fee at the starting point at churches and pilgrim’s offices.

Businesses and churches on the Camino can stamp the credencial as proof that the traveler stopped at the said point along the way.  The traveler should collect a minimum of 2 stamps a day. Hotels, alberques, churches, tourist offices, restaurants, cafes and bars can stamp the credecial.

The credencial is presented at the Pilrim’s Office in Santiago de Compostella to prove that the traveler did cover the distance in order to be eligible for a Pilgrim’s Certificate.

 

 

Feedback and comments can be sent to me, Lee Yu Kit, at leeyuk9@gmail.com

 

Saturday 8 January 2022

Nangka Burger at The PC Studio Cafe

 By Lee Yu Kit

Jan 2022


PC Studio Café is located in Damansara Intan, a high-rise incongruity in a commercial enclave shoehorned into PJ’s otherwise residential Section 17/19 and SS2 areas.  

In spite of its ground floor frontage and a few reserved parking lots, the anonymously named PC Studio Café doesn’t impress on first entry, into a plain jane interior with wooden tables laid out in orderly rows and a serving counter at the far end. Café, convenient canteen, or restaurant? 

Monday 1 November 2021

A Harvested Burger

By Lee Yu Kit, Nov 2, 2021, 

Updated, Nov 9, 2021

With the surge in interest in realistic plant-based meat alternatives, food giant Nestle has launched its own line under the Harvest Gourmet brand. Like the poster boys of the alternative meat movement, Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, Harvest Gourmet (HG) is all plant-based, with a range of products launched in Malaysia earlier this year. 


The products are made-in-Malaysia in a Nestle plant (See here ) and are available in local supermarkets. If you experienced sticker shock shopping for plant-based meats, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how reasonably priced Nestle’s offerings are.

Monday 20 September 2021

Back Lane Banh Mi in Kota Damansara

 By Lee Yu Kit, 

Sept 21, 2021

Update: This banh mi outlet closed sometime in 2022. There were plans to revive it but it remains closed as of July 2023.


One of Vietnam’s popular street food dishes is banh mi, sandwiches made with Vietnamese baguette and a variety of fillings.  Quintessentially Vietnamese, banh mi is true fusion food born of France’s long occupation of Vietnam. French baguette is longer with a stronger texture than the smaller, airer Vietnamese version, for example.

Now from a backlane in Kota Damansara, there’s authentic Vietnamese banh mi, served from a literal hole-in-the-wall. The shop is painted a mustard yellow with green highlights, calling to mind a field of sunflowers, with the words “Banh Mi” painted on the wall.

Monday 26 April 2021

Sarawak Laksa Shootout: Lin Li Xiang and Aunty Lan

 By Lee Yu Kit, April 2021

Being keen on Sarawak laksa, I recently tried out an acquaintance’s recommendation. Lin Li Xiang had been open for about a year when I visited, not the best timing as much of 2020 was the MCO period with restricted dine in. 

Lin Li Xiang shoplot 

Located along a nondescript line of shoplots in Damansara Jaya, Lin Li Xiang is a Sarawak-food theme’d restaurant, a couple of notches above your typical noisy coffee shop. Within, it’s neat and spacious with a tiled floor and semi-tiled walls complementing the wooden furniture, which lends it a touch of class. Posters of Sarawak specialties adorn the walls, both noodles such as kolo mee, tomato mee and laksa as well as dishes such as curries and pig trotters as accompaniments to rice.  The friendly brother-sister couple who run the restaurant hail from Kuching, Sarawak, which boded well for the food.

Tuesday 9 February 2021

KFC's ZERO Chicken Burger is a ?

 

Tasting KFC’s first meatless burger available in Malaysia

By Lee Yu Kit

The last time I stepped into a KFC was in 2019, in the town of Maran, en route to Kuantan. I was on a cycling trip with the longest, hottest section still ahead on the open road. It was after lunch time on a swooningly hot day. Most of the restaurants and coffee shops had closed, but there was an air-conditioned KFC open.


What I remember about that meal was that it had rice and fried chicken. The air-conditioning was blessedly cool within the restaurant.  We blinked in the bright sunshine after the meal, smiled bravely for selfies, mounted our saddles and started out on in the sultry heat on the second leg of our journey to Kuantan.

I didn’t step into another KFC until Feb 9, 2021, in rather altered circumstances. The Covid19 pandemic had affected the world in unprecedented ways. For the time being, dine-ins were disallowed. The KFC counter was strangely quiet.   It was the first day of KFC’s introduction of its Zero-Chicken Burger in Malaysia, said burger being its first meatless burger sold the country, following an apparently unstoppable trend sweeping the food world in plant-based meat alternatives. The Zero Chicken Burger has been available in Singapore before this.  

The Zero Chicken burger uses a meat-substitute patty said to be “high in protein, high in fibre, low in saturated fat, and contains no cholesterol’. It’s made by a company called Quorn, which has been producing a meat substitute from the 1960s, well before the darlings of the meat alternatives, Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, made their debut.

Quorn has been available in supermarkets for decades, producing a range of meat-free alternatives: sausages, nuggets, meat pies, burgers, fish, among others, using mycoprotein, derived from fungi fermented in large vats. The result is a highly versatile, high-protein paste.

I’d bought and cooked Quorn sausages before. You can read of my impressions here: http://yukits.blogspot.com/2020/08/meat-free-quorn-vegetarian-sausages.html

The burger was presented in a snappy, attractive, green and white banded carboard box.


Within the box, the burger (RM12.99, RM15.99 in a Combo with fries and drinks) fit into the palm of the hand, smaller than I expected.  It didn’t look anywhere as luscious as the pictures, but that’s not unexpected; there’s advertising and there’s reality. 

A single fried patty with shredded lettuce was sandwiched between the two halves of the rather deflated looking bun. Brown barbeque sauce leaked from the burger onto the Colonel Sanders-decorated paper bag it was wrapped in.

The patty itself looked dry, so first impressions weren’t very inviting.  Biting in, the main thing I tasted was the barbeque sauce, piquant and strong-tasting, which pretty much set the tone for the overall burger experience. The bun didn’t belie appearances; it had no discernable character, no bite, no spine, little texture – it was, in other words, blank space, a filling meant to complete the idea that this was a burger, which necessarily includes a bread patty.

The meat alternative patty didn’t make an impression either, with a homogenous, somewhat pastier texture than I expected, with any flavour it possessed being drowned out by the brown barbeque sauce. The lettuce? Wilted looking. I scarfed down the rest of the burger without any sense of anticipation. It was a stomach filler, but nothing more.

Although the meatless chicken burger idea is laudable in coaxing meat eaters away from consuming meat (and the disproportionate resources it consumes compared to plant-based meat, as well as no chicken being sacrificed), the Zero Chicken Burger doesn’t present a strong case for switching over. It’s well-conceived and well-packaged, but the final product is hardly inspiring. It’s disappointing for what it could have been, but is not.

To console myself, I toasted a couple of slices of sourdough bread, spread them over with fresh avocado, fresh red onion, sprinkled with a little pepper. Fragrant, warm and inviting. Now that’s my idea of a sandwich.

 

Tuesday 5 January 2021

I Can't Believe It's Not Luncheon Meat!

By Lee Yu Kit

Jan 6, 2021

Luncheon meat was a staple of my early years. I ate enough of it to keep the local distributor prosperous, if not tilt the trade balance with China. Luncheon meat came in cans from China, although the original product is actually SPAM, by Hormel Foods of the US. It was the right product at the right time, meeting a need for an inexpensive source of meat during the Great Depression, and becoming globally popular after WW2, thanks to its wide distribution wherever US troops went.

Luncheon Meat is still hugely popular, although we now know that it’s a highly processed meat, high in saturated fats, carcinogenic preservatives and low in nutrients, and even protein. But it tastes good, being a mainstay of chap fan (economy rice) vendors and a cheap and tasty, if nastily unhealthy food.