Busaba, The Exchange TRX, Kuala Lumpur

Busaba (L1.02.0, Level 1, The Exchange TRX, Imbi, 55188 Kuala Lumpur) may be the first time we've having Thai food in KL. Typically, it's not something we go for since Bangkok isn't that far away and Singapore has decent ones as well. I prefer to eat something more Malaysian which we can't get back home. And some others. But one meat kinda tipped the scales in our decision. 🐑.

We did have some things we generally like. Like tom kha gai.

This was loaded with tender slices of chicken and coconut meat. Pretty delicious rendition if I might say so.

Some pomelo salad with tempura-ish deep fried prawns.

Fried prawn cakes. Decent rendition as well.

Sadly, the lamb pad krapow that walked us in was forgettable. Super forgettable. The meat was either very marinated, very fat free or both. No even the slightest hint of lamb. Pretty disappointing for RM65.

That one item on the menu which could've been it just didn't do it. As for the other dishes, it's not exaggeration to claim that they're more or less a dime a dozen in Thai restaurants in this part of the world. Will not be coming back of course.

Battered Fish & Chip, REXKL, Kuala Lumpur

Read about these guys located at Chinatown (REXKL, 80 Jalan Sultan, 50000 Kuala Lumpur).

According to them, perch is used for their fish.

Cut of the fish was a little thin and soft. Detected a slight "muddiness" in the flavour. I prefer the firm and flaky texture from haddock and cod. Not a fan of their batter too.

The lemon & mint mushy peas were refreshing though and it was my favourite thing together with the chips from all the food we got here.

Curry sauce had texture like it was made with melted potatoes.

Pickled eggs are available here.

Something call posh prawn sandwich. Not bad tasting with the dill-y salad inside but there weren't much prawns. I got reminded of the prawn roll from Market Grill. This one here felt like the less posh version compared to what Market Grill did.

Nong Geng Ji (农耕记), Great World

Nong Geng Ji is one of a few Hunan based restaurant that's mushroomed around the island in recent years. Like Xiang Xiang which we've had a few times before. This was from the branch at Great World (#01-115/116 Great World, 1 Kim Seng Promenade, tel : +65 6908 0347).

Metallic.

This bothered me. The block of solid fuel they used for their heaters was wrapped in plastic and they left the plastic wrapper and lit them up together. That's gotta be some level of residual toxicity if they keep doing that right?

Tried their big shrimp and vermicelli with garlic (蒜蓉大虾仁) which was steamed on serving. The server put a timer to return but that dude returned several times because he wasn't satisfied with the doneness. They need work on the SOP for the timing...hahaha.

A tad greasy and most of the flavour came from the garlic. Edible but not impressed. 

Their stir fried cauliflower (大碗有机花菜) was pretty good though. Those fragrant chunks of fried lard, sweet cloves of garlic and bits of chilli helped with that. Good with rice.

That's the stir fried beef with tea oil (茶油鲜炒牛肉). The dish had a flavour that we weren't familiar with and I'm guessing it's the tea oil. Dish packed a bit of heat and those green stuff tasted like celery. Meat wasn't fatty and was a little sinewy. Not impressed at all.

Bean curd skin & eggs (鲜腐皮焖鸡蛋) - not bad. Realized that we've had something similar at Xiang Xiang at Westgate so I'm kinda getting predictable with my choices.

Rice was much more enjoyable with the dishes than the vermicelli.

Noci Pasta Bar, Suntec City

Korean pasta place at Suntec (#01-386 Suntec City Mall, 8 Temasek Boulevard) that opened late last year. They're by a Gold Moon Restaurants Group which has brought in brands like Tonshou and Seoul Noodle Shop.

Complimentary sourdough with whipped butter. Butter's nice. Bread's okay-ish. I prefer them with a bit more tang and texture.

There's baccala. Not as lard infused as I was imagining. Flavour's mostly from the fish which wasn't a bad thing.

Had a couple of pastas. This one featured their in house squid ink tajarin with bottarga and anchovies - understandably umami that way. Not bad.

The other was their cacio e pepe which also used their house made tajarin. What's different from the usual cacio e pepe are the crush bits of pistachio. Would like for it to be a bit more cheesy and peppery but I think I enjoyed this as well.

Both pasta had great texture.

A coffee called cream di noci which had bits of walnut and walnut oil. There was a thick crema but I didn't detect walnut flavour from the mundane tasting coffee which had little worth mentioning.

BatterCatch, Great World

First time at BatterCatch (#01-106 Great World, 1 Kim Seng Promenade, tel : +65 6485 3841).

Their Longan Tea Oasis drink tasted like some caramel sweetened bubble tea drink thing. Rosemary's entirely decorative. I'm not sure if there was even any tea in this.

This was haddock and chips. The buttery mushy peas was delicious. Love their dill & pickled infused tartare sauce. Curry sauce was also not bad.

The fish was not as good tasting as the one at Smiths. It's about as expensive though, considering cost to portions.

Batter is a little thick and floury around some parts.

Grilled barramundi tasted like it was frozen fish. Skin was chewy, not crispy. Not impressive as grilled fishes went.

Liked the peas enough to get another portion. Out of everything we had, this was probably my favourite. Tasted like lots of butter with plenty of green pea flavour. Would come back just for these.

Dry mixed seafood noodle with milk broth from Hai Kah Lang (海脚人)

Back at Hai Kah Lang. I've had something similar back at the branch at Taman Sentosa with clear broth instead of the one with milk. Topping of seafood appears to have differences. But those springy noodles and the milky broth with 花雕 were what mattered. The seafood quality's decent but not impressive so 21.90SGD (approx. 68MYR) is an experience I'd rather not repeat. Will stick to the sliced fish bowls which are cheaper the next time.

East Coast Lagoon Prawn Noodle • Laksa, Food Opera @ ION Orchard

I remember eating at this stall at Food Opera (#B4-03/04, ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn) a few times in the past decade but couldn't find any mention of those times except all the way back when I thought the stall was called 3rd Generation Laksa & Prawn Noodle.

Anyways, laksa's pretty damn good here. Gravy was velvety, heart clogging-ly lemak and robust with dried shrimp flavour. Quite Peranakan-ish. Hard boiled eggs, tau pok, some halved prawns and fish cake inside with thick bee hoon. A competent representation in my opinion. 👍🏼

Prawn kuey teow soup was okay-ish. Broth needs a splash of soya sauce.

Jumbo aji katsu is back at Tonkatsu by Ma Maison

Jumbo aji katsu from Tonkatsu by Ma Maison. Crisp, crunchy and hot fish. Has been consistently nice!

Taichiuo shioyaki teishoku from Nakajima Suisan

Came across a taichiuo shioyaki teishoku at Nakajima Suisan (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一, 十二, 十三, 十四, 十五, 十六, 十七, 十八, 十九, 二十, 二十一, 二十二, 二十三, 二十四).

Taichiuo is commonly known as beltfish. Never had them before.

Meat's tender and flaky. Doesn't seem to be distinctive otherwise. Lots of bones along the edges.