Buzzing with FOOD

Many moons ago….I went to Lavender Bistro.

Lavender sounds more like a tea house to me but this outlet is actually a bakery cum bistro.

The abundance of pastries and bread are displayed at the front section of the shop.

The open kitchen, meanwhile, is located at the side of the outlet. Here you can see the pastry chefs creatively making all sorts of pleasing-to-see delights.

Further into the outlet is where the bistro is, tables, sofas and chairs nicely placed to give a place for diners to sit and have a complete meal.

I like the classy look and feel of the interior although it is not using really classy materials. Don’t get what I mean?

The chandelier is actually a wall tile and not a real one, although from far it could fool the eye.

There are also string of beads or some sort hanging down from the ceiling and nice but not overly-bright lighting.

The menu consist of light to heavy meal.

For breakfast, one can opt for set meals such as Healthy Country Bread set, Wheat Bun set, Butter Roll set or Florentine Egg set - each comes with a complimentary coffee/tea.

For a more heavy meal, you can opt for soups, pasta, burgers or even fried rice and tomyam with vermicelli.

Of course the ‘sweet temptation‘ section of the menu like cakes and puddings can be ordered at anytime while stocks are available.

Red Plum Lime Soda (RM 5.90) and Iced Peach Tea

I had Honey Green Tea (RM 5.90). Haha sounds funny right?! Usually green tea is taken without sugar or honey but this combination taste quite pleasant after a few sips.

Also, Americano Coffee (RM 2.45 after a 50% promotional offer)

And we were there to actually get a bite on the sweet temptation. It was way past lunch time…so it’s more like having tea.

Cocoa Barry Walnut (RM 4.80)

Really soft and ‘chocolaty’ mousse. This was gone in a matter of seconds!!!

And a few pastries chosen from the front bakery section. Select what you want and put in your tray, then pass it over to the counter and tell them your table number. They will serve it to you.

Chicken floss bun (RM 2.50), Egg tart (RM 1.50), Charcoal (RM 1.50) - black square pastry, Chocolate Marble Square (RM 1.50) - layered square pastry, Xiao Ge Ge (RM 1.50) - long cake-like pastry. Not expensive considering the environment and service of the bistro. But a 10% service charge and 5% gov. tax is applied.

Now how I wish I can find such outlets in Penang. By the way, this shop is in the Jusco Mall in Bukit Tinggi, Klang.

Lavender Bistro
Lot G18, Ground Floor, Aeon Bukit Tinggi Shopping Centre
Tel: 03-3326 2793 

 Note:

This is going to be a start of more ‘many moons ago’ series post which I will be posting from time to time.

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 Just behind the Teck Seong Shop selling Klang Bak Kut Teh, there’s this shop, Restoran Klang Food Centre, with bare stall but attracting lots of visitors.

When we approach the front of the shop, we realise this shop has been visited by Ho Chiak team (season 1) of 8tv. It has also been featured in a local Chinese daily. So what is the specialty here?

Looks like pau. But they also sell bak chang (dumplings), loh mai kai (glutinous rice) and a few other deep-fried items.

Go in further and this is what is attracting so many people. We saw an outstation car ‘tapau’ a few boxes (yes boxes!!) of these.

It’s their special curry chicken pau. Practically everyone there will buy at least one of this. And customers on every table in the shop is seen eating one of these.

It’s almost double the size of our ‘tua pau’ (big pau-pork filling) here. It cost RM 3.50 each.

Looks not really pleasing but…..

And what’s inside? 

Fragrant curry chicken contained in a muffin/pie cup. This is to make sure the gravy won’t spill out and get soaked by the fluffy pau skin.

Chunks of chicken meat with lots of chopped onions. Sweet and spicy! Dipping the pau skin into the curry gravy is really scrumptious. What a nice tea time food!!

They also sell char siew pau 

Peanut pau and others such as kaya and tau sar pau

I wanted to tapau the curry chicken pau back to Penang but was afraid that it wouldn’t last as I only return the following day! Haha…sorry ya! 

 I was grateful to SJ for not only allowing me to stay at her place while I was in KL/Klang but also for her being so nice to bring me to savour the delight of Klang… non other than Bak Kut Teh, Klang style!

Klang people are used to having Bak Kut Teh for breakfast. Some might find it a little too heavy but the people there wouldn’t think so. As from what I observed, almost every Bak Kut Teh shops there are full on that Sunday morning!

The famous one, according to SJ’s father is this shop named Kedai Makanan Teck Seong. It sells nothing except Bak Kut Teh. It is so famous that during weekends, you either be there early (as early as 6am) to get a part of it, or like what SJ’s father did, call the boss the night before to pre-order!! If you don’t to that, and you reach there like 9am, it’s sold out!!!

The interior of the shop. Their savoury Bak Kut Teh have been featured in various newspapers and has also been voted as the top 20 best Bak Kut Teh in Malaysia by a Taiwan TV food show!

And this is the boss behind the secret ingredient!!

We reached there at about 9am, and while walking in, the boss had already turned down a few customers who just came and realised they were a little too late. Luckily we pre-orered the night before.

These are all that’s left…for the pre-order customers!! Like a saying, save the best for last. This is indeed the best part as the simmering has added much aroma and taste to the soup!! 

While waiting to be served, tea can be ordered or you can bring your own too.

Hot water in kettles are placed near to your table for your convenience.

What I like about here is that you can bring your own extra ingredients/dishes that you would like to eat along with the Bak Kut Teh. We brought along a tupperware of you tiao. The last time we even cooked some stir-fried green veggie and brought it there. They will have no issues about it as they know the main attraction is still on the Bak Kut Teh. Unlike in Penang, they want to make business out of everything and try to sell everything, even those not in their specialty. I can imagine that we will get a stern look or comments if we were to bring our own side dishes to Bak Kut Teh shops here.

And finally…..individual bowls of authentic Klang Bak Kut Teh!!

You can select which part you prefer and it will be charged accordingly.

Portion - Big = RM 8 per bowl, Small = RM 6.50 per bowl

Pork Rib - Big = RM 8.50 per bowl, Small = RM 7 per bowl

 The soup is so tantalizing and ‘kau’. The meat is very tender even though the pieces are huge! A real meaty treat!

The meal is perfect with the addition of you tiao soaking the aromatic and herbal-infused soup!! You can also request for extra soup.

Another interesting bit about Klang-ians (who are so used to eating bak kut teh), they don’t put the fried shallots in the soup, which may end up making it soggy and uncrispy.

Instead, they put it on their rice. Then as you eat, you pour soup on your rice and still get the crispy taste of the fried shallots!

And at the end of the meal, wash it down with a cup of fragrant chinese tea. Ahh..how satisfying can that get right??

How I wish there’s some Bak Kut Teh stall in Penang which at least can be half as nice as the ones above!!

 (I’ll update this post again when SJ provides me with the details of the area and contact)

Contact:

Jalan Batai Laut, 41300 Klang, Selangor.

It is located somewhere near Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Taman Rashna.

Tel: 04-899 0488, Fax: 04-899 3488

Other facts:

 The seller’s dad was the first person to sell BKT in Klang. After selling for more than 20 years, his dad passed away and he split the business with his brother. This shop at Taman Rashna has been there for more than 8 year now.

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After Bak Kut Teh, we head on to look for other delicacy (ya, such gluttons huh) and we were pleasently surprise to find out another famous treat just behind this shop! That’s next. Stay tuned!!