Short trip to Bidor and Seen Hock Yeen Temple

Glutton and Barbarian can be quite superstitious. They believe in numerology, card readings, feng shui, etc.

Sometime in May, both Glutton and Barbarian went on a mission to get their card readings from a Master in Bidor. As the appointment with the Master is scheduled at 2pm but we reached slightly earlier, we decided to stop by for the famous Pun Chun Duck Noodle in the heart of the small town. However, luck was not on our side. The restaurant was full and Glutton being glutton, hates to wait for table, so we walked to a few shops down the same row of shophouses to reach another restaurant.

This banner with the Ho Chiak logo attracted my attention

Barbarian is a sucker for pastries. The magnetic effect on Barbarian made us to stop for food in this shop. Glutton had a simple plate of chicken & char siew rice to satisfy his hunger. It was quite good, actually... just a little bit salty.

This is the shop

The damage that Barbarian made after seeing the poster:-

Aren't they cute?

These little pastries are filled with red bean or lotus paste. I think these are what Ho Chiak promoted. I'm not sure, pardon me as I do not read Mandarin. Maybe it is written somewhere on the banner above? They are quite expensive, costing approximately from RM2-RM5 (I can't remember). Sadly, it is only nice to see, taste-wise, only so-so, a bit on the dry side.

Egg Tart

The egg tarts were freshly baked right in front of the shop. Barbarian couldn't resist the oven-fresh egg tarts and bought half a dozen of them! It was nice, very soft egg filling and crunchy pastry. The downside is it is a bit too sweet for my liking.

A close-up on the cute little piggy head

The shop is just located right in the middle of Bidor town, along the main road once you exit from the highway.

After consulting the Master (only costs RM10 per person), we went to Seen Hock Yeen temple in Chemor. It is quite convenient as we are heading back to Taiping after Bidor (Barbarian hates to detour) using the trunk road.

It is a very famous temple and we went there mostly to pray for Glutton's studies and to throw the coins into the wishing pond. We visited the temple last year but didn't have any coins with us, so in our little hearts, we promised to return, this time with coins!

There was much changes to the outer side of the temple. It looks really big now. Google for it if you are interested in having a look.

Let's hope for a better year after we pray-pray.


Kuil Seen Hock Yeen
1 1/2 km, Railway Station Road,
Kampung Cik Zainal Tambahan 1,
31200 Chemor,
Perak, Malaysia.

Pork Ribs: Smoky Jack Ribs & Steakhouse, Penang vs Betty's Midwest Kitchen, Aman Suria

The main purpose of this entry is to compare the pork ribs between Smoky Jack Ribs & Steakhouse in Penang and Betty's Midwest Kitchen in Aman Suria, Petaling Jaya.

1) The presentation of the dish:

Smoky Jack: The Smoky BBQ Pork Ribs served with potato wedges and salad, RM18.80

Versus

Betty's: Grilled Baby Back Ribs served with fries and coleslaw, RM32.50

2) The portion

By looking at the above photos, the portion from Smoky Jack is considerably smaller than Betty's Midwest Kitchen. However, one must bear in mind that the BBQ Pork Ribs from Smoky Jack is part of the five dishes served in the set lunch. The set lunch consists of:

A glass of fruit juice

A piece of garlic bread & a choice of salad/soup of the day

Desserts - fruits, a piece of cake and single scoop ice-cream

3) The price
The set lunch from Smoky Jack only costs RM18.80++ for a five course meal meanwhile, the Grilled Baby Back Ribs alone costs RM32.50.

4) The taste
I would definitely think that the BBQ Pork ribs from Smoky Jack tastes better. The one from Betty's Midwest Kitchen is a bit dry.

5) Verdict
Smoky Jack is definitely the winner! Value for money and tastes great.

Oh by the way, Smoky Jack is suitable for a date too. The environment is quiet and its a bit dimly lit.

One of the seating area

Glutton and Barbarian were in Betty's Midwest Kitchen for dinner. The waiting time was quite fast, maybe because we were their first customers.

Another main dish that we ordered were Pulled Pork Burger.

Pulled Pork Burger, RM12

This dish is pretty normal for me. Nothing to shout about and to be honest, I think its quite expensive for such a simple dish. Since the Pork Burger is so small, we have room for desserts. We ordered Apple Crumble which is quite nice.

Apple Crumble, RM8

Their menu

Our total bill came up to RM57.75

Overall, I find the food acceptable and the price is quite reasonable for western food, worth giving a try if you are nearby that area.

Smoky Jack Ribs & Steakhouse
3H-3I, Upper Penang Road
10000 Georgetown
Tel: 04-2628826
Business Hours:
Lunch: 12.00pm - 3.00pm
Dinner: 6.00pm - 10.30pm

Betty's Midwest Kitchen
AG40, Jalan PJU 1/43, Aman Suria Damansara, 47301 PJ, Selangor.
Business Hours:
Closed on Mondays
Tues - Sun:
Lunch: 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Dinner: 5:30 pm - 10:00 pm

Serdang Fried Porridge, Restoran Sin Aik Kee

It was a spontaneous plan by Glutton (as usual) to go for the fried porridge in Serdang for dinner. It has been a while since we last been there, hence the craving for it.

Being the environmentalist that we are, we decided to carpool with Glutton's friends. We traveled from Taiping to Serdang in a Myvi, reaching our destination in approximately 40 minutes. It's pretty fast considering the great meal we had especially in comparison with the standard traveling time of 30 minutes to get to places in KL.

There are two restaurants selling the famous fried porridge in Serdang, being Restoran Fong Ting Siew and Restoran Sin Aik Kee. We always frequent the latter, as it is supposed to be the "original" one.

Photo courtesy of what2seeonline.com

By the time we reached, it was approximately 9pm. There were still another four tables of patrons having their dinner even though it was late and it was a Wednesday (business is always better on weekends).

Glutton and his friend went to the nearby shop, Bie You Tien Restaurant to tapao curry wild boar while the two of us girls went ahead to order these dishes:

The star dish - fried porridge

Fried frogs Kam Heong style


Steam fish - Siam style


Three flavour fish (Kerabu fish)

The famous wild boar curry

The above wild boar curry only costs RM10. It is pretty a lot for the price, don't you think?

The portions are quite huge for 4 pax despite the fact that we requested for small portions, not to mention we even repeated twice. I guess good things come in small packages does not apply in small towns. (=

The steam fish siam style is sweet and sour, very appetizing indeed. While the three flavour fish is deep fried to become very crunchy and topped with sweet and sour kerabu guava. This is definitely not the typical three flavour fish you get elsewhere. It is a must-try!

The fried porridge is being fried together with a lot of ingredients such as pork pieces, small prawns and spring onions. It is very flavourful as apposed to the normal bland white porridge. Don't let the appearance fool you, it might not look very appetizing but I am sure you will agree with me once you have a taste of it.

Meanwhile, the kam heong frog is also very fragrant and is fried with tastefully.

The total bill came to only RM134.50, with 2 glasses of boiled longan drink and 3 bottles of Tiger beer. Pretty reasonable, right?

The bill

Do stop-by for a quick delicious meal if you are passing the Serdang turn out from PLUS highway. It is worth the travel.

Restoran Sin Aik Kee
No 27 Jalan Tengah
09800 Serdang
Kedah.

Tel : 04 4077288

Business Hours : 4.30pm – 10.30pm

Closed on Monday & Tuesday

GPS Coordinates : N05 12.606 E100 36.779