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What to eat in Kuantan: Hakka "Lei Cha"

>> Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Not everyone is aware of such a dish & here in Kuantan, "lei cha" is not widely available. I was thrilled to discover this place after having so much meat the night before I got to taste this aunty's "lei cha".

What is "lei cha", you may wonder. Judging from the looks in the images below, those who don't fancy green vegetables will start running far, far away before the dish gets to them! Lei cha (Chinese: 擂茶; pinyin: léi chá; literally "pounded tea") or ground tea is a traditional Southern Chinese tea-based beverage or gruel. The custom of Lei cha began in the Three Kingdoms period or even Han Dynasty. It is very prevalent among Hakka people in Hakka regions of Taiwan. It is brought by Hakka people to Taiwan, Malaysia, and any locales with a substantial Hakka diaspora population. ~ Wikipedia


Here in Malaysia, this 'savory green tea' is accompanied by a bowl of warm rice + vegetables. Some shops/stalls serve brown rice, while some just serve the normal white rice with a variety of stir-fried green vegetables, beans, pickled vegetables & fragrant-roasted groundnuts.


This 'stall' that AP told me to visit is actually situated inside a mini market! The aunty sells her "lei cha" only on Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays at RM5.00/packet (only for take-aways). Ah, such a gem to discover...hidden! For the locals who live around this area, I guess it's nothing new to them, but hey, I found it 'exciting' to discover a 'new' place for lunch :D


Some people like to have their "lei cha" mixed with the rice, but I prefer to have my rice on its own & the "lei cha" like a soup to accompany the rice. It's like having a 'Chinese salad with rice' that keeps your tummy satisfied 'til the next meal.


If you haven't tried "lei cha" before, why not give it a try...at least once? The tea/soup may be slightly bitter to some due to the herbs used, but I loved it. It felt refreshing & 'cleansing'...hahaha...


Go green!

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Vote for us!

>> Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Dear friends, family & readers of The Ruthless Eater,

Vote for us!
http://www.feversocial.com/voteSingle-Visit.My.Japan-109501-0000162

My husband & I entered a contest that will require most votes to win. Appreciate if you can help or even get your friends to help too...hehe. Thanks a bunch!

p/s: The contest allows voting for the same photo once a day, everyday, from now 'til 31st August 2016.




Your faithful food blogger,

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What to eat in Kuantan: Herbal soup noodles at Restoran Guan Heng

>> Friday, July 22, 2016

Lately, I've been feeling slightly more nostalgic & wanting to find certain cuisines that I used to enjoy back in PJ, right here in Kuantan. Thanks to uncle FT, my "Kuantan dad" since uni days, I got to enjoy a delicious herbal soup noodles breakfast yesterday morning at Bukit Sekilau area.

It's a very simple coffeeshop with 1 stall in the morning (yeah, this is available only for breakfast, I think. Not sure if she's opened for lunch as well), selling noodles & uncle FT brought me here to try her herbal soup noodles.

Usually, the soup is served with yellow noodles, but I opted to have it with mee suah instead of yellow noodles. You can order herbal duck, herbal chicken or herbal pork ribs with your noodles as well, with the duck noodles a ringgit more than others.

Herbal Pork Ribs Mee Suah (RM5.50/serving)
Not too bad. I think it lacks the sweetness from the licorice root/"kam chou", but it's comparatively more herbal than most places that I've tried although nothing beats what I have back home :)

See I told you it's a simple coffeeshop... 


Street view: Jalan Sekilau 4/1

This probably is one of my shorter posts, eh? :P I thought it'll be nice to just share so that if you've cravings as such, at least you have an option. Cheers!


Herbal soup any time,

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Trip to Houston, June 2016: Rudy's Country Store & Bar-B-Q

>> Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Any day is a good day for some barbecue pork ribs, eh? Couple it with a nice, cold bottle of beer/soda, I think it'll make the end of your work day one that's relaxing enough to keep you satisfied 'til you tuck into bed for the night's rest.

In this final post of the Houston trip (yes, apologies that it took me so long to complete things these days), I would like to share with you my experience at Rudy's, a fast-food style BBQ restaurant that sells delectable pork & beef ribs, sausages, sandwiches & more!


My dinner for that evening...couldn't finish that gigantic smoked potato!

Try their BBQ sauce as well or enjoy your meats with hot & spicy peppers sauces 

I went to the branch of Rudy's at the Tomball Parkway area. It's a typical southern-looking ranch-like-restaurant that serves what the southerns do best, barbecues!

The skyline on that evening was extremely beautiful! No filter!

As you enter the restaurant, you'll find yourself greeted by a mini convenience store like area on your left, where you can purchase chips & snacks to accompany your meal at Rudy's.

Snacks section

Walking further up, you'll find a canteen-style area to order your food. As it was my 1st time there, I was quite lost as to what I should do...hahaha. All you need to do is to grab a bottle of drink of your choice, be it beer or soda or juice (I think they have that too), then pick your side dish from the chiller (optional) before ordering your hot food at the counter.

The maze towards the counter

Fresh from the charcoal pit & grills
Plenty of choices - some by weight, which you can determine according to your level of hunger :P
As this is a BBQ restaurant, I had 1/2 lb of pork ribs & as a sucker for potatoes, I ordered their jumbo smoked potato as well! You can actually order more or less than 1/2 lb of ribs. It's all up to you, just like purchasing meat/ham over the meat section of the supermarket.

Some of the guys working at Rudy's that evening :)

I have to say that I enjoyed the juicy & flavorful pork ribs although as usual, I find Texan flavors slightly too salty for my liking. I love it that the meat was tender & succulent & has that smokey, charred charcoal taste on the crust of the ribs.


The potato, on the other hand was slightly too heavy to compliment my dinner that evening. Flavors were a little bland with just cheese & sour cream for taste. I think you'll need to share this with 2-3 persons... 

Here are some photos of how the restaurant looks like. It's a weekday & probably too late by the time I took the photos to see the dinner crowd.



You can sit outside as well, especially if you would like to have a ciggy...



Love the view that evening. On one side, it was really blue, on another, it was greyish with hues of red, orange & yellow. Oh, so lovely! 

I would say that Rudy's is a nice place for some good dose of Texan BBQ ribs & more. I wouldn't mind going there again. Prices are affordable for the portion served as well, so I'm pretty satisfied to have my meal there ;)


Rudy's Country Store & Bar-B-Q
24503 Tomball Pkwy
Tomball, TX 77375
USA.
Tel: (+1) 281-205-4812
Business hours: Sun - Thurs 7:00a.m. - 10:00p.m., Fri & Sat 7:00a.m. - 10:30p.m.
GPS: 30.0390243,-95.6096064

Ratings:
Presentation (does it look mouth-watering): * * * 1/2
Price (is it affordable - more stars = YES): * * * 1/2
Environment (is the place comfortable, cosy, clean, pleasant): * * * 1/2
Taste (is the food delicious, worth coming back for more): * * * 1/2
Service (are the service providers friendly, efficient, polite): * * * 1/2


Overall:





Salty, but still delicious,

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Trip to Houston, June 2016: El Tiempo Cantina

>> Friday, July 15, 2016

Tex-Mex cuisine is very popular in Texas, so one of the evenings, the team had dinner together at El Tiampo Cantina, located at Vintage Park.

The restaurant may look quiet from the outside, but as the door opened, whoa...the place was packed even at 6:30p.m.! Thankfully the team made a reservation, especially since it'll be a large group of like 20 over people.


The interior of the restaurant feels very 'old school + Mexican'. The stairs to the 1st floor was really steep, so walking up the stairs with heels just didn't feel like the best idea, especially after work with the laptop & all. Lighting was REALLY dim, so please excuse my photos quality.


Their menu is extensive, with tonnes of Tex-Mex dishes! If you're new to Tex-Mex dishes, you'll be totally lost. AK who's vegetarian was really lost with the menu & she gave up looking at it after a while. Thankfully, the team lead pre-ordered the dishes for that evening with some vegetarian dishes for our Indian-vegetarian colleagues.


Without any images, one will seriously be confused as to what's what

Side: Guacamole & salsa - to go with the meat + tortilla

Appetizer: Fried Tortilla with Cheese Dip
As it's AK's first time having Tex-Mex food, I had to explain to her what each dish is like & to assure her that it's vegetarian. She was very amused when I connected each dish with her roots of Indian cuisine! Check out how I did that in the next photo ;)

Fajita, Tortilla, Rice & Beans & the grilled Meats
Flavors were pleasant, but I didn't find them "wow". The grill was quite unique though & they used charcoal for the grills, which gave the meats/vegetables a nicer, smokier taste. I told AK to imagine:
Fajita = alike Tandoori vegetables/meats
Tortilla = alike Chapati
Mexican-flavored rice = alike Briyani Rice

We ended the evening with some happy chatters before calling it a night. There goes another day in Houston. One last blog post on Houston & I'll move to something else :)


El Tiempo Cantina
Vintage Park Leasing & Management
114 Vintage Park Blvd
Houston, TX 77070.
Tel: (+1) 281-374-0500
Business hours: Mon & Tues 11:00a.m. - 9:00p.m.; Wed & Thurs  11:00a.m. - 9:30p.m.; Fri & Sat 11:00a.m. - 10:30p.m.; Sun  9:30a.m. - 9:00p.m.
URL: http://eltiempocantina.com/vintage-park/
GPS: 29.9947833,-95.5747085


Enjoy Tex-Mex, but this was nothing "wow" to me,

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Trip to Houston, June 2016: Pho An 2 - Vietnamese Noodle Soup

>> Thursday, July 14, 2016

I'm quite a fan of Vietnamese Beef Noodles/Pho & it seems like Pho An 2 is a common restaurant where the team will dine at during meeting/workshop weeks after work whenever they're at Houston. What's not to like about clear broth with generous servings of beef, clear rice noodles called bánh phở & some fresh sprigs of mint leaves, green lime & bean sprouts? :D It's strictly non-vegetarian though. Those who don't take beef can opt for chicken, so don't get too disappointed!

The Special ($7.25/small serving as photo below or $7.75/large serving)
Rare steak, well-done flank, fatty flank, soft tendon, tripe, brisket, beef balls & crunchy flank
I usually go for this option of mixed beef parts as I enjoy the different textures of each part. Since serving portions at Texas are usually huge, I didn't dare order the large serving (although it was just $0.50 difference!). I think they'll give you more noodles for the large serving, so I was quite satisfied with my regular/small serving of this delicious beef noodles. Somehow it's not as tasty as the one that I had in California 3 years ago i.e. Pho 75 #2 Oriental Restaurant. Having said that, a bowl of warm, Asian, soup noodles is just comforting whenever I'm in a foreign country :D

Fresh mint leaves, bean sprouts, green chili & green lime slices

Beefy goodness! 

This is how the restaurant looks like from the outside 

How the restaurant looks like on the inside
We were there quite early to avoid the usual dinner crowd 

House Special Fried Shrimp Cakes ($6.75/serving of 4 pieces)
We also ordered some appetizers/snacks/side dishes. This was quite tasty, with diced shrimps & vegetables wrapped in beancurd sheets & deep-fried 'til golden brown. It was quite juicy & still has the slight 'sweetness' of the shrimps.

Crispy Shrimp Tempura ($6.75/serving of 7 pieces)
I can't recall if I did get to try this...maybe not, since there were more than 7 of us & this plate was placed at the other end of the table :P Looks nice though...hahaha... 

Vietnamese Fried Egg Rolls ($5.50/serving of 4 rolls)
I did't find this very special somehow. It was crispy like a usual spring roll & that's about it.

Their menu...quite a lot offered here! 





So, now you have one more dining option whenever you're in Houston for work or vacation ;) Stay tuned for the last 2 posts of this series. 'Til the next post, have loads of fun eating & exploring various food around you!


Ratings:
Presentation (does it look mouth-watering): * * *
Price (is it affordable - more stars = YES): * * *
Environment (is the place comfortable, cosy, clean, pleasant): * * *
Taste (is the food delicious, worth coming back for more): * * *
Service (are the service providers friendly, efficient, polite): * * *


Overall:






Warn, beefy noodles are best any time! :P

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