VV Hai Li Lao BBQ Steamboat 威威海里捞烧烤自助火锅城

 Last week Mamarazzi was busy baking. Her mooncake presentation had improved much and she baked a batch of red bean paste mooncakes for me and my girlfriend. Well, at least that was what I thought she baked la.  mana tau she also baked lotus paste with yolk mooncakes ..said for Papa to eat but actually to bring back for Ah Kong and Ah Mah.

I had a surprised last week after tuition. Uiks....car were full of stuffs... Yup...another spontaneous trip balik kampung. Mamarazzi purposely didn't tell me about the trip so that I won't be restless during tuition.

Aiyaya.... memang like this one leh. We always do things spontaneously leh. Just like the week before this. A friend texted and asked us to go out for buffet ... think think think...where to eat ah? Then recalled one of Mamarazzi's ex-colleague posted in Facebook about this buffet style steamboat restaurant in Serdang.

Mamarazzi immediately called  the number to make a reservation while her friend contact the rest of the gang. Unfortunately nobody from the restaurant answered the call . Mamarazzi sent a text message and shortly she received a confirmation from the restaurant. Off we went food hunting.

Price quite cheap looks reasonable. Our friend treat us for this makan session. Thank you very muchie ...

Guess what's the first thing I did when we arrived at the restaurant.... Check out the washroom. *LOL* . Yeah....long journey.... need to empty my bladder. Came out of the washroom, I immediately informed everyone that the washroom is air-conditioned. Wah lau eh.....!

There were large variety of food .  Two tables seafood. 

A table of red meat...marinated beef slices, lamb slices, chicken meat, marinated ikan kembung and etc.

A cooler of processed meat. 

Ingredients for steamboat were store at a separate section. There were 3 or was it 4 cabinets full of vegetable, tofu, fishballs, meat ball, mushrooms and etc that goes well in steamboat.

Mamarazzi was surprised by the drink section. Wah they also provided teapot for tea lover like Mamarazzi to make tea.

For me, of course I choose those fruit juice.

Initially we didn't know how to use the multi-tier pot provided. Went and try to BBQ the chicken wings on the pot. The hot plate was not hot enough to BBQ the chicken wings.

Asked the staff . The lady explained that the first tier is for steaming. After steaming, we may place the cooked food on the 2nd tier to keep warm . Third tier is for BBQ meat slices. while the lowest is for steamboat.

If we want to BBQ chicken wings , crabs or fish... we can use the big grill provided at the other section.

Papa went there to grill some Chicken wings...

..fishes for us. 

Mamarazzi went and "sapu" seafood. 

Guess what I "sapu" first... yup..Ice cream. Wow Wee! They have two ice cream box/cabinet. One was the  normal Nestle or was it Walls ice cream while the other was Yuyi ice.

Mamarazzi liked the Yuyi ice better than ice cream. Said tasted more refreshing. 

Each paying adult is entitled to a live crab. Ones can kiap choose the crabs from the aquarium . 

The man at the kitchen will clean the crabs for you.  The crabs can either be BBQ(they will help you to BBQ it) or you can steam it .

We divided the crabs. Some we BBQ , some we steam.

They also have this catching live prawns game. Each table is given a card. And when it is time, they will call out. Representative from each table can test their skill by catching as many prawns as possible.

We have to queue up and fish as many prawns as possible in 30 seconds and put it into the glass containers. The prawns we caught  are ours to do as we please.

Papa managed to catch a jar of prawns. Not an easy feat. The naughty prawns can swim very fast and hard to catch. They can jump very high too. 

No wonder there is a Chinese saying " kek toh sang har kum thiew". which translated to " angry till jumping like live prawns". meaning ones feeling livid. Just like Mamarazzi when she saw I mess up the house after she clean up.

Mamarazzi steamed them in the steamer. Aiyak.... they only provide garlic...tarak ginger. if got ginger will taste nicer leh.

Jeng Jeng! fresh and juice steamed prawns . 

Dessert. These are not provided by the restaurant. Our friend's ex-neighbour got them from her "dusun"(orchard). 

The restaurant  have fruits and jelly too for dessert. I ate loads of jelly and watermelon. 

Forced by Mamarazzi to pose for this photo  before we call it a night. I enjoyed the buffet very much. Didn't eat much but it was fun running up and down taking food and drinks for everyone. 

I also enjoyed watching people catch crabs and prawns. I heard that if certain table have certain  number of people, they are entitle to catching a live fish. 

For mamarazzi, this buffet is worth it. Large variety of food and drinks. Service was very good. They kept refilling the soup whenever it's low. Soup base wise..taste was average. Nevertheless, we would certainly come again if have kaki/gang to eat together. Buffet steamboat is best eaten with many kaki

The Mooncakes and Piggies Journey

Still have not set up my Vlog yet. Did I tell you that Papa got me a mini laptop? Now I look forward to coming home and want to hide finish up my homework fast fast so that I can "play" my "computer".

Mamarazzi pulak still addicted to K-Drama and HK Drama. Friend introduced her to watch "House of Spirit". Papa say I can watch Iflix using my mini laptop. Mamarazzi don;t let me use Youtube . Said might have something not suitable for my eyes wor.

 Despite addicted to K-Drama, Mamarazzi still have the "wind" to try her hand on making mooncakes. This is the first time she attempt to make "baked" type of mooncakes.

We made Snow Skin Mooncakes before (http://www.smallkucing.com/2011/08/my-snow-skin-mooncake.html). I had fun making that. It was very easy to make.

Baked ones is harder for Mamarazzi. There are so many online recipes. Some say this and some say that. And really hard to decide how much is the filling and how much is the skin needed.

As expected, she had problem "wrapping" the filling for the mooncakes. Ended patching "holes" here and there for the 1st attempt. Need a lot of "kungfu" to make the skin thin and this is something she had not master.

 First batch looked super ugly. Sent the photo to a friend in Whatsapps and her friend thought she made "tausa peah" (LOL)

 Skin cracked. Means oven too hot and the color uneven coz too much egg wash. 

 Thankfully Sifu Angie was on Whatsapps guiding her. The wrapping for 2nd batch nearly perfect.

 Second batch turns out not bad. This one just came out from the oven yesterday. Colour looks a bit off but then this morning Mamarazzi took a peek...the color seems to even out . Sifu is correct. Color will even out when the mooncake cool down in a day or two.

 Papa wanted to try ...hence Mamarazzi cut up one for him.  Skin is still very hard.  Like eating biscuits. Yup...mooncakes have to be stored 2-3 days before eating so that the skin can become soft.

Many years ago, Mamarazzi had eaten a Red Bean mooncake that have very fragrant rose scent. She had forgotten the brand and subsequent years, can't seems to find it again. Hence this round, she add some of the rose flavouring to the "skin" and "fillings" of the mooncake. It smell so nice when baking.

Papa said the scent too strong; making the mooncakes seems very sweet though the taste was not that sweet. Next round must put less of the essence .

Conclusion....no wonder mooncake is so expensive la.

Wokay...that's all for now ... time for 3rd attempt lo


UPDATE :

Came home from school today and found these piggies chillaxing on the dining table. Wah....i can give to my girlfriends lor.

Found 5 more on the other tray. Much rounder  and fatter..but how come got chicken pox geh?

Mamarazzi said nevermind wor...in a day or two the chicken pox would be gone wor...Have to wait and see la.

Mooncakes from Ming Yue Confectionery, Ipoh

 The very next morning, Mamarazzi woke Papa and me up early. Time to go downstairs for the complimentary breakfast provided by the hotel .

Nothing much la there. The usual fare . Could be due to the hotel having full occupancy, the kitchen food were a bit messed up.

Papa took some "Half boiled" eggs, but when he cracked the eggs....it was more of "hard boiled" instead. The yolk were nearly cooked. Adui...

 I created new drink..I named it "Orple Juice". A mixture of apple and orange juice. Had a light breakfast .

Off we went to buy mooncakes from Ming Yue Confectionery. We have been there last year and Mamarazzi love their Mooncakes. It's cheap and at least suit her taste buds.

From what she heard...usually when they started to sell mooncakes, the queue could be a few shops long. And if you re lucky when you come to the head of the line there will be mooncakes left for you to buy.

We arrived there around 9.30am and the queue was two shops long. A lady who was queueing behind of Mamarazzi said she came and buy the day before at 9am but when she got to the front of the queue, many types off mooncakes was out of stock already. Have to wait for the next baking session which some say in the afternoon. 

A glance at the price....no wonder everyone are grabbing moon cakes from here. Where else can you get single yolk mooncakes for less than RM5? Even those sold in Pasar Malam cost more than that leh.

The lady in front of Mamarazzi bought 15 boxes! And it cost her about RM300 plus only! Mamarazzi caught mooncakes borong fever didn't buy much la...just a few only la *blush blush*. The lady in white cap busy counting Mamarazzi's purchases.

 Business very good leh. Saw the old lady and the man busy folding the boxes for the shop to use. 

Jeng! Jeng! Our Mooncakes.....a bit only la. Last year Mamarazzi only managed to get Red Bean Paste and Lotus Paste mooncakes as they ran out of others. This year, as she was early, she managed to grab the ones she wanted. Bought red bean paste mooncakes, lotus paste single yolk, pandan lotus paste single yolk mooncake and mixed nuts mooncakes only la.

Papa asked why never buy 4 yolks mooncakes. Mamarazzi was like "HUH?" eat yolk only ka? But now come to think of it...since the double yolk mooncakes is less than RM6..she should have bought those instead leh. Adui.....

When she cut the Single Yolk Lotus Paste mooncakes she was so surprised. She thought she took the wrong ones instead. Took mixed nuts one ka? Wah.....so generous with the melon seeds leh.

Papa said the mooncakes taste good. Not that sweet. Just nice. Would be perfect if they would roast the melon seeds first as it would be more aromatic.

Mamarazzi also cut open her Red Bean paste mooncakes. Wah....also a lot of melon seeds in it. She loves mooncakes with a lot of melon seeds. She said taste just right for her. Should have bought more.

Here is the address if you like to try out their mooncakes :-

Address: 50, Jalan Peh Kee Koh, Taman Kampar, 30250 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

Phone:+60 5-255 4128

Be there early and be prepare with Plan A , Plan B and Plan C just in case they ran out of the ones you wanted. Don't waste time but choosing only when you come to the front of the queue.