Saturday 25 September 2010

Simply Durian

Durian...u just love it or hate it. I'm a self confessed fanatically crazy durian lover and very sure there are many more people out there who are willing to scream "I'M A DURIAN LOVER!!!". U will be very surprised to know what will people do in order to get the taste of the best ones.

True story: my boss actually went all the way to a Mantin durian farm in early morning to sit and wait...Wait for the durians to fall from the trees and make his picks from there. Mind u, it's BIG business out there for durian sellers. Some best ones can fetch till RM 30.00 per kilogramme. This caused some selfish and unscrupulous people who are selling the low graded ones for over-the-market prices.

Question here is how many of us actually know what type of durians are we eating. Anyone wonder what's market rate for each type. It's important so to avoid being conned. Here's the tips of the durian species available in Malaysia, taken from unknown sources..Do take note these are not list of ALL durians available. The best of em' all is not listed here. Go out there & check it out yourselves....



HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD DURIAN
A good durian must be ripe, fresh and free from larvae / worms. Do bear in mind, a durian with worms does not mean it's bad, it could be soo delicious that even worms are attracted to it...
1) Look at the tip. If it's too dry, it's no longer fresh. A little dry is fine.
2) Look at the bottom. If it's cracked, it maybe over-ripe or not so fresh. Some sellers will use rubberband to tie it to prevent from cracking. It could still be delicious but since we're paying for the best, why bother taking the risk?
3) Smell the durian. If it has strong smell, it's most likely to be good. If no smell, it's probably not ripe.
4) Put the durian close to your ear and shake it. If there's a moving sound inside, it's most likely to be good.
5) Look for holes around the durian. If there is, most likely it has been infested with worms.

Bear in mind, these are not SOP (standard procedures) for choosing durians. It's only a basic guideline for us to know and not necessarily will get us the best tastes of durians. Like what people used to say, dont judge the book by its cover. Same applies to durians. Will post more on this subject later. Meanwhile, Happy Eating !!!

Friday 17 September 2010

Jalan Jalan Cari Makan - Steven's Corner

This Steven's Corner needs no introduction to foodies, being a must-visit place for whoever around OUG (Old Klang Road) or Pandan Indah (Cheras). Recently moved to a new premise at its OUG branch but food quality pretty much the same.


My favourite has to be the cheese naan which is probably the best in town, and tandoori chicken. Most restaurants in town will have cheddar cheese as ingredient for cheese naan being a cheaper option. Steven's motto is to provide the best quality with best ingredients available. Thus, staffs used mozzarella cheese. When ready to be served, u better dont wait any longer with the cheese still steaming hot. It's that good that u can eat it immediately and dont need to eat it with dhal curry or anything else. Garlic cheese naan is also highly recommended. In fact, any of its dishes with cheese are great since all of them have mozzarella cheese as ingredient.

Cheese naan

This is what we called a cheesy meal

Tandoori chicken