Golden Orchid Oriental Thai Cuisine @ Damansara Jaya

The Buggers recently went on a much deserved holiday to Bangkok for 5 days. Bangkok is famous for its really cheap shopping, and of course delicious Thai food. So prior to going to Bangkok, myself and Jun went for the media opening of Golden Orchid Oriental Thai Cuisine in Damansara Jaya, as an early preparation for the level of spicy food we expected to have in Thailand.

Sawadika, says the figure waiting to greet you outside the door. 

The ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open Golden Orchid Oriental Thai Cuisine.

The interior is cosy enough, and can fit up to 100 patrons.

Golden Orchid is so named because of a massive potted bloom of golden orchids right near the entrance. So it's not just a name, you can actually see real golden orchids. 

But of course, the food is arguably the most important aspect of any restaurant. And Golden Orchid doesn't disappoint, with a spread of authentic Thai cuisine to satisfy all its hungry customers.

First off was the Tom Yam Seafood. What is Thai cuisine without the flavorful and spicy dish?

 Tom Yam Seafood

The tom yam soup was fragrant and exquisite. We could see that the chef obviously didn't hang back with the amount of seafood ingredients; lots of prawns, squid and abalone mushrooms to complement the tom yam soup. Definitely an appetite opener. I actually managed to finish an entire bowl, despite my intolerance to all things spicy.

Next up is the Green Curry Seafood.

Green Curry Seafood

Since I am kinda sorta intolerant to spicy foods, the green curry seafood was a welcome break for my burnt tastebuds. The coconut milk mixed well with the green curry to make a delicious paste well suited for the seafood. Similarly, the chef again poured in a generous amount of ingredients into this dish. Good stuff, especially for those who can't really take spicy food, but still want to give their tastebuds an exciting time.

The following 3 dishes may seem quite plain and ordinary but they are really well prepared and goes very well with the meal in general.

Stir Fried Kangkung

Stir fried with a generous amount of sambal, this dish definitely goes well with your Thai meal.

Thai Styled Omelette

They call it the Thai styled omelette but honestly, it tastes egg-actly (geddit, geddit?) like a normal omelette to me.

Basil Chicken

This was actually pretty good. It's basically minced chicken, mixed well with basil leaves. It's pretty addictive stuff, and because it wasn't spicy at all, I had several helpings.

Golden Orchid BBQ Combo Platter

If you're looking for a sharing dish, or just for a platter of various different dishes, this is a great choice for you. With portions of Thai BBQ seafood and BBQ lamb slices, you'll get the best of both worlds. The homemade green chilli sauce is a perfect addition to this dish, despite it bringing the heat up several notches in my mouth. Dipping the fried squid into this sauce serves only to enhance its flavor, and burn my tastebuds. The lamb especially was really tender and juicy, and it didn't have that tangy taste that comes with poorly cooked lamb meat.

Spicy Papaya Salad

I don't know why I only managed to eat the papaya salad so late into the meal, but that's probably a testament to how awesome it is. In Thailand, the papaya salad is a dish sold almost everywhere. I've read somewhere that papaya salad is also one of the more difficult dishes to make, because a single mistake could cause a lot of problems in the toilet later on. Not with this salad. Made with generous helpings of raw papaya, as well as the sweet chilli sauce and garnished with chilli padi, this is definitely one of the better papaya salads out there.

Pataya Fish with Sweet Chilli Sauce

The final main course of the night. The Pataya Fish. The fish is deep fried until it is crispy and has a look of sheer horror, placed carefully on a bed of their delicious sweet chilli sauce and topped with thin slices of mangoes. Not only does the sweet chilli sauce provide the fish with more flavor, the fish itself is really fresh and fried to crispy perfection. Another must try dish.

I should probably have taken the cover off to show you the fluffiness of the rice. Oops. 

This is how your dinner should look like. 

Finally, dessert.

Red Ruby

I'm sure many of you have already tried the red ruby, chestnuts wrapped up to look like red rubies and topped with shaved ice, coconut milk and slices of jackfruit. If you haven't already tried it before, you really should.

With our dinner finished, we even got this amazing gift all thanks to Golden Orchid, a floating flower candle. I'll probably use it whenever I need to up the romance with my girlfriend, should I ever find one.

We at Forever Hungry just want to thank Golden Orchid for their hospitality and generosity. We had a great time eating the delicious food and it will by no means be the last time we'll have a meal, should we ever get the craving to have Thai food.

More info on Golden Orchid below:

Address: GOLDEN ORCHID ORIENTAL THAI CUISINE
NO 12-14G, JALAN SS22/25,
47400 DAMANSARA JAYA, PETALING JAYA
Opening Hours: 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30pm-10:00pm. 











You can also check out their Facebook page for more deals and information, or give them a call for reservations or inquiries at 03-7722 2228.



Cheerios!

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Vault Wine and Bistro @ Glomac Damansara

This is a post I originally wrote for Forever Hungry. As such, all pictures, materials and logos belong to Forever Hungry and Forever Hungry alone. Please do check out the blog here and remember to like their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter. Forever Hungry needs your support!

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I know we haven't exactly been active these few months but that's because each of the Buggers have begun on a new phase of their lives called 'work'. Work; that time in each and every one of our lives where neither time nor money is ever enough. But even though we've all been caught up with our own forms of business, there really isn't any excuse not to put aside a bit of time for the most important thing; food.

That's why I snapped up the chance to go for a food review at Vault, Wine and Bistro at Glomac Damansara. 

I figured that a restaurant called Vault would be a cozy little place, lights dimmed to near darkness and having rows and rows of wine bottles lined up along the walls. I wasn't wrong. I loved how they designed the place, minimalist and simple, and perfect for a drinking night out. 

There's even a cat who welcomes you. I like cats who welcome me. 

But the interior design of a restaurant doesn't necessarily reflect on their food, as I have experienced many, many times before. Despite its wine and bistro name, Vault does their part to serve food to customers. Vault specializes in bringing an Italian cuisine, to complement the wine I guess. Below is all the dishes we managed to try out. 

 Crispy Calamari

I really enjoyed the crispy calamari (or sotong, if you really want to be Malaysian). Lightly battered and easily chewable and not at all rubbery, this is one of the better crispy sotongs I've eaten so far. Dipping it in the Thai sauce is excellent too. Weird for a restaurant serving Italian cuisine, but in this globalized world, who's complaining?

Roasted Pork Belly

This will be the first of many pork dishes we managed to try at Vault. I'm a huge fan of all things porky but the roasted pork belly reminded me of char siew. Plus, it wasn't better than the char siew I have tried elsewhere. Not my favorite.

 Prosecco Col Solivo Champagne

We were also served champagne, although with my kiddy face I wasn't really allowed to drink much. I only had one glass and because I'm not a champagne connoisseur, I really couldn't tell you if it was good or not. It was okay, I guess?

 Fried Chicken Wing

Frankly, this is no different from any other fried chicken wing I've had anywhere else. Didn't suit the vibe of an Italian restaurant.

 Arugula Salad

This is the healthy alternative to the fried chicken wings, although the bits of pork shaken in will beg to differ. Zesty, tangy and overall quite a salad.

 Seafood Marinara

The most disappointing thing about this dish is the quantity. I doubt that there is enough to feed a single person. The prawns and the sotongs are quite big in size though, and the taste of the seafood marinara is definitely there.  

 Prawn & Scallop Aioli

I wish I could say more about this dish, but I didn't get to try it because they were out of stock. It's one of those things that a restaurant really shouldn't be doing, though it's understandable since Chinese New Year is...well, tomorrow. 

 Trio Mushroom Soup

Again, I didn't get to try this because they only gave us one portion for an entire table to try. In a world where the biggest are the fittest, a scrawny guy like me won't ever be able to win. 

 Smoked Duck

This is their daily special, the smoked duck. Honestly, the portion is really little. I mean, 5 slices of smoked duck. That has either got to be the smallest duck in the world, or the duck with the least meat on it. It was good, I have to admit, being quite succulent but with the small portion, I really couldn't taste anything.

 Marinated Pork Rib

The pork ribs, which again had a very minuscule amount. It was very, very dry, another thing which really put me off. I like my pork ribs to be juicy so that I can act like Conan the Barbarian when I'm crunching on my ribs. 

Mix Sausage Platter

Who doesn't like a sausage fest (guys probably)? Vault offers a mix of 5 different kinds of sausages, including the Italian Sausage, Spicy Nungarian Sausage, Nuernberger Sausage, Chorizo Sausage and German Pepper Sausage. It's great if you're a sausage lover (nothing dirty intended). 

More information on Vault Wine and Bistro below: 

Address: A-G-7, Block A, Glomac Damansara, No. 699, Jalan Damansara, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tel: 03-7725 7266

Opening Hours: Mon - Fri: 10:30 am - 12:00 am

Sat: 5:00 pm - 12:00 am

Rest every Sunday

For more information on Vault and their special offers, you can check out their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/vault.wineandbistro/

Cheerios!

WE TURNED ONE!

We here at Forever Hungry often forget things. It's because each of the Buggers have their own busy schedule, and we're also almost always looking out for more and more delicious foods to try. But the thing that we seem to have forgotten, and it is one hell of an important thing, is the fact that FOREVER HUNGRY IS NOW ONE!

Okay. We know that we have pretty much failed as the Buggers of Forever Hungry. I mean, forgetting the day Forever Hungry was launched is essentially similar to forgetting our own birthdays. It's embarrassing to have to type this now because it makes us seem pretty much like the Buggers that we are. And the fact that we've only remembered that we turned ONE almost 2 weeks later just goes to show how incredibly busy we've all been.

When we began Forever Hungry, there wasn't much of a game plan. We simply went around trying different places, taking pictures of the food and posting it up on the blog. We wanted to write about all the different places we tried, all the different foods and the times we could hang out as the Buggers. That was the entire purpose of us setting up Forever Hungry.

But so much has happened in the past one year. We're really thankful for the chances we were given. We got to try out a lot of Korean cuisine when we traveled to Seoul early this year. It was pretty amazing to be able to travel overseas, to a place like Seoul and just try out all the different kinds of food they offered. How can we forget when we killed our tastebuds on the tortuously spicy jjimdak?

We also got invited to a few events by Nuffnang, which included a crazy time at Genting's theme park, guzzling chocolates at the Chocoholics event and sending ECF to embrace his potential at Chin Swee Temple. We're really thankful to Nuffnang for allowing newbies like us to join these events, letting us meet different bloggers. It's like allowing us to further improve our street cred in the blogosphere.

We're also thankful for all the restaurants who invited us for food reviews. There were a lot of desserts to try, allowing us to settle our sweet tooth cravings. We got to try out the world's best sandwich as well, which was awesome in so many aspects.

The highlight of the year definitely goes to us being nominated for the DiGiWWWOW Awards in June of this year. It's an amazing and humbling experience to get into the Top 5 of the Nuffnang Fave Makan-Makan category, and while we lost out to the far more experienced Fried Chillies, it was still an eye opening experience for us.

We also expanded slightly to Melbourne, Australia, doing a few reviews on the restaurants. Because nothing says Forever Hungry than traveling 3000 miles just to eat. That's precisely why we have a Urbanspoon badge on the right side of this page. Sure we're still new, but give us a while. We'll push those numbers up.

It's been a year already. It's true that time flies really fast when you're having fun. And if anything, the Buggers at Forever Hungry are having the time of our lives. Here's to this year and to even more years ahead.

Cheerios!

Seoul Metro, Lonsdale St., Melbourne CBD

There are a ton of Korean restaurants in Melbourne, which is something I am really glad about. But sometimes, it isn't about the quantity, rather the quality of said Korean restaurants, most of which, sad to say, fall way off the mark. It's just that a lot of the Korean restaurants here in Melbourne aren't really sticklers for the purely authentic Korean dishes, opting for a more globalized, fusion approach instead.

But there's always a silver lining. If you're in Melbourne and somehow want to satisfy your craving for Korean food, perhaps after a lengthy session of Korean dramas and variety shows, why not try out Seoul Metro?

This small little restaurant is hidden like a ninja in the shadows, and it offers quite a variety of Korean cuisine to satisfy your palate.

For one, the place is almost impossible to stumble upon, so unless you have a friend who has been there before (I was introduced and brought there by a friend), or you have read reviews about the place, you may not even realize that there is a restaurant there. Seoul Metro is located in one of the office buildings along Lonsdale Street, with nothing more than a overhead sign to attract visitors.

I walked right past the restaurant without even realizing that I missed it. Once you enter the building though, there are numerous telltale signs of something discreetly Korean up ahead, most notably the huge posters of K-pop stars plastered on the wall.

Seoul Metro is the restaurant right beside a car park, which explains why it was relatively empty at 6.30pm.

It's so hidden, ninja grottoes are jealous.

Once you enter the restaurant, you'll feel a very Korean vibe going around. It is a small restaurant, which is kinda fitting, seeing that there aren't many walk in customers.

You'll also notice the huge namesake of the restaurant, the Seoul Metro railway line map up on the wall for all to admire.

Again, the place is small and cozy, which is one of the highlights of most Korean restaurants.

We sat down and ordered 3 things off the menu, as ravenous as we were at 6.30 in the evening. The prices are pretty standard for a Korean meal in the city, ranging from AUD 10- AUD 25.

We ordered a serving of jap chae, the ever present budae jjigae and a helping of spicy pork bulgolgi.

The jap chae, or sweet potato noodles with beef slices mixed with sweet sauce and veggies, was absolutely heavenly.

I can never get over how delicious the sweet potato noodles are, and the sweet sauce with the beef gave the dish a savory-sweet taste. Because it was a sharing dish, I couldn't just grab the plate and wolf down all of it for myself. The serving portion was quite large, enough to feed 3 hungry adults.

Of course, the budae jjigae is a must try in almost every Korean restaurant.

Unlike the ones that the Buggers tried in Korea, which you can read about here, this budae jjigae has more ingredients mixed in, with a mixture of ham, sausages, veggies, tofu, kimchi, fish cake, deokbokki, cheese (?!) and pork but significantly less in terms of the portion of each ingredient. There weren't nearly enough pork slices to go around and finding a deokbokki was almost similar to striking gold. Maybe it was because we ordered a medium sized one, but I wasn't really satisfied with the portion for this budae jjigae.

Last dish we ordered was the spicy pork bulgolgi, just so the hungry adults could have a proper meat fix.

I was happily eating the deliciously and generously coated pork slices, without signs of the spiciness hitting my tastebuds. It turned out that the spicy pork bulgolgi was more sweet than spicy. For a few moments, I was so excited because I thought my tastebuds had leveled up to handle spicy foods. That still remains a dream for me.

Overall, Seoul Metro can be called a hidden gem, literally. It's well hidden despite being smack in the middle of the Melbourne CBD. It's not actually that difficult to find, but you just have to keep your eyes peeled out as you walk along Lonsdale Street. If you're ever in Melbourne and want Korean food, you should really go try this place out.

Here are some extra details about Seoul Metro:

Map:  

Cheerios!