Durian 

The King of Fruits

 

 

Foodelicious 

No fruit has seen as much controversy or has garnered as much differing opinions as the durian. Durian is derived from the Malay word ‘duri’ or thorn, likely due to the sharp thorns on the outside of this fruit.

The fruit grows along the trunk and branches of a usually very tall tree. Sorry, the pictures are not clearer. I was trying to get a shot of all the fruits but there were too many – about 100 of them. This is the durian tree in the backyard of my dad’s house. 
 

My dad LOVES durian so he grew a number of durian trees in the yard. At one point, I think we had seven durian trees. Some more fruitful than others. This back tree always gave us abundant fruits. 

Speaking of my dad’s love for durians – side story: When we were growing up, every year during school holiday, we would take a trip to Kuala Lumpur to visit my aunts and uncles. One year, when I was about 10 or 11 (my brothers were 3 and 4 years younger), we were driving home from Kuala Lumpur. My grandmother was with us children in the backseat. About an hour and a half from home, my dad spotted a man selling durians on the roadside. You know what happens next – he had to buy the durians. Not two or three but almost 20 little ones!! 

The trunk of the car was full of luggage but that did not stop him. He unloaded some of the luggage and moved them to the front passenger seat and to the backseat. He fit his durians into every nook and cranny he can find in the trunk and one or two made it into the car with us. It was an uncomfortable rest of the journey. But thankfully, we all got to enjoy some very delicious durian for dinner. 

The controversy with this fruit stems from the smell, not the taste. Most people who have tasted the fruit likes the taste (if they could get past the smell). It does have an exceptionally strong smell that can quickly permeate and overpower a space. For that reason, you will often see signs at hotels that prohibit the fruit in their premises. 

Most will say the fruit stinks. I don’t agree. I just like to say it has a powerful smell. 

Now, with all those thorns, how do you get into the fruit? My dad use the same sharp stick he has used for over 10 years. He got the stick from the inside of a broom handle. It’s perfect for opening durians because of it has a pointy end and is long enough for a good grip.

My dad is going to demonstrate how to open a durian.

First, find the end where all the lines meet – opposite end of the stem. [This picture shows one with the fruit already splitting along one of the lines].

 

Us the stick to pry open the fruit at that point. Be careful with the thorns. I know my dad makes it look easy but he has open thousands of durians in his lifetime. Trust me, it’s no easy feat. It’s a combination of strength and precision. If you are an amateur, it’s best to have a cloth between your hand and the thorns. Or else you will likely hurt yourself.

Once you think you have a good enough opening, you can slowly split it open with both hands.

Look at those durian! Such a golden yellow. This is from the tree in the front yard. It’s a shorter tree. The fruit is smaller but the fruit packs a punch - super sweet. And each seed is also bigger than average.

Keep opening the durian until all the fruits are gone.  And when you have ferocious durian eaters that does not take long.

 

The one on the left (paler skin) is from the back tree. It has a slightly bitter undertone. Believe it or not, those that have a bitter taste are much more priced. When I was growing up, I preferred the sweet ones. As I got older, I started to acquire a taste for the ones with the slightly bitter taste.

This was a feast for (4) people.

 

 Of course we finished it all.

What do you do with the husk? Well, you throw it out but we also normally pick one or two with deep cradles to rinse our mouth with. I’m not sure what the logic is, maybe it helps get rid of the durian taste? We also rinse or drink salt water after since it’s considered a ‘heaty’ fruit – too much of it can give you a sore throat. 

The first day home, I had durian for dinner. And for many breakfast, lunch and dinner later. I didn’t mind it. I haven’t had fresh durians for a while, having always missed the season the last few years home. And the ones in Hawaii are not fresh so I’ve never bought them here. Plus they were expensive. 
 

 

Remember the 100+ durians on the tree? Well, after eating during every day for about a week….I decided I needed a break. No matter how much I love durian, there is a saturation point. Besides, I can’t afford the calories intake especially since my workout program seems to have come to a screeching halt while on vacation…

Once a durian fall off the tree, you have to eat it within a day. Or else it will start to get mushy and lose its texture and yumminess. So what do you do with extra durians? You freeze them. They taste like ice-cream later – very creamy. For those of you who have only tried fresh durians, you should try the frozen ones too.

I give durians a 5 out of 5. As far as I’m concern, it’s truly the king of the fruits. Who seconds this? Tell me your durian stories. Or tell me why you love this fruit.

Harbour Palace 港湾皇庭 

129, Jalan Mawar 2/3, Taman Pekan Lama, Sungai Petani

 

 

Foodelicious

 

Dim sum 点心 is a must when I’m home in Malaysia. It’s not because we don’t have dim sum restaurants in Hawaii. Chinatown has several Chinese restaurants that serve pretty good dim sum. If anything is lacking, it’s usually the skin is too thick or the stuffing is too measly. But dim sum is also best enjoyed with a larger group of people so you just have try a little bit of each type of dumpling. It’s a great meal to share with the family.

Usually, we go to Dai You Bin for dim sum but Harbour Palace is my brother’s new favorite dim sum place.
Harbour Palace is located in a row of shophouses opposite Billion Supermarket in Taman Pekan Lama. It has one of the corner lot and there seems to be ample parking on the weekends. 

The menu has pictures with Chinese and English names as well as the price. ‘Thumbs-up’ stickers indicate signature items. You just write down the corresponding numbers on the order sheet. Even if you are not familiar with dim sum, you would not have any difficulty ordering. The only problem is the pictures make everything look super yummy so you want to order them all!!

 

The first item that arrived was the Deep Fried Sesame Balls. It was complimentary from the owner/boss since his daughter went to school with my nephew. Of course we only found out today. Just so happen, his wife and children were having breakfast at the restaurant too.

 
 
Back to those sesame balls. Unlike the picture on the menu, the ‘pandan’ filling had separated from the outside covering. For those not familiar, pandan leaf is also called screwpine leaf. The extract from the leaves is used in many South East Asian dishes especially dessert. It has a sweet aromatic flavor. I like most anything with pandan. For these sesame balls, I actually like the outer covering better than the filling. The filling was a little dry and I wanted more pandan flavor. The fried sesame seeds gave the balls a nice aroma and crunch. 

Egg tart is one of our family’s favorite item so we had to order a couple of those. The crust was flaky and the custard was yummy. Not the best I’ve had but ranks high on the list.

I always order Preserved Egg porridge when having dim sum. It was full to the hilt. You could see pieces of preserved eggs, together with a garnishing of sliced ginger, green onions, a dash of white pepper and a drizzle of sesame oil – all essential elements of most porridge.  

 

 

           

I love preserved eggs  but usually only get to eat a lot of them when I’m home. The preserved egg porridges in Hawaii are disappointing, having tiny pieces of preserved eggs, often overcooked so I have stopped ordering them. This one has good size chunks of preserved eggs. I was a happy girl. 

A dish I really like but not always done well, even in Malaysia is the Fried Radish Cake. This one is fried with XO Sauce, which I think is the standard in most restaurants now. It was really good. I could probably have eaten another plate of it if there weren’t so many other items to try.   

                                                 

                                              There were ample amount of scrambled eggs and bean sprouts but most importantly, the radish cakes were fried with enough ‘wok hei’ and the chef was not stingy with the sauce. Almost perfect!

Another must have is the Steamed Prawn Dumplings. What I like about this dim sum is the succulent pieces of jumbo prawns wrapped in the dumplings…though that’s not always the case so I was excited to try this one.            

A good prawn dumpling has a thin skin that doesn’t taste floury. The skin should also stay intact through the steaming process and when you pick it up with the chopsticks. As you can see from the pictures, the skin broke apart in the steaming process. But the large pieces of shrimp/prawn were cooked just right.   

 

All dim sum restaurants have several varieties of steamed rice rolls. The most common ones include Char Siu (roast pork) or Shrimp. This restaurant had six different ones – prawn (shrimp), BBQ Pork (char siu), Ying Yang (combo), vegetarian, omelette, and HK (Hong Kong). We ordered the first and last on the list. 

The HK Steamed Rice Roll is definitely not an item you would normally find at a dim sum restaurant. The steamed rice rolls were stuffed with Yau Ja Gwai 油炸鬼 in Cantonese (also called You Tiao 油条 in Mandarin) or ‘oil sticks’. This is the Chinese version of doughnut. It’s usually served with breakfast porridge. '

I’m a big fan of Yau Ja Qwai so was looking forward to trying this. The Yau Ja Qwai’s texture was crunchy and a little chewy – just the way I like it. Because the rice roll is by nature bland and the Yau Ja Qwai is just fried dough, the sauce was a welcome addition. It was also smart to have it on a separate vessel (unlike other rice rolls that usually rest in the sauce) so the Yau Ja Qwai does not get soggy. 

 

The Steamed Rice Roll with Prawns is standard. Big, succulent shrimp/prawns stuff in the rice rolls. There was ample sauce to accompany the rice rolls. I did wish there were more fried shallots.

  

Steamed “Siew Mai” 燒賣 (shumai or pork dumplings) are an essential on a dim sum table. Besides the ‘bao’ or steamed buns, this is probably the most well-known dim sum item. Good shumais have smooth skins that are not too chewy. The pork filling should still be juicy. This one is up to standard.

 

  

The Shanghai “Xiao Long Bao” 上海小籠包 has become a popular dim sum item. When I was growing up, it was unheard of to have it at dim sum restaurants. Its uniqueness lies with the broth inside the dumpling. You should pop the whole dumpling in your mouth to enjoy the broth with the ground pork together. The key is to make sure you don’t lose all the broth when biting into the dumpling though it happens more often than not.

 

Besides all the above mentioned dim sum, we also ordered Steamed Chicken Glutinous Rice, Steamed Garlic Fried Fish Balls, Steamed Custard Buns, and Steamed Bun with Supreme Barbecued Pork in Oyster Sauce. I didn’t try them so can’t really give a review on those though my son really liked the Steamed Custard Buns.

All in all I was happy with the food. Definitely some creativity by the chef. Customer service is above average. The owner is very attentive to his customers. His staff could use some improvement. I’ll definitely be back.  

Food                            4

Customer Service     4.5

Ambiance                   3

Décor/Details            2
Parking                       5 (was here on the weekend)

Pallet Cafe

162, Tingkat 1, Jalan Lagenda 6, Lagenda Heights, Sungai Petani

 

 

Foodelicious

 

My first day back in SP, my brother recommended that we meet for dinner at Pallet Cafe. He and his wife have tried it once and thought it would be a nice, new place for me to try.

The restaurant is not exactly easy to find. The signage is only visible if you approach it from a certain direction. It is in Lagenda Heights, on the first floor above another restaurant (Ho Sek Fong), which had ‘louder’ signs.

 The stairs to the restaurant is located on the side of the building rather than the front. Aside from being located in a row of shophouses occupied by restaurants/eateries, the location is not ideal. In my opinion, most restaurants in Malaysia have to be on the ground floor or located in a mall to thrive unless your food is so delicious or unique that it keeps customers coming. There’s just too much competition.

There are “Pallet Café” signage on the 1^st floor and ground floor on the side of the building but I still feel they dull in comparison to the Ho Sek Fong signage.  

At the bottom of the stairs, a chalkboard shows a 30% off deal and a list of menu items. Maybe too many words so I did not read the whole board. Still, a nice form of greeting. 

A number of random art work/pictures on different subject matters - Bruce Lee, Pittsburgh Steelers, Obama - line the stairs up to the restaurant. My favorite is Hulk’s foot through the wall.

 At least (4) waitstaff were right inside the entrance. I can’t decide if they are supposed to be the welcome party or just merely standing around waiting… I was drawn to the décor as soon as I walked in. Very good use of recyclable items like tires and wood pieces, accented by cute, little ornaments and signs like these ones.

Lightbulbs hang from the ceiling interspersed around star and pallet shapes made from wood pieces. 

Unlike most restaurants with uniformed seating, Pallet had various seating options. The ‘stage’ is arranged in a Japanese tatami style, our area had banquette seating while another area had glass covered tables and chairs cut out of oil drums. 

The food – a good variety, ranging from Western food to Malaysian, Japanese and Italian. I really wanted to try the Rendang Chicken Rice or John’s Percik Rice but they were out of rice! How is that possible? It was only 7:30pm. And according to my brother, they were out of rice the last time they were here too. 

 

You should stick to coffee and tea here. The banana smoothie was way too sweet. So sweet that even the kids only took a couple sips and gave up on it. I think they should have adjusted the sugar level. It may have been just right for the orange or strawberry but banana already is already sweet. The ladyfingers cookies were a nice addition though.

After several wrong orders, all the food and drinks arrived. Let’s dig in!

Bollywood Fried Chicken lived up to its name. It was spicy and had the spice flavor.

Fish and Chips – not what I expected and not sure if the blue sauce is necessary.

Grilled Chicken Chop was served with pasta. It had a good amount of sauce. I feel like the presentation could have been tighter though.

Of course my son has to order Spaghetti Bolognese. It was good. The sauce was on the sweet side but I didn’t mind it. There were large pieces of fresh mushrooms (and I mean really large) which was a big plus. 

King’s Spicy Aglio Olio – more large slices of fresh mushrooms. I really like the flavor. I can see why this is one of their signature dishes. 

Loved the Ham Supreme Tortilla Pizza. It’s a play on thin crust pizza using tortilla. The crust was crunchy. The filling, with the combination of cheese, onion, turkey ham, mushroom, and bell peppers was yummy. The Baked Cheese Macaroni looked cheesy enough. I didn’t get to taste it but the little one who did said it was good. 

The food here is good - as indicated by our plates…

 

Despite the disappointment with the rice situation and the wrong orders, I will probably be back. The food was good. I love the décor and ambiance. The owner has put so much thought into the details of this place. It’s such a cheerful place and gives the vibe that you and your friends are welcomed here to hang out as long as you want, whether for a full meal or just a cup of coffee. 

Food                            4 (would have been higher if not for the smoothie)

Customer Service      2.5 (can’t overlook the issues with the rice and our order)

Ambiance                   4.5

Décor/Details             5
Parking                        3 (it gets pretty busy with all the restaurants around)