I Am Not Madame Bovary

Movie to move the heart, mind and soul

The original or Chinese title of this movie is “I am not Pan JinLian”. At the start of the movie, viewers are given a needed historical lesson on the origin of Pan JinLian, who has become a Chinese term for a promiscuous woman. 

This satirical feature focuses on a relentless village woman’s quest for what she feels is injustice as well as the comedy of bungling government officials who seem to not be able to stop her from bringing her case forward at the National Party Congress’ assemblies.

Li XueLian just wants her divorce reversed, stating that it’s a fake marriage. Her case is weak. She is told over and over that it is not possible to overturn the verdict. She has no evidence and no witness to support her case. She doesn’t give up, only angrier. She seeks an audience with every government official she could think of, often resorting to extreme ideas such as stepping in front of a moving car or even murder, which thankfully she does not commit. 

Every time she decides to stop pursuing her case, others would insult her or question whether she’s telling the truth, infuriating her to continue with her quest, which goes on for ten years. 

The officials keep harping on how a village woman with a small problem can cripple so many of them, striking fear in all of them. They mobilize everyone to find her, to stop her from going to the NPC assembly for the tenth time. 

The revelation in the end will surely make us agree with the now retired official who once ran away from XueLian. Like him, would we and all the other characters be able to empathize more?   

The use of a circular frame is unorthodox. I was a little skeptical at first but very soon find it striking. It puts each scene into much sharper focus. As another reviewer mentioned, it’s almost like looking at an old miniature Chinese painting. It switches to a square frame when she gets to Beijing and then turns into normal aspect ratio at the end. It is a daring but intelligent use of the camera to produce another dimension of focus to the story.

This film was omitted from the original program. HIFF was not sure if they could get it. I am glad they did. This is an absolute must watch. 

Trailer here. 

Mad World

Movie to move the heart, mind and soul

There were other films that caught my eye on November 4 but it was the subject matter this film chose to dwell on – bipolar disorder, the cast of Eric Tsang and Shawn Yue as well as the trailer that drew me to this film.

I had a roommate who was bipolar and much like the character in this movie, Tung (played by Shawn Yue), she refuses to be medicated. She is a brilliant and joyful individual. We lost touch years ago and I miss her sometimes. She hardly experienced being misunderstood like Tung. Most likely because the society she grew up and live in has a better understanding of mental disorders.

Growing up in Asia, I can understand the ignorance of those surrounding Tung who sees him as dangerous or crazy. There is stigma associated with mental disorder in some societies. Thus, much insensitivity prevails, which only makes coping and recovering so much more difficult.

This movie portrays the struggles Tung’s own father (played by Eric Tsang) has with the disorder. In the beginning, audience sees his fear of his own son and hears his doubts about whether Tung should be released from the mental health facility. We also see his transformation from ignorance to genuine concern, making the effort to learn about bipolar disorder and finally, the important stand he makes for his son.

There is one line the father says in the movie that resonates, “So, can everything be outsourced in life?” When our loved ones are ill and old, when something is easier ignored than embraced, should we just push it to someone else to deal with? It’s a common theme in this movie. Is it not ironic that only Tung has continued to face and embrace those who needs care and love, much to his detriment many times?

The director, Wong Chun explained after the screening that the movie was a play on the bipolar life in Hong Kong. Everything is so fast moving but lives are not necessarily heading in that same direction. People still face depressing situations when they get home. But isn’t that so in many big cities?

The movie switches between past and present seamlessly especially in the first half of the movie, giving the viewers a view into what haunts Tung's mind and memory. 

It’s a heart wrenching film that calls for more understanding, tolerance and support for those who have mental illness. It also reminds us to embrace the people and things that matter despite being in a rat race that seems to foster insensitivity and self-centeredness.

I recommend not watching the trailer if you want to experience the full impact of the movie.

Lao You (老友)  Coffee Shop 

151 Jalan Masjid 1, Sungai Petani, Kedah

 

 

Foodelicious

 

Lao You Coffee Shop is famous for its excellent and fresh soy, as advertised by the blue and orange sign above. And it is not a lie. This coffee shop has one of the best if not best homemade soy milk and 'tau fu fa' (tofu pudding) in town. Must try if you stop by.

Lao You means 'Old Friend' in Chinese, which is another appropriate name for a coffee shop (see my last post on Usual Place's). It's located by Cayman Square. There are quite a variety of food here: Hock Kian Mee, Chicken Rice, Curry Mee, Wonton Mee, Pan Mee, Chee Cheong Fun, Char Koay Teow, etc. So if you are looking for variety, this is a good option.

  

Mum said Hokkien Mee here is one of the best so I decided to try it. Delicious!! See those fried shallots and extra chili paste? The more the merrier. That bowl was wiped clean when I was done with it.

 

Char Kway Teow is one of my favorite hawker food. So we ordered one. Not bad. It came on a banana leaf, which I believe gives it a better aroma. It also has some medium size shrimps and Chinese sausage. 

 

The Char Koay Teow stall also sells Char Koay Kak, another one of my favorites. It's fried the same way with the same ingredients (as you may notice from the pictures). For some reason, I do like this better than the kway teow.

 

The Shredded Chicken Noodles looks beautiful. I was told it was good so tried some of it. This is not a dish I would order but if I wasn't so full, I would have eaten it all.

 

Oh! Here's a shot of the fresh, homemade soy milk. Very good!

Food                            4.0

Customer Service     3.5

Ambiance                   3.0

Décor/Details            2.0
Parking                       2.5

 

  

Usual Place's Western Food (for breakfast)

151-152 Jalan Lagenda 6, Lagenda Heights, Sungai Petani, Kedah

 

 

Foodelicious

 

I believe Usual Place’s Western Food only serves Western food in the evening, which I have never tried.  We stopped by for the first time one morning for breakfast. I supposed it operates as a coffee shop during the day supported by various stalls. 

As with most coffee shops, the first to arrive is your drink. Each of us have our own favorite breakfast drink so we ordered four distinctive drinks (from top clockwise): ‘Teh Si’ (tea with evaporated milk), Iced ‘Milo’, ‘Oh Teh’ (brewed ‘Eight Treasures’ herbal tea), and extra thick Nescafe with less sugar. That last, complicated one is my dad’s – as usual. 

We all agreed the drinks here were exceptionally good. Most coffee shops serve drinks that range from mediocre to good but this place definitely stands out above the rest. The Chinese name for this restaurant - 老地方 - is actually appropriate for a coffee shop. When good friends meet especially in my parents’ generation or the generation prior, they usually ask ‘where?’ and more often than not, the answer would be, “the usual place, lah!” Let’s just say the drinks made such an impression that I feel it could be that ‘usual place’ where good friends think of when they simply want to have an old-fashion coffee shop drink.

I noticed the coffee shop was also selling some ‘nyonya kuih’ – ‘Kuih Talam’ and ‘Seri Muka’. Those are one of my favorites so we got some. They were yummy!

Both types consist of light green and white layers. The light green color on both are from the ‘pandan’ flavor - a fragrant and sweet flavor, which I love. ‘Kuih Talam’ (talam means tray) has the white coconut milk flavor on top of the ‘pandan’ layer. ‘Seri Muka’ (Pretty Face) has the colors reversed, ‘pandan’ layer over glutinous rice.  

 

My mum ordered the Thai Curry Laksa. By appearance, it looks like any curry laksa except for okra and tomatoes added. The curry has more of a Thai curry flavor. Hence, the name. 

 

I don’t normally Wonton Noodles at food courts or eating places since there’s usually other options that catch my fancy. The one drawback with this coffee shop is the limited selection. But it could have been a blessing in disguise. I actually quite enjoy this wonton noodle – ample sauce, noodles has the right ‘bite’, and the char siu is juicy. Need proof of how much I like it?

 

  Here you go! Cleaned the plate…

One complain – wish the wonton filling was more plump. But in their defense, I have not really found one stall that is not skimping on the filling yet. Then again, I probably don’t order this dish enough to make an accurate judgment. 

Food                            4.0 (Drinks 5.0)

Customer Service     4.0

Ambiance                   3.0

Décor/Details            2.5
Parking                       5.0 (in the morning)

Mabrown (Bee/Mei Ah Tong) Restaurant 

21 Jalan Petri, Sungai Petani, Kedah

 

Foodelicious

Yes, so this restaurant has two different names. And one has nothing to do with the other. The Chinese name '味也同' roughly translates to ‘Taste Together’. According to my mum, the name ‘Mabrown’ was given by the Caucasian customers who found ‘Mei Ah Tong’ a real mouthful. 

It’s been around since the 1960s. My parents had their wedding reception at this restaurant in 1971. Mum said it was the best restaurant in town then. Point is most folks in Sungai Petani know this place. 

I’ve been eating here since I was a child and the restaurant has been a family business since it first opened. The daughter-in-law and grandson runs the front of the house now.    

The atmosphere in the restaurant is like an old Chinese coffee shop – just look at the tables and chairs. And the tiled flooring. I love it.

The restaurant also has an air-conditioning section located to the left of the store. It holds about five tables. My dad always picks the air-conditioning room. He cannot stand the heat and mugginess. 

We’ve always had pretty good service here but today, it was like pulling teeth to get one of the bussers to clean a table for us. The boss had to tell them at least twice before it got cleaned. 

Who can have food in Malaysia without cili padi, chili sauce, chili powder or anything ‘chili’. This restaurant gives a generous portion - two plates of each for 3 adults and 1 child. 

The order came pretty quickly. First to arrive was the 'Kau Yuk' (pork with taro), supposedly one of its specialty. Today, they didn’t have Mui Choy. Thus, the Kau Yuk came with taro only. It was still yummy. 

Next came the Dou Miao or Pea Shoots fried with garlic and salted fish. I really like this one. There was just enough salted fish to keep the pea shoots as the star of the dish.

We ordered the steamed tofu for the little one but it turned out to be a superb choice. I think this was my second favorite dish today. The dried krills, fried shallots and green onion garnish added some crunch and flavor. And of course I love my tofu drenched in sauce since it normally is quite bland otherwise. 

The Gulai (curry) Assam Fish was the best thing we ordered today. The ‘pari’ or ray is cooked well and the spicy sauce had the right tanginess. Okra is a usual accompaniment in assam fish curries but I was surprised to see cucumbers too. I thought it might get mushy unlike the okra which is quite hardy but it held up nicely and actually adds to the dish. I don’t think we would normally order ‘pari’ for this dish but it worked fine. For future reference, I would recommend a different fish.

See the fresh ingredients that were ground and used in the curry? Chili, shallots, okra…fresh ingredients – that’s what makes food taste even better. 

I had no idea how big the kitchen was until we went to the back of the restaurant. There is a huge extension and numerous cooks were prepping and cooking there. No wonder the food came quickly. 

Food                           4.5
Customer Service    3.5
Ambiance                  3
Decor/Details           1.5
Parking                       5 (if you know where to park or else it's a 3.5)

By the way, apparently, they are open for business from 10am to 3pm only. (Yes, don't let that sign in the first picture fool you. I found it propped against the wall in the air-conditioned room, presumably an outdated sign).

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)