Simple and Affordable Western Fare at Foodilicious Kitchen

Foodilicious Kitchen Spice Up Western Cuisine!

Talk about hidden good eats! We came across Foodilicious Kitchen located at Komplex Anjung 7 Sek in Shah Alam with some foodie buddies upon the invite from Lyssa and her family through Chris @PureGlutton. We were told that Foodilicious Kitchen’s signature 7 spices steaks and lamb chops were their specialties. Run by Lyssa and her brother Azlan Hamzah, who is the chef, Foodilicious Kitchen is a no-frill casual Western dining café housed in a shop lot food court in the complex.

The Hamzah siblings have been in the food industry for quite a while. They started the business as they really enjoy good and delicious food but couldn’t find a place that serves the flavours they enjoy in Western fare. And so Lyssa and her family came up with their own secret recipes to kick start their own place which they named Foodilicious Kitchen. Besides running the café, Lyssa also provides catering for private functions.

We met up with Lyssa one Sunday together with other foodies in tow. Lyssa was really bubbly and friendly and quickly settled us in while letting us know what their signatures are. I am not going to paint a pretty picture for the ambience as it is in an open air food court ambience but I will say that the food served are honest, humble, affordable and delicious, especially their signatures. Foodilicious Kitchen has also garnered quite a few good reviews in Tripadvisor and also received a Pilihan TV3 Jalan Jalan Cari Makan as the number 1 restaurant in Shah Alam.

Drinks are basic and if you order their Rose Sirap drink, its free and refillable. Soft drinks are also available. Almost everything is cooked by Azlan himself. Meats are marinade with their own secret recipes and sauces are cooked from scratch.

The menu is basically a three page easy to read one as it is filled with photos of the dishes. Snacks, Steaks, Lamb Chops, Chicken, Seafood, Pasta and Dessert sum up the menu. We started off with some snacks of Bolognese Nachos (RM7.90), Bolognese Fries (RM7.90) and Shitake Mushroom Soup (RM5.90).

I really enjoyed their Bolognese sauce cooked from scratch by Azlan. The sauce has a good depth of rich tomato cooked with beef mince. When smothered on nachos or French fries and drizzled with cheese sauce, it’s practically a dish that makes me want to keep munching on. The richness of the sauce has the right balance of tangy, savory and sweet note, pairing well with the creamy cheddar cheese sauce and salty nachos or fries.

Shitake Mushroom Soup was mediocre but the price is super affordable so no complaints on this as it even come with a nice piece of Garlic Bread.

It took Lyssa and Azlan a while to perfect their secret marinade but they did it after sessions running through their family with the guidance of their mother. Foodilicious Kitchen signatures using their 7 spices recipe proof to be a hit with many and so the meat dishes all uses this spice recipes before it its grilled or cooked.

We tried their 7 Spices Striploin Steak (RM20.90), 7 Spices Ribeye Steak (RM24.90) and 7 Spices Lamb Chop (RM25.90) since these were their signatures.

Both 7 Spices Striploin Steak and 7 Spices Ribeye Steak came with nicely chargrilled marks and are served with black pepper sauce,  homemade mashed potato with gravy and homemade coleslaw. They tasted really flavorful with a nice hint of spices. If you don’t let them know how you like your meat done, it would usually be well done so make sure you prompt them when you order if you like your meat medium pink like us. Based on the price for the dishes, I must say the steaks are very decent for its value. Our steaks had a good juicy and meaty note and were sufficiently tender. I enjoyed the steaks with the 7 spices and personally felt they didn’t need the black pepper sauce that came with it on the side.

The 7 Spices Lamb Chop is super scrumptious! Its Foodilicious Kitchen’s best seller and I can see why. For only RM25.90, one gets two lamb cutlets that are wonderfully grilled and seasoned. The secret spices gave the lamb a beautiful savory sweetness with notes of smokiness. The lamb is tender and does not have that gamey meaty smell like some lamb meat I have tasted. I also enjoyed the lamb cutlets as it is without the sauce because I think the spice marinade already created the right balance of flavours for the meat. The sides are standard and decent.

If you prefer pasta over the sides, then you might want to check out the Carbonara Combo Lamb Chop (RM25.80). Combining the luscious creamy carbonara pasta cooked with chicken and mushrooms and a piece of the 7 Spice Lamb Chop, the dish is quite rich. The chef added some chili heat to the carbonara which is nice as it added more flavours to counter the richness.

Chicken lovers will be please with their Sizzling Shitake Chicken (RM18.90), Spicy Cajun Grilled Chicken (RM13.90) and BBQ Grilled Chicken (RM13.90). Sizzling Shitake Chicken resembles our usual chicken chop with mushroom brown gravy but this one is set on a heated plate. It comes with mashed potato and coleslaw and loads of brown gravy and sautéed mushrooms.

Spicy Cajun Grilled Chicken looked too charred but when we tasted it, it was just the right. The spices on the chicken are aromatic and moreish. The chicken breast was also very juicy. I prefer this dish over the Sizzling Shitake Chicken as it is more flavourful with lots of Cajun spices to give it extra oomph. The BBQ Grilled Chicken also fared decent. Nicely cooked and juicy, the chicken fillet comes with BBQ sauce, French fries and coleslaw.

Fish is limited on the menu but there is the Grilled Salmon (RM19.90) featuring a whole cutlet of salmon grilled and flavoured with more herbs with the usual sidekicks. This one needed some gravy or sauce in my books as it was a tad dry.

I love a good rendition of Spicy Aglio Olio (RM10.90). The version here had a good note of the intense garlicky and spicy flavours with a robust breathe of wok. It makes a nice simple pasta dish with chicken and mushroom.

Lyssa makes her own dessert which is the Homemade Brownies with Ice Cream (RM7.90). The brownie is decadently rich and chocolatey with the pool of chocolate sauce. One can opt to have the brownie plain or with ice cream or even go for a double piece of brownie. I’d say go for the one with the ice cream.

Food here is one of those simple street café Western food and for the price charged, I really think its value-for-money. I like how Lyssa and her family try to put their own marinade and twist in their menu. If you are ever in the Shah Alam area and is looking for casual homemade Western food, you might want to check out Foodilicious Kitchen!

FOODILICIOUS KITCHEN

Komplex Anjung 7 Sek Shah Alam

Ground Floor Kompleks Anjung 7,

Jalan Zirkon 7/B,

Seksyen 7,

Shah Alam

Tel: 017-641-9945

Website: www.foodiliciouskitchen.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/FoodiliciousKitchen

Business Hours:

Opens daily Mon to Sun from 6pm-11pm

*Halal

SWAG Bar & Gril, PJ Palms Sport Centre: Let's Have a Swagging Time!

Swagging Out After Work Hours!

After a long day at work, I am always literally bumped out. It’s about those after work hours that I crave to hunt down a place to chill out and enjoy some familiar classic comfort food. When I heard about SWAG Bar & Grill from a friend Karen, some of us met up there one evening after a horrendous traffic nightmare in PJ area. Located at the PJ Palms Sport Centre which is situated along the famous A&W fast food in State PJ, SWAG Bar & Grill is actually located in the sport centre itself.

Upon arrival at the sport centre, my younger college years suddenly came to mind. Hey, this is where I used to hang out when I was in art school and we use to visit this place and the famous fast food chain to kill time after school.  Though management has changed, the place is still pretty much familiar. A large swimming pool is the main attraction at that sport centre and to get to Swag, we had to past the pool. The scene that evening was pretty much soothing with the dark midnight blue sky looming over the pool area. There were quite few people lounging and also swimming and the sound of laughter, water and music calmed me down immediately. As I walked towards Swag, I felt at ease already despite the earlier traffic experience.

It was always a dream to own an eatery cum bar for the owner Sudip Thiagi. Despite his background in other industries, he confessed into the F&B dream and how he wait till the right opportunity and time came up. We met up with him since he knew our friend Karen for an evening of food and chilling out time. When asked why he named his place SWAG, he casually said it came up when they were thinking about names and somehow it got stuck as they were always referring to the place way before it was setup as SWAG. Well indeed, SWAG is an addictive urban word that got many hooked too as it was deemed a pretty cool word when it was created then.

I like SWAG. No frills, minimal décor, low warm lighting and yet utterly comfortable and cool, SWAG is a place one would love to unwind at the end of a long day. Though it doesn’t have the hip hop bling bling swag more connected with its original meaning, SWAG has an inviting appeal to those who are looking for comfort and cool place to dine, drink and chill. SWAG takes up space in a two level building. The level below is a casual dining room while the upper level has an open air rooftop bar that overlooks the city’s night view and sport centre. The dining room is set with cool grey walls while the wood and steel furniture, imported from Philippines, is spaciously set around with some modern art and décor pieces.

SWAG’s menu is pretty much listed on the chalkboard in the dining area. One can order to dine at SWAG dining room or at the bar. Serving up pub grub food with lots of giggle juices, the menu is beautifully comforting with sections of appetizer, burgers, sandwiches, mains, skewers, fish and nachos. Go Wednesdays and its ladies night with specials of all-you-can-drink cocktails promotion between 7pm to 10pm. Needless to say, we started the evening with our rounds of cocktails for some happy adrenaline!

Our giggle juices for the evening – Mojito, Pineapple Malibu and Cranberry with Vodka

To get our appetites going, we started with a Bruschetta Platter of Smoked Salmon, Mushroom and Tomato. The 6-piece platter goes for RM16 and showcase toasty baguette crowned the three classic favorite ingredients. These are easy to savor and go well with beer or cocktails. Sweet and juicy marinated tomatoes with herbs, earthy sautéed mushrooms and thick slices of salty smoked salmon is a great combination of flavours and textures. Each one compliments the other and makes a nice appetizer for those who want some small bites.

Our national dish also made an appearance on the menu, proving that Nasi Lemak is always in demand no matter what time of the day it is. SWAG Nasi Lemak is only available as a special on Sundays. For that plate, one gets fluffly coconut scented rice, fried spiced chicken, awesome sweet and spicy sambal and the regular sidekicks of egg, peanut, anchovy and cucumber. Pretty much predictable but that’s what makes its good dish with all the predictable yummy ingredients of our nation’s pride and joy. We love their fried spiced chicken so much that we told Sudip to put this on the menu as a snack dish.

One can’t be swag without having The Swag! Priced at RM22, the hefty burger has a thick and juicy beef patty with melted cheddar, beef bacon, caramelized onions, sesame seed bun and the usual condiments. It comes with a side of crispy potato chips, pickles, mustard, ketchup and tartare sauce. This American classic is beautifully executed and is pretty satisfying with its juicy and flavourful patty and all the works. Portion is very decent as it is big enough to satisfy big eaters like me.

While eyeing the chalkboard menu, I also spied other burgers like Super Moo Rio, Cheesy Chicken and Chiquita. From the Press, there is also Yolo (You Only Lamb Once) and Legen-Dairy freshly pressed sandwiches. If I were you, get an order of Chili Cheese Fries to go with all that burgers and sandwiches.

To be honest, I didn’t do justice on the photo of the Chicken Cordon Bleu. The dish is very delicious when savored hot. Chicken breast is stuffed with ham and cheese, breaded, fried and smothered in luscious cream sauce. When we took a piece of the chicken, we could see the melted oozy cheese that goes so well with the ham, chicken and cream sauce. This one is served with mashed potatoes and greens for RM24.

Carnivores would be thrilled with SWAG’s Angus Beef Sirloin Steak and Spicy Lamb Shoulder. Cooked to your liking, the Angus beef is chargrilled to a smoky and flavourful edge. It comes with the classic crinkle cut fries and sautéed vegetable medley. There are three sauces available of your choice from mushroom, black pepper and barbeque. The steak has a generous sprinkling of salt and black pepper making it tasty and succulent.

I personally like the Spicy Lamb Shoulder a lot. The lamb has a gorgeous tasty marinade and is nicely chargrilled with bits of caramelized edges. Still medium pink, the lamb pieces is tender with spicy notes. Lamb tends to have a strong aroma but this one didn’t and the spices have scented the meat well. Served with potato chips, side greens and an orange mustard sauce, the dish is hearty and satisfying. The pairing of orange mustard sauce is a bit unusual but it really goes well with the lamb and takes on a different flavour for the grilled lamb.

SWAG has an honest and inviting appeal. Ambience, food and drinks are pretty much decent and there is a sense of appeal that one will definitely return for a good bite or chill with friends. If you check out their Facebook, SWAG seems to be the ‘it’ place to host parties and private functions. Their rooftop bar and lounge even has a barbeque station should one decide to have a BBQ party!

SWAG BAR AND GRILL

1, Lorong Sultan, PJ Palms Sport Centre

46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor D.E.

Tel: +603-79322307

Business Hour:

Tues – Thurs: 4.00pm to 1.00am

Fri & Sat: 4.00 to 2.00am

Sun: 4.00pm – 1.00am (Close on Monday)

Facebook: www.facebook.com/myswagbar

The Shepherdoo, Sky Park @ One City: Latin American Soul Food

From Nachos to Tacos, It’s Latin American at The Shepherdoo!

In pursuit of its successful outlet in Centro Mall, Klang, The Shepherdoo opens its second outlet at Sky Park in One City recently. This outlet screams Latin American all the way from the moment one walks into the restaurant cum lounge. The six of us was here for a magazine shoot as The Shepherdoo is gorgeously decorated with a Latin American ambience to match its menu.

There are two levels at The Shepherdoo. Enjoy your meal at the dining area below or simply head up to the next level for more privacy and comfort. There is also the casual bar area that has a huge mural of bodacious sceneries in Latin America. The stairs leading up to the next level is brightly painted a sunny yellow to mimic the colorful houses in that region. Choose your dining in the restaurant or al fresco on both levels.

The upper level has a large sofa area for chilling while dart machines will keep many busy. A large wall covered in a beautiful poster of houses from a certain area in the region provides the backdrop for the ambience. Its’ all about bold colors to create a happy and easy-going ambience that makes diners want to hang out there.

Enough about the ambience, let’s see what the menu has to offer! The Shepherdoo team takes their food and drink list and amps it up with loads of fun flavors. We were recommended some of their signature cocktails and mocktails that evening to unwind the day. The Shepherdoo’s mixologist makes pretty cool drinks.

I love the Passion Fruit Heineken. It’s a beer smoothie! Pretty fresh and delicious… and I don’t even like beer. We also had their Classic Mojito, Mango Margarita and Afrutado. The Mango Margarita is lovely too but it’s more of a ladies cocktail because of its fruity sweetness.

The team at this restaurant takes their drink list seriously… there’s about 10 pages of drink list alone! From Freezing Smoothies, Hot Sun Coolers, Coffee, Tea, Mocktails and Cocktails to Beers, Shooters, Wines, Champagnes and Liquors, there’s plenty of giggle juice to keep everyone pretty happy. Happy hours are even better… with Buy 1 Free 1 deals and more.

The menu is filled with lots of choices too. There are plenty of appetizers, snacks and tapas while mains are plentiful as well. We had Pollo Nachos, Mexican Buffalo Wings and Quesadilla de Hongo.

Even Nachos alone, the menu has several options. Our Pollo Nachos is a pile of crispy tortilla chips covered with a beautiful mess of cheese sauce, sour cream, jalapenos, pico de gallo and crowned with a scoop of housemade guacamole. This version has grilled chicken pieces for that extra protein. It’s a mount of flavors and textures and a great one to be shared!

The Mexican Buffalo Wings is really awesome. Ticking off the essential checkmark of crispiness, kicking tang and spicy flavors and the meaty wings, this one disappeared pretty fast off the plate.

Quesadilla de Hongo has sautéed garlicky mushrooms and cheese as a filling before it’s sandwiched with tortilla and chargrilled for a toasty texture and finished off with a drizzle of balsamic reduction. It makes a nice snack when shared or one can even have this as a main course if you are going meatless.

Our mains had us starting off with Pizza de Mexicana. It’s a fairly simple pizza made with tortilla topped with sauteed sweet and soft bell pepper, sweet onions with a light red sauce and plenty of cheese. This one makes a great bite with cold beer. I like the light and crispiness of the tortilla pizza.

We also had Taco-Taco, The Shepherdoo’s rendition of crispy tortilla shells stuffed with fish and the standard taco filling of shredded greens, pico de gallo, guacamole, chipotle aioli, cheese and sour cream. We had three orders here as each order has two tacos. This is very flavorful as one gets a burst of sour, creamy, savory and a little heat together with its various textures of the tortilla and fish. I daresay it’s a little messy to eat but hey… it’s a beautiful mess!

We were told that their fajitas is a popular choice and we must their Combo Fajita which had wild mushrooms, chicken and beef all piled up into one sizzling plate! The fajitas had mixed peppers and onions for sweetness while the spices in it jazzed up the flavors. Simply take the accompanied soft flour tortilla, heaped on the fajita and dressed it with salsa, guacamole and sour cream. I usually piled on a lot of the condiments since I love them. It’s a hearty taste of Mexican cuisine. These are also the heart of the street food in Mexico and one can literally see them on every nook and corner in the country.

I am no Gringo but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try The Shepherdoo’s Gringo Burger! Thick beef patty has a blanket of melted cheddar cheese and is dressed with turkey bacon, sunny side up egg, lemon mayo and greens with a sesame seed bun. This one was tasted decent and the fact that the sunny side up egg had runny egg yolk makes the burger better than other regular ones.

We also settled for Chicken Parmigiana ala Mexicano, a breaded chicken breast baked and sauced up with a spiced tomato sauce and topped with melted cheese. This one comes with curly fries and side salad. Despite it being a breast, the chicken is really moist and flavorful. The sauce is tangy and tomatoey with a good dose of spice undernotes. Not usually a chicken parmigiana fan, I seemed to enjoy this a lot as the chicken is really juicy and tender.

The next dish was my favorite of the night. Pasta ala Pollo features a French cut Mexican rubbed chicken breast nicely chargrilled. It lies on a bed of pesto sauced pasta and is crowned with a chargrilled caramelized pineapple. The aroma and flavors are simple marvelous. The pesto sauce has such great depths of herb and cheese flavors that make it so scrumptious. The chicken again is utterly juicy and tender while the spice rub makes it very flavorful. What seals the dish had to be the caramelized pineapple, adding a little fruity sweetness to the chicken to remind us of its Latin American flavors. A Must-Order!

Pierna Rojo Vivo is also top in my list of Must-Order. Spicy marinated chicken thigh is beautifully chargrilled and comes with a fruity and tangy papaya salsa with potato salad and greens. The flavor combination worked really well. A squeeze of orange juice from the orange wedge does more wonders for the chicken.

The Shepherdoo does have some desserts and we had their signature Cinnamon Wafer Tortilla. It has crispy golden tortilla chips served with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream before being drizzled with lots of caramel sauce. Sweet and crispy, it’s really easy to enjoy, especially when I am such a fan of vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.

It’s fun all the way at The Shepherdoo. The ambience is groovy and colorful while the food and drink is as bold as the ambience. Prices are decent too for the food and drinks. It’s perfect for hanging out with family or friends and definitely a great place to unwind…

THE SHEPHERDOO RESTAURANT AND LOUNGE

A-GF-07, Sky Park, Ground Floor,

One City, Jalan USJ25/1A,

47640 Subang Jaya

Tel: +6018 337 8828 / 6018 656 8828

Website: www.theshepherdoo.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/theshepherdoo