Noodles with a twist

A few weeks ago, my parents came down to KL to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. It was an extremely tiring event since it involved a group of almost 30 persons! Managing 30 persons including kids in one house was indeed a challenging task. Fortunately, the party was not held in MY place. It would have cramped the hell out of them! *LOL* After the long night, we woke up late the next day and decided to have brunch at the nearby Kota Damansara. We settled for fish head noodles as something lighter and appetizing.

The place was not hard to find at all, especially with its prominent bright green signboard. At about 11am on a Sunday morning, it was almost full house. Coupled with our very big gang, one can be sure that we occupied almost a third of the restaurant. *LOL*

Full house on Sunday morning

For starters, I ordered the chicken floss toast that looked tempting on the menu. And I love chicken floss! Can't say the same about mayonnaise though. Probably I should have asked them to reduce/remove the mayonnaise. Anyway, the bread was crispy and warm from the toast, and the amount of chicken floss was generous! The bread was cut into 9 equal pieces, but I only managed to eat 3 before feeling it was too rich for me. I think this is a dish definitely for sharing!

Chicken floss toast (RM4.50)

Then came the star of the day, the fish head noodles! I actually ordered the fried fish meat noodles, but then I got a bowl with fish head. No matter, I guess they mixed up or WE mixed up, judging from our very big group. Without further ado, I tasted the soup first and it was indeed very flavourful with a hint of milk. Truth be told, this was the first time I tasted fish head noodles with milk in the soup! Back in Penang, the fish head noodles soup was the clear and sour type, but this was an eye-opening experience for me. Surprisingly, I could really adapt to the taste of the soup. Even my brother said that it was the first ever time he actually finished drinking the soup from a bowl of noodles! You know what they said about the soup being laden with MSG/ajinomoto, but my brother slurped away. And so did I. :) Of course, for those who are milk intolerant, the waiters would be glad to comply with your wish and exclude milk from the soup.

Fish head noodles (RM8.50)

The soup had a distinctive tomato taste without being overpowering or too sour, and a milky base to boot. The fried fish meat was still slightly crispy on the outside but soft inside. No worries on eating 'nightmare' fish, which is the type of fish I define as not fresh and with meat texture like mashed potatoes! *Eww* The fish here still had a distinctive fish texture and went well with the soup.

Fish meat

I guess from my previous posts, you would have known that I'm a big fan of Milo. :) And thankfully, this place also serves Milo Dinosaur! *grin* As expected, the milo drink was further topped up with loads of Milo powder on top, giving it a strong and aromatic chocolatey taste. However, I prefer the Milo Dinosaur from Village Park though because the Milo was of ice-blended type while the Milo here was just normal iced Milo.

Milo dinosaur

My brother who's a fan of anything ice-blended ordered the Mango shaved ice dessert. There were pieces of watermelon and mango surrounding the ice mountain in the middle which was drenched with mango syrup. In my opinion, this dessert was still lacking in terms of mango taste, because the syrup was more like sugar water with yellow colouring, instead of real mango puree. When the ice melted, it became pretty plain in terms of taste. Probably not something I would order again.

Mango dessert

For those who are budget-constrained, Home Made Fish Head Noodles also serves economically priced set meals. These meals are priced from RM7.80 onwards with a complimentary drink and dessert included.

Set meals

One more thing I like about Home Made Fish Head Noodle is the cleanliness and the environment of the restaurant. Most of the fish head noodle places that I went to were usually hawker stalls or coffee shops, and you'd most likely end up drenched in sweat at the end of the spicy and sour meal! Over here, you get to eat comfortably in an air-conditioned environment, albeit with a premium price! I guess you get what you pay for. No harm trying it out, I'd say. :)

Home Made Fish Head Noodles in Kota Damansara

Address:
No 8-1 & 10-1, Jln PJU 5/5,
Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara,
47810 PJ, Selangor.
Tel. no.: 03-61417978

Teh Tarik Place in IOI Mall

Here's a food post from somewhere really nearby my new humble abode. Located just about 10 minutes away in IOI Mall, Teh Tarik Place recently opened its doors to the public. Thank goodness for the posters they put up around the mall and outside the parking lot, or else I wouldn't have known of its existence. Couple that with the fact that it's located on the isolated 3rd floor in the new wing, where there are not many shops in operation.

I was there on a Saturday morning around 11am looking for a place to have breakfast before my facial appointment. I was already going to stick with the common choice of Old Town Kopitiam before Saucer insisted that we should try something new. I was reluctant since I was out of time and we didn't know where Teh Tarik Place was! Sure enough, it took us a good 10 minutes to locate the shop.

Teh Tarik Place

Not surprisingly, it was still empty, but I liked that it was spacious and clean. We placed our orders with the friendly waiter and our drinks came shortly. I ordered iced Nescafe (I know I should have ordered teh tarik in Teh Tarik Place :P) because I was really sleepy! Nothing special with the drinks though, not especially 'kau' and not too bad.

Nescafe and Coffee

As for food, I couldn't resist ordering the nasi lemak when I saw it on the menu. :P I wanted to compare it with the Village Park nasi lemak that I tried previously. For starters, the fried chicken in Teh Tarik Place is not as aromatic as Village Park. Thankfully, the skin was still crispy and the meat tender. Not too bad, probably lack. The sambal used here is also slightly on the hot side. The kind waiter also gave me one whole BOWL of sambal when I requested for more. *LOL*

Nasi lemak with fried chicken

They even give you one whole boiled egg for the nasi lemak! The one in Village Park only gave half an egg. Well, it might not be a big deal, but worth mentioning. :P

with a whole egg

Saucer ordered 'mee goreng' or fried mee, Malay style. It was very fragrant albeit slightly oily. Nothing too extraordinary about it I suppose.

Fried mee/ Mee goreng

Kopitiam places such as Teh Tarik Place and Old Town are mushrooming all over KL in an alarming rate! Only last week, I realized that it was easier to locate an Old Town Kopitiam than a McDonald's! *gasp* Is it really such a good business? All I know is, with so many branches and so many different franchises, these kopitiams better buck up their quality to avoid losing out.

Teh Tarik Place entrance

Teh Tarik Place
IOI Mall, Jalan Puchong,
Bandar Puchong Jaya,
47100 Puchong, Selangor
Tel. no: 03-7726 6380

Kuala Lumpur Bird Park

One of the first places that I visited after moving down to KL was the KL Bird Park, thanks to my good friend Nick. :) Seeing that I'm such a newbie and all, he kindly offered to bring me around on the first weekend I was in KL to the famed Bird Park. We reached there around noon, under the extremely hot sun. *gasp*

Bird park, Kuala Lumpur

First things first, tickets! There is a booth at the entrance for ticket purchase, and it costs RM15 for adults with MyKad and RM42 otherwise. So make sure you bring your MyKad along!

Ticket booth

At the entrance of the park, there was this mini man-made waterfall with the banner Taman Burung Kuala Lumpur which literally translates to Bird Park of Kuala Lumpur.

Entrance pond

The funny thing to note is that the first animal I saw once I entered was not a bird! It was 2 monkeys! *LOL*

Monkeys greeting us?

The bird park is nicely maintained with plenty of water falls and ponds surrounding the area. I saw ponds here and there that I sometimes wondered whether I was walking in circles. *LOL*

Mini waterfall

Pond

Shortly, I spotted the first bird! It was a blue peacock! However, it didn't seem to have any feathers left on its tail. :( Poor thing!

Peacock with no tail feathers

The good thing about the bird park here is that they employ an open concept. Most of the birds are left freely flying about around the visitors, except some of the more dangerous/uncontrollable ones in cages. That is why I had the chance to walk up close to the peacock to take a picture with it!

witch with peacock

The wise owl looked like it's sleeping. Or does it always look like this? :P

The wise owl

One of the more popular birds on display in the park was the hornbill. I saw one almost in every 10 minutes. Some were inside a cage, some were flying about freely.

Hornbill

I really feel like touching its very big and hard beak.

Another hornbill

I wonder what bird this was. It looked like hornbill but the beak shape was a little different. And it's got blue colour around its eyes!

*Updated: The bird below is a Toucan. Thanks for the info ;)

Toucan

There were plenty of feeding areas set up for the birds. By feeding area, I meant a dead tree with papayas stuck on its branches. The picture that I took still looked fine, but wait til after the birds attacked the papayas. It's a gross scene you do not want to see.

Feeding on papayas

Sound of water was always distinct surrounding the park, giving it a peace and calm ambience. Very soon I was greeted with another waterfall.

Mini waterfall

While admiring the waterfall, Nick ran up to me and gave me a signal to follow him. He looked really anxious so I ran up to his direction, only to be met with the most prized view! It was a beautiful peacock with its feathers spreaded open! And it was walking about on its own freely, not afraid of people at all. Look at how nice the feathers looked (while they're still around). :)

Beautiful peacock with open feathers

It sort of knew that we were taking pictures of it and started to parade around, even showing us its butt! *LOL* The feathers were so long, I think once spreaded out, they're almost as tall as me. Almost. :P

Back view

Moving on to more other weird birds that I never saw before. Such as this one behind the fence. It looked like an ostrich to me.

Curious bird

Then, there was a whole pond dedicated to the flamingo! Lots and lots of flamingo either swimming or eating by the pond. It was a serene view indeed, just watching them.

Flamingo pond

Flamingos standing

Swimming flamingo

witch at Flamingo pond

I also spotted a pelican, I think! It should be a pelican, cause I googled it! *LOL* It looked like it's constantly shrugging.

Pelican?

Oh, then there was this bright blue bird that I couldn't miss from afar. I have no idea what bird this is, with red eyes to boot.

Bright blue bird (BBB!) *LOL*

When you're tired walking, there is also a gift shop and cafe in the park for you to rest your feet or quench your thirst. The cafe is situated uphill, so you actually get a good view of the park from above. Not to mention the plentiful chirps and sounds of birds accompanying you too. :)

Gift shop and cafe

See what I told you? Another pond! This was filled with plenty of fishes! And the water was surprisingly clear.

Fish pond

Lots of fish

For those who like souvenirs, there is actually an area in the bird park for visitors to take pictures with the birds, trained by the trainers, of course. You pay a fee of RM10 or something, and the trainers will place birds all around you and take a portrait of you! Just like what the family below was doing. :) It's the perfect souvenir to take home.

Picture with birds

Backdrop for picture

Spotted some white parrots in the picture-taking area. They're all so tame and quiet!

White parrots

Just next to the picture-taking area, was this cage with a white macaw. There was even a board outside the cage that stated "My name is Coco"! Haha, so cute! Too bad it didn't speak at all. But I loved its feathers! They're so smooth and dense and shiny. And white! I love white!

My favourite bird - Coco!

Nearby, there was another bird in the cage too. And this bird was more cheeky. Nick tried to tease the bird by placing his finger on the cage and the bird actually tried to claw him! Gosh! And I managed to capture it (accidentally). So fierce, this bird.

Naughty bird trying to claw my friend's finger

Soon, I saw this banner saying World of Parrots, but strangely, they put statues of hornbills on the banner, instead of parrots! That's weird...

World of parrots

I saw another white parrot inside the World of Parrots, but this time it's not caged.

Deep in thought

Another one in red and green.

Red and green parrot

One could also opt to purchase bird feed to feed the parrots, which proved to be quite a popular idea among the visitors.

Parrot-feeding

What is this bird called? It has such a long beak. *Updated: It's a stork! Thanks to khengsiong. :)

Long beak bird - Stork

Since our visit was around noon time, we were lucky to be able to catch the bird show! There's one at 12.30pm and another at 3.30pm daily.

Bird show!

This was the amphitheatre where the bird show was held. Since seats were first come first served basis, one needs to be early to save a seat. It was fully packed on the session that I went.

Amphitheatre

I managed to capture some of the more interesting performances from the show. This was the parrot/macaw (I could never differentiate) cycling.

Cycling parrot

Then this was another parrot saying "Hello" to us.

Speaking macaw

And here is another parrot performing somersaults! So smart. :)

Doing somersaults

Just outside the amphitheatre, I spotted another waterfall yet again. This time, there was even a rainbow underneath! Thankfully, my camera was able to capture that.

Waterfall with rainbow

witch at the falls

The waterfalls front view

The visit to the bird park was really something new to me. Who'd know that in the midst of the hustle and bustle of KL city, there would be a place that exudes calm and tranquility, just a stone's throw away? Definitely a nice place for family outings during weekends. Or for photographers to take pictures. :) And surely for tourists!

Opening hours: Daily from 9am to 6pm