Looking for a steamboat noms session? Check this out!

I've always been a fan of steamboat. Especially when I have the option of dumping in tons of yummy vegetables into my pot of broth.

When I was invited to check out this quaint little restaurant at PJ, I was quite enthusiastic. After all, who can ever say no to good food? :P

Locating the place took some time for me, as I am not a PJ-ian and I get lost easily. Technically, you can actually view the shop from the LDP highway. But being the blur me I usually tend not to look elsewhere except for the road ahead of me lol.

Keep an eye out for this logo while on the road!

A closer look at the entrance

The restaurant interior is quaint and has that vintage feel to it, with a certain amount of 'rustic' atmosphere lingering about. I was charmed by the vintage items displayed there, like the classic television set and coal iron (remember those?).

Some of the many vintage pieces you can spot in this place

Of course, you're not here to look at the interior alone. Let's start with the three appetizers available:

Crispy salmon skin drizzled with sauce - RM6

Japanese Cucumber with seasoning sauce and julienne carrots - RM4.50

Tongsam Century Egg with pickled ginger - RM4.50

And now to the main course.

This restaurant boasts of three different type of soups:

• Black Chicken Herbal Soup (RM23)
• Pork Oriental Soup (RM18)
• Clear Tomyam Soup (RM18)

Savor the aromatic blend of herbs and spices in this pot of homemade broth

You can also opt for a half-half pot of Tomyam & Pork Oriental

These wonderful homemade broths have minimal to absolutely zero MSG added into them. Which is good since this lets you savor every piece of ingredient tossed in without guzzling down your tea (or any other types of drinks) too much along the way.

Once you've selected your poiso soup base, it's now time to pile up on the ingredients! :D

Dian Huo Xin Wo offers a wide variety of meat and seafood, but I admit that the star of the show would be their range of homemade 'meat' balls. Made from scratch, these balls are densely packed with flavor and of course, it's all about meat. Though the meat are processed prior to opening time, the balls are only rolled (or made) upon your order. Which means you're truly getting the freshest rolled balls for the day (or night) :D

Gotta be ballsy to go ball-istic over these yummy balls!

The homemade range include Signature Beef Ball, Golden Yolk Pork Ball, Mushroom Pork Ball, Dumpling, Crystal Fish Ball, Squid Ball, Shrimp Ball, Seafood Ball, and Quail Egg Chicken Ball. The price range is between RM6 - RM8 per 'dimsum basket' of four/five balls.

If these balls aren't enough for you, how about some thinly sliced meat and while we're at it, a plate of 'Sang Har" prawns?

Oh the glorious meat!

Choose from Chicken, Pork Loin, Mongolian Lamb, Australian Snowflake Beef, and/or American Wagyu Beef slices for a price of RM12 - RM36 per plate.

For the seafood lovers, there are Grouper Fish Head, Pomfret Fish, Fresh Prawns, Snapper Fish Slices, Osmanthus Mussels, Fresh Black Mussels, Cuttle Fish, Jelly Fish, Bamboo Clams, Fish Skin Dumpling, and Fresh Crab to choose from.

If you're into 'spare parts', Dian Huo Xin Wo offers Pork Liver, Stomach, and Intestine (RM6 - RM10 per plate). There are also a variety of sausages and fishballs to choose from.

Of course, what's steamboat without veggies I ask? Well, for me anyway.

Some of the many vegetables and mushrooms to choose from yums!

Oh this has GOT to be added into my running raving commentary of this food place: the chilli sauces. According to the owner, these sauces are crafted from scratch without any proper recipe and they're designed to compliment all ingredients used in the steamboat. Talk about neat! :D

Since they do not have any name for the sauces, I hereby dub them: Dry Chilli, Spicy Red, and Sambal Green Chilli. (lame, I know hahahaha)


We also took this opportunity to try out the restaurant's unique 'yee sang' specially prepared for the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Get this: this colourful dish substitutes salmon sashimi for smoked bacon slices and red dragonfruit. Utter yums! :D All vegetables are freshly julienned upon order, and even the sauces are specially prepared to compliment the smokey bacon flavor and sweetness from the dragonfruit.

Currently, this restaurant is offering this Yee Sang dish for RM68. Available until the 17th February. They highly encourage pre-order to avoid disappointment, so pick up that smartphone and give them a call today! :D

Overall, I admit that this place is worth a second (and third...fourth...okay definitely more than that) visit. Though the price may put you off, rest assured that you'll definitely get your money's worth right here :D

Restaurant details:

Dian Huo Xin Wo 点火心窝
19, Jalan SS4D/2, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
+603 - 7887 4557 or  +6012 - 296 3886
Opening Hours: 5pm - 11pm


This place definitely gets two thumbs up from me!

Me and the Vietnamese Spring Rolls

I admit, I've been on a spring roll craze. Vietnamese Spring Roll to be more exact.

Why did I succumb to this craze?

Well, it all started when a good friend of mine shared this delectable homemade tidbit his mum had made for a bunch of us...

EAT ME!!!!

This is addictive, I swear! But sometimes it's really hard to wait for these delectable yummies to fall right to your lap...especially when the person making these are usually too busy to make more :/

So what's a girl with a craving to do? Experiment of course!

To be honest, it took me a darn long while to accomplish this experiment of mine. It isn't because I tend to fail on my cooking adventures, but because a) I couldn't find the ingredients and b) I didn't have the time for it! D:

After so many months of dilly-dallying, lo and behold I finally managed to make a couple of rolls! :D It wasn't easy the first time cause I was new to it but I sincerely did have fun all the same! :D

My first attempt

OMNOMNOMNOM

My first attempt actually looked neater lol! For this, I made the accompanying sauce (cause I had followed the recipe found on Pinterest, with some minor amendments on my end lol) but I didn't really use it in the end! Hahahaha...

Gave this to my friend and boyfriend, and while the former said that it's good the latter commented that the rice paper skin was a bit too hard (my fault cause I didn't soften the rice paper enough before rolling it up!). But both stated that the fillings were yummy (YAY!)

As I was rolling these rolls away, I ended up eating more than I should have stored for others (oops!). That was how much I had liked my concoction hahaha :P

My second attempt

I may not look purdy, but I taste yummy! *strikes a pose*

My second attempt looks slightly different. This is because instead of placing the coriander leaves on the prawns, I chopped them up and mixed 'em with the marinade sauce (used for the glass noodles). So...less color to the rolls I suppose? :P

Doesn't affect the flavour though. The boyfriend said that it's really good and he pretty much gobbled up half of the total amount made that night. So I suppose, it is another success? Yay! :D

Now of course, the next question would be...Should I pen this recipe down? It's not something superbly hard to write, but at the same time, with tons of good recipes out there, why would mine make a difference? Eh heh.

My first attempt was a modified recipe from this original: Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls - DroolFactor.