Skippys Pizza, Damansara Uptown

Skippys Pizza, the place that you should be heading for if you're craving for some sexy pizza and delicious pork meal. Also known as 'The Real Pork Pizza Company', they serve a long list of authentic pork pizza as well as pork themed dishes on their menu. All the dishes on the menu is crafted by its owner who is also the head chef, Miss Fay. Talented Fay who had spent sometime in Australia before returning to Malaysia, created these Aussie based pizza which she had back in Aussie-land. To us, we are very lucky to be able to sample some authentic Aussie based pizza without the need to fly across the ocean. 

Of all names, why 'Skippys'? According to Fay, Skippy was one of her working partners back during the days they operated a cafe in Bangsar. Now that Fay has manged to operate her own restaurant, she named her restaurant Skippys Pizza in honor of her former working partner. There's always a touching story behind every great milestone achieved. 

Thanks to Betty and Fay, my partner and I were invited for a delicious evening at its Damansara Uptown outlet. If you are wondering which part of Damansara Uptown you should be heading for, Skippys Pizza is located a few shops away from The Ship and occupied the shop where the former Obanhmi was.

Skippys Pizza is a perfect place to chill out with your friends or colleagues in the evening. With its affordable beers during the Happy Hour promotion, just order some booze and chill out under its chic modern atmosphere. You have a choice of indoor and outdoor seating to suit your need. 

I'm pretty amazed by its interior setting of the restaurant where the masculine black theme is balanced by the chic orange and natural wood elements. It creates a soothing environment for relaxation after spending half of your days on your office desk.

Above our dining table was this attractive centerpiece; the IKEA PS 2014 Pendant Lamp which is also an award winning lamp, crowned the prestigious Red Dot Award 2015 for its creative design. It's amazed that every corner of this restaurant is being furnished to its perfection. 

Our evening started with a drink, a necessity under this hot and dry weather. The Ice Lemon Tea (RM4) really helps to cool us down and lucky for us, Fay treated us to a complimentary refill. yay!

As their name said it all, Skippys Pizza is famous for its Aussie based pizza filled with assorted fillings and of course the ultimate pork! There's more than 20 types of Aussie based pizza on their menu and we managed to try the Oriental Pizza (RM26 for 9" and RM32 for 12") which is topped with Chinese sausage aka lap cheong and chilli. I love this Lap Cheong pizza, a combination of Chinese-Aussie styled thing and the slices of red chillies really gives a kick to the taste. Imagine that every bite is filled with lap cheong, chillies, cheese and a good pizza bread as the base. Now we can enjoy lap cheong anytime we want :P

This Ultimate Hawaiian (RM28.90 for 9" and RM35.90 for 12") is as good as the lap cheong pizza. This Ultimate Hawaiian pizza is topped with pulled pork, sausage, bacon and pineapple. Hawaiian pizza is almost everyone's favourite and one of the must-order pizza when dining in a pizza restaurant. But have you tried a porky Hawaiian pizza version? The pulled pork, sausage and bacon makes it stands out from the normal Hawaiian ones and I love this combination of pork with pineapple. Just awesome.

We always start our meal with some appetizers while waiting for the mains to arrive. Goulash is a good introduction to your meal here at Skippys Pizza. The Goulash (RM12) is a tomato based soup and stewed with chunks of pork meat and vegetables. The combination of savory plus sourish taste from the tomatoes and pork meat stew does a good job in opening my appetite for the night. I want more of this soup now!

You need to order their Garlic Buns (RM10) because it's that good. I would like to call it The Real Garlic Buns. It uses burger's bun and you can still see the roasted chopped garlic on top of the bread. Its bread skin below the bun is crunchy while the part which is spread with butter is flavourful and soft. Yum! And for me, I dipped my Garlic Buns into the Goulash soup and they are a match made in heaven. Oh my, I wish I had them in front of me right now.

To balance your meal, do order this Skippys' Salad with Sundried Tomatoes, Olives, Anchovies and Bacon (RM19.50). I love pork bacon and what's more when you have these natural flavoring such as olives, sundried tomatoes and greens. Oh well, forget about the calories and have a porky salad once in a while. But they do really balance out our meal because what's about to come next are full of protein - the pork :)

Living up to its name, you gotta try their signature Pork Knuckle (RM70) which is good for sharing between 3 to 4 person. The Pork Knuckle at Skippys Pizza is a bit different compare to others whereby the pork knuckle is chopped into smaller pieces before being roasted. This makes it easier for us to eat and the meat is of a bit crunchy and chewy type as some of the pork essence is being infused with the aromatic smell of the dish. Overall, it's good and something different compared to the others.

 

Pork burger was one of my wishlist that evening and this Skippy's Glutton Pork Burger with Bacon, Egg and Mushrooms (RM24.50) just hit the mark. What's more can you ask for when all my favorite items are there on that burger; egg, pork bacon, mushrooms, cheese, lettuce and a great slab of pork meat patty. Fries are good and I'm gonna come back for more. Or perhaps try other burgers on the menu too as there's more than 10 types of burger on the list, from pork to seafood to lamb as well as vegetarian ones.

Besides burgers and pizzas, Skippys Pizza also served great pasta. We tried two types of pasta that night and we love their Lamb Meatballs with Cheesy Sauce (RM25.90). I would say that it's a carbonara type of pasta and the sauce is really cheesy which goes well with the spaghetti. The homemade lamb meatballs is good too but you can opt for either pork, chicken or beef meatballs with a little top up on the pricing.

The other one which we had was the Cheesy Meatballs with Spaghetti (RM19.90) and it is served with a tomato based sauce. You can opt for either a spicy or non-spicy type of tomato based sauce and the one we had was the spicy one. I love the spicy version of spaghetti because it matches our local palate where spicy is one type of taste that we cannot live without. Whenever we had noodles or fried rice, we will be asking for either chopped chilies or sambal. Thus, this spicy tomato based sauce is great and complements the pork meatballs too.

For spicy food lovers, this Chilli Mussels (RM30) is a must-order dish. The rich and spicy seafood broth is sure to give you a kick to your tongue and we can still feel the tingling sensation after drinking some water. But it's really good and gives a strong flavor to the mussels.

If you're dropping by for some booze instead of a meal, do try out their delicious porky bar snacks too. We always go for chips or fries whenever we drink. The next time you go out for a drink, do order their Crispy Fried Pork (RM16) to complement your booze instead because they taste  and more flavorful than your average chips. Same crunchiness level but this is better.

This Pork Ribs in 7 sauces (RM25/10pcs) is also another must-try bar snacks on the menu. The delicious roasted pork ribs is served with a homemade sauce and goes well with some beer. Gather your friends and try some porky bar snacks at Skippys Pizza today.

Fay and her team also served us some pulled pork with fries too. And I think this dish is a great bar snack item too where you can have your all-time favorite fries with pork to go with your beer.

The food was good and we enjoyed this porky-licious dinner. Since it's quite near our home, we will definitely be back for more. And if you can't make it to their restaurant at Damansara Uptown, fret not because they also provide delivery to selected locations in Klang Valley. Check out their delivery menu here.

And they also provide catering to office and event functions at an affordable price. And the food is definitely to be the freshest one every because the food will be cook on the spot at the event's area or even in your house. The minimum order for the catering is at 15pax and above. Do call up Skippys Pizza to know more.

Don't follow Skippys Pizza's Facebook for more updates on their latest menu, promotions and contests. Have a pork-licious meal ahead!

Skippys Pizza (Damansara Uptown outlet)

33, Jalan SS21/56B

47400, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice, Mid Valley Megamall

Being an Ipoh-rian, delicious gourmet food is part and parcel of my life. Think about white coffee, kuey teow soup, wan tan mee, chicken rice, sar-kok liew, it's easily available whenever my stomach grumbles. Well, wasn't aware that they are so well known that people actually drive down to Ipoh to eat them; not until I set foot in Kuala Lumpur to study back then. That my hometown food is that delicious.

If you're craving for an authentic Ipoh Chicken Rice in Klang Valley, do drop by the 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice Restaurant where they have a few outlets around the town. Thanks to Ivy Kam from Food Malaysia and 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice Restaurant,I managed to know more about the in-dept journey of this humble restaurant as well as sampling the overall dishes from their menu.

Visited their outlet in Mid Valley Megamall and their outlet's location is a great convenience for shoppers who's craving for some authentic Ipoh food halfway through their shopping therapy. And I personally prefer to dine in a mall rather than driving out to a shop which is located few kilometers away for a meal, especially after my feet are tired from walking. Okies, I don't drive (hehehe) and you're in the same situation as I am, simply take a public bus or a KTM train to Mid Valley and you'll reach your destination.

1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice is located on the 3rd Floor of Mid Valley Megamall, near the Mid Valley exhibition centre. Their shop consists of 2 levels of dining area; ground floor which is the same level as their shop's entrance as well as another smaller area upstairs. No worries if you didn't spot a table from their entrance, because there's more tables upstairs.

One of the most important thing to do whenever you're dining in a restaurant serving Ipoh food is to order a cup of white coffee. Growing up in Ipoh, I'm used to drink a hot one compared to iced version and I personally preferred a hot one because you can taste omphness of the drink. It's just a personal preference okies.

I had their Nan Yang White Coffee (Hot) which is priced at RM5.50. It tasted good with a perfect balance between the sweet and bitter elements. And of course, the aromatic smell of the coffee beans especially from a hot cup of white coffee. I praised them for the water temperature used to make that cup of white coffee too. Just like my usual cup of drink during the weekends.

The star of the meal was of course the Organic Kampung Chicken dish. Kampung Chicken is whereby the little chick has ample space to roam around freely and which is also the reason that their meat texture is often said to be tougher and a bit hard to chew. Well, that's because their meat tend to stick harder to its bones due to the exercise done while roaming around :) Okies, correct me if I'm wrong yeah.

The Organic Kampung Chicken dish is available in different portions. A whole bird of Organic Kampung Chicken dish is priced at RM88 while half bird is priced at RM44. If these portions are too big for you, go for the Quarter (Lower part at RM26 and Upper part at RM20) or the Single portion (Wing & Breast meat set at RM10 while Thigh & Drumstick set at RM13).

Do you know that 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice offers complimentary deboning service for the chicken dish which you ordered? A deboned chicken means a chicken with its bones completely removed. This deboning is a complicated process and the chef requires a great skill & experience to complete without tearing/destroying the chicken skin throughout the process. A deboned chicken should have its skin still clinging to its meat without tearing apart from the sides and able to arrange them nicely on a plate with the skin on.

By opting to debone your Organic Kampung Chicken dish at 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice, the chicken meat becomes more juicier and easy to eat compared to those where its meat still sticking to its bones.

You can now enjoy the true texture of an Organic Kampung Chicken dish. It's meat is not tough at all! And you can eat your kampung chicken more gracefully without the need to pull its bone out from your mouth. And of course, more child friendly too. Do give it a try and go for a deboned chicken at 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice Restaurant.

Before the premium soya sauce is poured on.

And 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice only uses premium soya sauce in its dishes which is why their chicken dishes are so good. According to its chef, they only uses the premium soya sauce known as 'tau chau' in Cantonese. Tau Chau is whereby the soya sauce is obtained from the first pressing of its brewed soya beans. Thus, its soya sauce is light brownish red in colour with a lightly salted taste and is the best quality of soya sauce obtained throughout the making of soya sauce. However, this type of soya sauce is quite hard to obtain in the market, thus do try them at 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice.

Their Organic Kampung Chicken dish is served with premium tau chau soya sauce mixed with a little bit of pure chicken oil which gives a smooth texture of meat in your mouth.

With the premium tau chau soya sauce.

Now, this is the must-have rice which we normally called it oil rice in Cantonese. Okies, it's called Chicken Rice here and it's priced at RM2.50/bowl. It's called chicken rice because the rice is cooked with chicken oil instead of normal oil or butter. If you prefer a normal instead of an oiled rice, Plain Rice is available at RM2.50/bowl too.

You can't missed the ginger paste as well as the homemade chilli sauce to complement your chicken rice. They served as the perfect companion to your plate of chicken rice! And their ginger paste is not blended with machine, instead it is chopped patiently by their kitchen crew everyday. Thus, do enjoy their ginger paste to the fullest to show appreciate towards their hard work. And it is not a raw ginger paste but it is also mixed with minced garlic and both ingredients does undergoes the steaming process before it reached its end result. As for the chilli sauce, it's a homemade version with red chilies, garlic and lime. The sourish taste comes from the freshly squeezed lime which makes the sauce a perfect appetizing component in your meal.  

You must not missed this Ipoh's signature dish which is the Ipoh Bean Sprouts which is priced at RM10 for a Small portion or at RM15. Ipoh is famous for its juicy and crunchy bean sprouts and the team at 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice sourced their bean sprouts all the way from Buntong, Ipoh. Their signature Ipoh bean sprouts which are sourced from Buntong, Ipoh are crunchy, juicy and huge in size simply because of the traditional method used to water the bean sprout plants. According to the team at 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice, its bean sprouts are being watered manually between 11.30pm till 1.30am midnight when the weather is cold to produce a good quality bean sprouts. These bean sprouts are also watered with clean underground water pumped from the well. It is not any underground water, but water from the limestone hills that is rich in vitamins. Hence, the texture produced is quite different in Ipoh. 

And the best part is that the bean sprouts sold at 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice shop is taken from the bean sprouts which grows in the middle part of the huge bins. Well, bean sprouts grow in a huge plastic drum sized bin and can be divided into 3 parts, the top, middle and bottom layer of the bin. Basically, they grow stacking on top of each other and the top part, which means those near the cover of the bins are normally exposed to light or sunlight when the bins are opened for checking or watering process. Bean sprouts from this part of the bin received too much light and too little minerals as the water are not usually filled till the top of the bin. On the other hand, those bean sprouts which grows at the bottom has plenty of minerals but received no light at all, hence the bean sprouts produced from these 2 parts are not that of great quality compared to those located in the middle layer of the bin which have the best of two worlds. Thus, the next time you're buying bean sprouts in the wet market or from bean sprouts supplier, do try your luck in getting those which grows in the middle of the bins as they are quite hard to source in the market. :)

According to Ipoh Echo here, these bean sprouts are still being produced traditionally from the backyard of their house till today which I'm quite impressed. Would love to visit a traditional Ipoh bean sprouts producer if there's a chance.

You can also compliments your chicken rice with some barbecued side dishes such as the Roasted & Honey BBQ Pork which is priced at RM20. The Roasted pork is the siew york while the Honey BBQ Pork is the char siew. I love the roasted pork as it comes with crackling pork skin and the Honey BBQ Pork is great too with a rich savory sauce brushed on its meat.

1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice Restaurant also offers some traditional home cooked Chinese dishes to complement your meal. The Fried Roasted Pork (RM25) tasted good and we finished them within a few minutes even though it's burning hot in our mouth. The roasted pork is stir-fried together with garlic, capsicum as well as light & dark soya sauce, a classic Cantonese dish. It made you feel like home.

Dishes or food with salted-egg yolk is the 'in' thing now and you must not missed this dish either. Do order this Buttermilk Fish Fillet (RM25) as the sauce is made from a combination of traditional buttermilk and salted egg yolks. The salted egg yolks enhanced the texture and taste of the traditional buttermilk sauce and you can truly taste the salted eggy in their sauce for the ommph feeling. You'll be guaranteed to be satisfied with this place of Buttermilk Fish Fillet. Do grab some curry leaves from the dish for that extra kick.

Oh-la-la, the Stir-Fried Lala with Superior Soup is priced at RM25. The lala is super fresh and the soup really compliments the dish well. Their special superior soup is made from chicken soup, Chinese wine with minced bean paste or known as tau ban cheong in Cantonese. A must-order when you're dining here.

If you're looking for something light to compliments your meal, do go for their signature Pork Balls (RM2.00/each) where it is made from 100% pure pork meat and dried cuttle fish (tiu pin). Their pork balls taste exactly the same one as you can get from Ipoh where their texture are meatier and harder due to the fact that there's no presence of flour in it, but pure meat paste. If you miss the Big Tree Foot or Tai Kar Rock yeong tao foo Ipoh, do come to 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice to satisfy your cravings!

If you're driving down all the way to Ipoh for its Ipoh Hokkien Noodles at Tuck Kee, Ipoh; you can now satisfy your cravings at 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice because they do sell the Ipoh style Fried Hokkien Noodle (RM14.90). Unlike the Klang Valley style of hokkien noodles, the Ipoh style is more wet and do not have the bitter or burnt taste in it. This Ipoh hokkien noodle at 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice also have lesser pork lard to provide a healthier option of hokkien noodle to its customers and yet, the taste is superb.

Being an Ipoh-rian, the dishes at 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice Restaurant truly presents the quality and standard of Ipoh style cuisine. Even if they are not 100% equal to the one that you had at your usual restaurant or coffeeshop in Ipoh, the dishes sold at their outlet do satisfy my craving of hometown food because the taste and the method of cooking are the same. Do visit 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice Restaurant for a true homecooked taste. They have a few outlets in Klang Valley which are located at Jalan Gasing, Damansara Jaya, Sri Petaling as well as in Mid Valley Megamall.

The team at 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice shop is also generous to share with us the steps to debone a chicken.

For more information on their latest promotions, do follow their Facebook page at 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice.

1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice (Mid Valley Outlet)
Lot T-013D & 061, 3rd Floor
Mid Valley Megamall 
Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City,
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia