Yishensu Vegetarian Restaurant, Ipoh

Recently, I had the opportunity to sample dishes from another vegetarian restaurant in Ipoh. Having to stay in Klang Valley for more than 7 years, I'm quite familiar with the term 'Yishensu' as they had an outlet in 1Utama - you can order dishes from this 1Utama outlet through Foodpanda too.

In Ipoh, you can enjoy dishes from Yishensu as they have an outlet in Ipoh Garden; situated opposite Tesco Ipoh Garden and few doors away from Restaurant 1919.

 You can snap some lovely selfies with the peacock :)

As usual, you'll be served some chargeable tidbits while you wait for your guest to arrive or dishes to be served.  

During the dinner, I managed to sample a total of 5 types of vegetarian dishes. You might be wondering why there's only 5 types of dishes when it's for a group of people. Now, dishes are not ordered by yours truly yeah.

Dinner started with a giant plate of traditional chinese mixed platter which is also known as 'lang poon'. It consist of 5 different types of appetizer dishes from Japanese wakame, fried mock meat in the form of popiah shape, fried glass noodle with mock meat (taste like fried eggs with crab meat and glass noodle), vegetarian ham secured with satay stick and lastly the vegetarian squid in the middle. 

The highlighted ones from this visually beautiful plate of platter are the Japanese wakame and fried glass noodles with mock meat. They retained the delicious taste of wakame just like how you had it in the Japanese restaurant. Not sure whether it's the ready-to-eat type when they sourced the ingredients but I will be utterly disappointed if it is because a good platter should be made from a chef's specialty - not some readily made instant food. I do fancy the fried glass noodle with mock meat as it do smell and partially tasted like the original fried eggs with glass noodle except that it's vegetarian. Nice work on this one, something decent I looked forward to among the 5. Others could be better as I prefer to have some citrus sauce to give some kick to it especially the one which looked like fried popiah.

The second dish is the braised vegetarian noodle with sliced mock meat and some leafy greens.

Noodles are cooked to perfection and the sauce is rich in taste. Would love to have some sliced chinese mushroom to go with it too  ~ just a personal preference.

p.s. I find it a bit weird to serve noodles as the second dish because it's normally the dish to end the meal in a Chinese banquet dinner. 

 Up next is the Sweet and Sour Fried Fish where fried mock fish and mock sausage  (not sure which type of mock meat it is) are cooked in sweet and sour style.

 This dish is perfect to be served as an appetizer before going into other main dishes. The sourly taste of tomato sauce is balanced up by the green pepper bells, onions and chopped cucumbers. Goes perfectly with white rice :)


I think I love this dish the most among all the dishes served. Braised Homemade Beancurd :)

I'm a beancurd person and of course I love this dish. Flavourful, soft and silky homemade beancurd makes you going for more and more. Do order this dish when you're dining there. 

 Last but not least is the Braised mushroom with Beancurd Stick and served with broccoli.

Taste wise is normal and all the elements are cooked well. Great to eat with rice too. 

Overall, it's a great vegetarian restaurant and I would suggest that you order more dishes and add some white rice to your meal too if you have a table of 10. It's because you don't want to leave your guest with a partially full stomach :)



Yishensu Vegetarian Restaurant Ipoh
19-21, Jalan Medan Ipoh 6,
Metro Ipoh Baru, 31400,
Ipoh, Perak. 

Celebrate Hari Raya with Julie's Love Letters

Last month, I was at Julie's 'What's Your Love Letter'event thanks to Miriram :) Now, this explains why I received a Raya greeting postcard which I send to me - myself.

This Ramadhan, Julie's Biscuit launched their 'What's Your Love Letter' event with the aim to encourage you to recall the nostalgia of writing cards and mail them to your loved ones.

Due to the advancement of technology and social medias, I'm sure you received more e-greeting cards and festive greetings on social media rather than physical greeting cards. I still remember the olden days where I used to write letters to my friends and waited for weeks to get a reply. And in schools, our bookshop and koperasi do sell festive greeting cards and we all would check them out during recess time.

This Ramadhan, do send out some physical greeting cards to your loved ones and I'm sure they will be surprised and jumping happily with it.

Back to the launched event which was held at Sime Darby Convention Centre, guests were given a chance to write message on Julie's Raya postcard and Julie's will mail them for us :)

What's more excited than towers of Julie's Love Letter tins greeting you at the entrance hall?

We were even provided with small colourful cut-out shapes to decorate our postcards. 

I wrote some messages on the postcard and mail them to my colleagues too - and myself :P 

Then, just put them into this green mailbox and Julie's Biscuit will mail them out for us. 

Here's Julie, the mascot for Julie's Biscuit. 

There's a special meaning to this launch event too. Julie's wish to share their love with the orphans to make them feel loved and appreciated. 

This event is also attended by more than 60 orphans from Rumah Anak Yatim Shifa' and Asrama Darul Falah Perkim. The children managed to send postcards to their loved ones thanks to Julie's. 

I blurred out some part of the pic for privacy purposes. 

There's also a mini game held for these kids - just find the balloons with the red sign and they get to bring home some Julie's goodies. They were really happy searching for the right ones to redeem their prize.

                                                                         Blurred out some part for privacy purposes. 

Blurred out some part for privacy purposes. 

Lovely Julie's goodies for them :)

There's also a photobooth and they will print the pictures for you. We took a few rounds at this one. 

We were all treated to a Ramadhan buffet dinner too. Food were from Sime Darby Convention centre and they were absolutely delicious. 

"Today Julie's took the steps of encouraging all to foster family bonding and would like to invite all to share the love during this break fast event. Orphans whom are invited as priority guests will be celebrated together with the media and bloggers. This campaign also aim to encourage everyone to touch their hearts of their loved ones in reality by writing their feel of affections to families, friends and lovers during this Haru Raya" said Benny Chia, Marketing Manager of Perfect Food Manufacturing (M) Sdn. Bhd. 

The orphans were treated with Julie's goodie bags and delicious food all night long. The most popular one among the kids was the fried ice-cream booth. I love it too!

The kids also did some performance on stage and I'm amazed with their talent. Thus, if you're free do drop by the orphanage home nearby your place and surprise them with some goodies. They will be very happy with your visit and care. 

More love letters anyone?

Lakeside dining at Secret of Louisiana, Kelana Jaya

Few weeks back, I had an awesome dining experience at a serene place overlooking a tranquil lake. And I would say that it's a perfect lakeside dining experience I had ever experience. Well, this is what I saw when I was sitting down at this lakeside restaurant.

The beautiful sunset brightly welcomes me to gaze at its presence. And can you believe that I'm actually still sitting down in the hectic and busy city in Klang Valley? This is an exotic paradise which not many people are aware of.

After spending more than 8 hours working all your might in the office, this place is the perfect destination to relax and be stress-free for that few remaining hours in a day. I'm sure you'll need one too.

To enjoy this memorable dining experience which I had,  just hop to the Kelana Jaya Lake and dine in at this Secret of Louisiana restaurant. They serve the best Cajun style cuisine in town. This restaurant is owned by Chef Elvin Goh who is also the head chef in its kitchen. Chef Elvin Goh is a star chef with many years of experience in the food industry.

He's a bubbly cheerful and friendly chef who do come out to the dining area to greet its guests whenever he's done with his work in the kitchen. I think this is a good example which other restaurants or cafes need to have too.

As for me, I got to know more info on how my food is being cooked and served - a guarantee that puts your worries at ease in case you're thinking about the hygiene and quality of food prepared in the kitchen. :)

The best time to dine in at this restaurant is between 6pm - 7.30pm where you can enjoy the beautiful sunset by the lake and take some selfies while waiting for your food to be served.

This unique environment with its beautiful scenery make it suitable to host your special occasion or festive dinner here at Secret of Louisiana. They do cater for wedding dinners, ROM, engagement party and so on every month. Thus, if you would like to book this restaurant for your birthday/anniversary/wedding events, do plan ahead to secure your dates. And if you would like to have those special effects such as a mini fireworks to spark when your partner says 'Yes' to you, this is the perfect restaurant that you should be dining at. Do inquire for these additional service at an affordable charge with the restaurant yeah !!!

And I do love their table setting too. They have a clean and neat ones with fresh flowers sitting proudly on all their tables. It makes a normal routine dinner even more special. You might be dining with your partner every other day but this table setting adds a romantic mood to it :) You usually get such romantic table setting at an upscale restaurant but here at Secret of Louisina, you can enjoy such dinner at an affordable price without burning a hole in your pocket!

So, do remember to snap lots of memorable moments while dining here at Secret of Louisina. This is taken at about 6.45pm where the sunset is at its best :)
 p.s. Ignore my tired face after work yeah :P 

I had a wonderful dining journey through the real Cajun cuisine with a few friends that evening. 

My splendid Cajun cuisine journey started off with a glass of mixed fruit juice (RM11) to quench my thirst. I had this orange, green apple and lemon juice which goes down my throat smoothly. A perfect drink to cool yourself down under this hot weather.

If you have read my previous post on the US Potato Culinary Festival 2015, Secret of Louisina is one of the participating restaurants in this event and had crafted 3 unique US Potato dishes make available for order in their restaurant from 1-30 June 2015.

And I didn't missed this opportunity to taste these US Potato dishes again in their restaurant. We sampled all the three US Potato dishes which are US Potato Crawfish Pie, Shrimp Etouffee US Potato Boat and Cajun US Fries Chili Octopus.

The US Potato Crawfish Pie is delightful with its creamy mashed US Potatoes and uses live crawfish instead of frozen ones. Well, the presentation is lovely which resemble a crawfish trying to craw out from this dish scene.

 If you don't believe that the crawfish is live ones, just walk to one of its aquarium located inside the restaurant and you can see them swimming lively there. Be careful and do not put your fingers into the tank as they have strong and sharp claws.

Next on the plate is the Shrimp Etouffee US Potato Boat with a fresh and juicy prawn resting on a baked US Potato. The well seasoned US Potato with its accompanying tomato based gravy goes well with the prawn. It leaves me wanting for more!

This Cajun styled US Fries Chili Octopus is one of our favorites. The fries are not oily and not too salty like those commercial one. It's well seasoned with bit of salt, pepper and some herbs. Do squeeze the lemon on them before you start to attack them. The octopus with fries is a heavenly combination.

Of course, we were not there just for the US Potato dishes but for some real Cajun style dishes. For the appetizer, we had this Seafood Gumbo (RM30) where assorted fresh seafood are cooked in a creamy sauce together with cheese and herbs. Just spread the creamy seafood on top of the garlic bread, it's like having a luxury version of your ordinary bruschetta.

Next is the Smoked Duck Chili Spaghetti (RM35) which comes in generous portion. You'll find some sliced smoked duck, mushrooms, zucchini and some chili in this one. I love the fact that the pasta is al-dente and flavorful. They serve 13 types of pasta on their menu and you might want to come here a few rounds to try them all.

I've got to know from the chef that they do not use frozen and ready cut fillets which some eateries do. All their fish fillets are freshly sliced from the whole fish by the kitchen team. It's a great thing that you'll be consuming some fresh and healthy fillets here.

We tried this Red Fish (RM46) from their Treasure of the Sea category. The red snapper fish fillet is beautifully seared with butter on the hot cast iron and seasoned with Cajun style mixed herbs. You'll also get lots of blackened style vegetables with the fillet to balance your meal. This red snapper served together with its skin on - you don't find this in those tasteless frozen fillets.

This is the Cajun style chicken chop (RM30) where boneless chicken thigh is grilled and served together with garden salad. Yum! It's garnished with some rosemary leaves - do smell them before munching them too as I've read that rosemary can helps to increase memory by 75% according to this article here.

We ended our meal with an awesome dessert; the signature Louisiana's Mud Pie (RM18). I'm a dessert person and this hot chocolate cake goes well with the vanilla ice-cream is just perfect. It's not too sweet and just right.

I had an awesome Cajun style dishes that night and would love to bring my dining partner, pig here to try them soon. Secret of Louisiana serves tasty and healthy food with an awesome lakeside view. It is located by the lakeside inside Plaza Kelana Jaya and parking is not a problem here.

If you're planning to dine here during lunch time, do try out their Eat-All-You-can Pasta at only RM19.90/person. There's 13 choices of pasta available for this buffet style pasta and rest assure that they do not cooked them in bulk. All pasta in this buffet are cooked individually when you order them to guarantee its taste. Available only from 11am - 3pm every Monday to Saturday. Do come early as it's always pack during lunch time :)

For more info on this Secret of Louisiana restaurant, do visit their webpage and follow their Facebook page at Secret of Louisiana.

The New Orleans which is located beside Secret of Louisiana is also owned by the same team. If you're in the mood for some drinks and good music, they have Live Jazz session every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.


Secret of Louisiana
Block D-01-01,
Jalan SS7/13A,
Plaza Kelana Jaya,

47301 Petaling Jaya, 

Selangor. 

Julie's Love Letters with unique Raya packets for the Hari Raya festive

With Hari Raya celebration is only a week from now, malls and supermarkets are packed to the brim especially this weekend with all the last minute preparations for the festive. And remember to purchase some goodies to be used during house visits too. 

When you’re in the supermarket this weekend, be sure to stop by and grab a tin of Julie’s Love Letters for the festive. In conjunction with Hari Raya celebration, Julie has designed some limited edition love letters tin and available for a limited time only. Available in chocolate and strawberry flavors, you will find some special Raya packets inside it. 

If you are afraid that you might buy the wrong tin, do look for the Raya motifs and Raya packets picture label on the tin. They are filled with special Julie’s Raya packets. 

So, what’s so special about Julie’s Raya packets?

Of course the main thing is to put money inside them and gift them during the festive. 

But there’s another unique thing about Julie’s Raya Packets. Julie encourages us to write some precious messages (there’s some the extra space on the reverse side of the packets) and gift them to your family, friends and relatives during the festive. 

I think it’s a lovely thing to do and a great gesture to practice it during the festive. Nowadays, we are so busy with our gadgets that we lost personal touch with our loved ones. I do agree that e-message, e-greetings and e-cards are very convenient and it’s just at your finger tips. But you can’t compare tons of e-greetings to a personal Raya packet filled with written messages. This written message gives you the warmth, care and love which have long lost due to the use of e-messages. Therefore, make a change this Hari Raya and send some warmth through personalized written message to your loved ones. 

 

Julie’s Raya packet comes in 3 symbolic colours (yellow, green and blue) with hinted meaning in it. The word ‘Silaturrahim’ on the yellow Raya packet represents a long lasting friendship. The Blue packet has the word ‘Keampuan’ meant for seeking forgiveness while the Green packet has the word ‘Keberkatan’ printed on it which means blessing, thus to give thanks during the festive. 

These unique Raya packets have the shape of an envelope, perfect to store your duit Raya and served as a love or warmth letter during the festive.

Besides the unique Raya packets aka letters, the Julie’s Love Letters itself is perfect as a festive gift. It’s delicious and has exists in almost everyone’s childhood memories. Gift this Julie’s Love Letters to rekindle your precious and memorable olden days with your loved ones.

Not only that, you can purchase Julie’s Love Letter and bake Raya delicacies with the love letters. Julie has shared a recipe to make cupcake using Julie’s Cocoro Vanilla. For more info on this Julie’s Cocoro Vanilla Cupcake, visit here.

Do follow Julie’s Biscuits Facebook page for more info on their latest updates, promotion and news.