Naughty Nuri's, KL Life Centre is now open.

Naughty Nuri’s, the well-known place which served Balinese barbecue pork ribs in Bali, Indonesia - a must dine-in place when you’re in Bali. The first time I tried Naughty Nuri’s BBQ pork ribs was when I traveled to Bali with a bunch of friends back in 2013. The amazing taste of spices and the ribs still lingered in my mind and mouth after the trip. 

 

Fortunately, the first ever Naughty Nuri's opened in Malaysia – the Desa Sri Hartamas outlet back in December 2014 where the community around Klang Valley created a beeline to have a taste of these delicious ribs. Thanks to the support its customers, the second outlet of Naughty Nuri's opened in Subang The Courtyard end last year – December 2015. 

 

Today, the third Naughty Nuri's outlet is now operating at KL Life Centre; serving their signature Balinese Barbecue Pork Ribs to its customers and fans locating in the KL town – which you don’t need to travel far to Hartamas or Subang to have a taste of those finger-licking ribs. 

 

I was fortunate to be able to dine-in at their Life Centre Kuala Lumpur outlet with other fellow bloggers and invited guests to experience its new outlet before everyone else. Thanks Mommy Jane and the PR team at Naughty Nuri's for the invitation!

It’s easy to navigate to Naughty Nuri's latest outlet at KL Life Centre as it’s located in the heart of the golden triangle. If you’re driving, you can just waze your way there and park in KL Life Centre itself. Or you may drop off at Raja Chulan Monorail Station or Bukit Nanas Monorail station and KL Life Centre is within 10 minutes walking distance (500m) from the monorail stations. The Naughty Nuri's is located at the entrance (ground floor) of KL Life Centre – you may already spot the outlet when you’re driving past the valet parking. 

 

Some history about this infamous Naughty Nuri's restaurant. It started as a humble roadside warung in Ubud, Bali which offers tantalizing BBQ pork ribs prepared with Balinese spices and a secret sauce back in 1995. This is how the name of their signature pork ribs dish came from - the 1995's Signature BBQ Spare Ribs - the year which this delicious spare ribs started. And this brilliant BBQ pork ribs warung is formed by the husband & wife team of Brian Aldinger & Isnuri Suryatmi aka 'Nuri'. 

Today, Naughty Nuri's has risen rapidly into a global food destination, where even New York Times has included it as a must visit eateries in Bali. If you do not realized how great Naughty Nuri's is, "many popular celebrities such as Julia Roberts, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh and Chef Martin Yen; have been spotted enjoying its popular ribs here", says Naughty Nuri's team. And with Naughty Nuri's opening its third outlet here in Malaysia, you do not have to go all the way to Bali just to have a taste of this highly sought after dishes. 

Its latest outlet in KL Life Centre features a cozy environment with dim lighting suitable for casual dates.

 You can see some unique lighting made from natural materials, a corner filled with rattan seats, hanging lantern as well as some plants to give it a Balinese feel or a relaxation ( I would relate it to spa) mood. And there's a full-fledged bar to satisfy your needs - Martinis lover, you gotta take note of this! And you will spot many piggy figurines in its shop that you can grab one for a selfie - but beware that they are very heavy in weight. 

Here’s the preview menu which we sampled the other night. There’s actually a lot more choices of dishes available on their menu and the dishes served were part of their signature dishes.

When you’re dining at Naughty Nuri's, this is one thing that you gotta order – or else, it will defeat the purpose of dining here. It’s their Naughty Nuri's 1995 Signature BBQ Spare Ribs (RM45) and you will be served a full rack of BBQ ribs, fit for 2-3 pax. And do take the lime and squeeze it around the ribs before attacking it as the sourish taste gives a kick to its taste. And I actually prefer it with the lime juice on - just don't move the lime to one side okays. The meat actually falls off the bone and packed with a strong spices taste (I think there's lemongrass in it too) - and smell too. They are not your average commercialized BBQ sauce but is made from a well-guarded secret sauce recipe.

There's also a corner where you can see its staff barbecuing the ribs. When I was in Bali, they actually barbecue the ribs at the shop's entrance - that your clothes will be smell of ashes due to the smoke from the fire pit. Here in Malaysia, you can enjoy watching your ribs being cooked without the smoky part - as there's a glass wall enclosing the kitchen area. And your pork ribs served here, in its Malaysia outlets are sourced from Spain - only premium quality of ribs are used in its preparation.

 And you gotta thanks Chef Edddy Wong, Group Chef of Naughty Nuri's Malaysia who went to Bali to master the art of Naughty Nuri's food soul. Chef Eddy Wong was trained by Michelin starred chefs in Germany at the tender age of 24. He currently manages and run the delicious kitchen of Naughty Nuri's Malaysia and is also the youngest group head chef of 60 crews! According to the chef, he was working in Singapore when he received this Naughty Nuri's assignment. And without further delay, he quits his job back then and fly to Bali - stayed there for about 3 weeks (correct me if I'm wrong) to learn the art of preparing those stunning dishes. And ta-da, Naughty Nuri's pop up here in Kuala Lumpur. Naughty Nuri's is operated by Ribs Affair Sdn Bhd in Malaysia.      

Besides its signature ribs, you can also order other porky dishes as sides - an add on or as a tidbits to go with your beer.  

This Grilled Hog's Platter is one of my top favorite ones besides the ribs. You will be served two types of pork sausages, roasted pork and grilled pork (actually I would say that the roasted pork is marinated with some seasoning before grilling/frying it). I love roasted or grilled pork, thus this dish is just right for me. And not to forget that we were served free-flow of beer that day - thus this dish is a great tidbits to snack on with your beer. 

 

Another snacking side dishes, the Naughty Crispy Belly tasted just like your chips - just that it's made of pork slices, not potatoes. The pork belly are sliced thinly, marinated and deep fried till it's crunchy. Then, I presume that it's being stir-fried with condiments such as cucumbers, onion and a secret sauce before some sesame seeds is being garnished on it. It's crispy and you can munch your way with a glass of beer!

If you love the crispy pork, you gotta love this Balinese Cumi-Cumi too. It's deep-fried squid and it tasted just like 'keropok' aka chips. 

From the look of it, it looks like a bowl of potato chips or our local round shaped prawn crackers. The squid is actually chopped into pieces before being deep-fried to its chips-like-crunchy texture. And then, it's stir-fried with condiments such as onions, chilies, capsicum, sesame seeds and a secret sauce. Just pop one into your mouth before you drink! Great snacking dish.

And if you're feeling a bit guilty due to the incoming calories, do order this Naughty Nuri's Signature Roast Pork Salad where the greens from the salad can balance up your palate. And you've got some of its signature roasted pork there in the salad too - they do add flavors to your greens. Don't ditch them! 

If you're craving for some carbs - and that ribs is not enough to satisfy you; this Indonesian Style Mee Goreng will. A classic Indonesian dish enough to make you smile. Fried Indon mee topped with an egg where the yolk's still runny. Yum!

And don't forget to order their Martinis too - as their tagline goes like this; Killer Ribs, Twisted Martinis.You will be greeted by these pretty staff of theirs shaking Martinis right in front of you, the twist? They do shake well and you'll be pleased by the end of it. 

 

And here's another great news from Naughty Nuri's team. "With the robust demand for its ribs (its Sri Hartamas and Subang branches turn over 12 tonnes of premium pork ribs per month), Naughty Nuri's will be expanding in the region, with Kuala Lumpur on track to open another outlet in Mid Valley by September 2016. Other outlets planned for the immediate 12 months are: 3 in Jakarta & 1 each in Bangkok, Macau, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. A total of 25 outlets have been projected to open within the region in the next two years." Do stay tune to its new outlet opening in Mid Valley - September 2016!


Do stay tune to their Facebook page for more info on new updates and promotions:
Naughty Nuri's Kuala Lumpur
Naughty Nuri's Desa Sri Hartamas
Naughty Nuri's Subang The Courtyard
Naughty Nuri's KL Life Centre


Naughty Nuri's KL Life Centre
Lot G-05, Ground Floor Life Centre,
No.20, Jalan Sultan Ismail,
50250, Kuala Lumpur.

Fabulous Food Discovery 2016: Lulu Nyonya Kueh, Sungei Wang Plaza

Sungei Wang Plaza, a shopping heaven for the many people which had been standing strong for the past 39 years in the golden triangle of Kuala Lumpur. The shopping places in the golden triangle have undergo many changes throughout the years; with addition of new shopping malls and retirement of once-popular malls.

Sungei Wang Plaza had survived through all the thick and thin with its surrounding neighbors in its shopping and tourist destination neighborhood. With such as long period of Sungei Wang Plaza's operation, you might have noticed the changes to its retail outlets throughout the years. Regardless of that, there are still some shops that grows through the good and bad times with Sungei Wang Plaza and is still in operation today. These shops had been calling Sungei Wang Plaza their home for more than 10 years. And I'm gonna introduce one of these shops in this post.

As part of the Fabulous Food Discovery 2016 campaign at Sungei Wang Plaza, we were invited to sample 10 food retail outlets in the malls. The first stop was at KopiClub and click here to read more about it.

Our second stop for the Fabulous Food Discovery 2016 journey was at Lulu Nyonya Kueh. From the distinctive name of the shop itself, you can already figured out that they sells traditional and authentic nyonya kuih-muih. Indeed, Lulu Nyonya Kueh was founded in the early 90's and was fully incorporated in year 2002.

Lulu Nyonya Kueh has been in operation for the past 15 years at Sungei Wang Plaza and had brought authentic, tasty and variety of nyonya kuihs to all its customers. Till today, there are many shoppers who will stop by the mall just to purchase their handcrafted delicacies. The humble Lulu Nyonya Kueh operates on kiosk which resembles the traditional push-carts in the olden days. It is quite easy to locate its kiosk whereby it's located on the Concourse level of Sungei Wang Plaza - just right beside the main stage in the mall - look for it at the right side of the main stage and in front of the McDonalds.

Lulu Nyonya Kueh is proud of their local-favorite products which complies and obtained the MS 1514:2009 standard & ISO 22000:2005 Food Safety Management System (Incorporating HACCP) of FSMS - in short, it's the ISO 22000. And Lulu Nyonya Kueh's products are Halal certified too. For more info about their achievements, click here to read more.

Lulu Nyonya Kueh operates from as early as 8.30am to cater to the working class around Sungei Wang Plaza. In the morning, you can drop by their kiosk to take away a packet of local favorite breakfast fare such as nasi lemak or fried noodles before clocking into your office.

Lulu Nyonya Kueh brings you delicious nyonya kuih with prices starting from RM1.10 onwards. And we managed to sample about 10 types of nyonya kuih in one go. Among all the nyonya kuih which I sampled, I love the Kuih Talam the most - fragrant pandan leaves smell (green part) with savory taste (the white part of the kuih) made of creamy coconut milk aka santan.

If you're having an office meeting, tea party or functions, you can also order some party set of nyonya kuih from Lulu Nyonya Kueh because they do provide such services at its outlet in Sungei Wang Plaza. One such nyonya kuih set is as the one below. Presentable and delicious yet affordable.

Besides the nyonya kuih, they also sell traditional festive biscuits such as pineapple tarts and kuih kapit aka love letters, kaya and other local tea-time favorite.

For more information on the products available at Lulu Nyonya Kueh, do visit their kiosk at Sungei Wang Plaza or visit their official website here.

For easier direction to their kiosk, do refer to the floor plan below. Lulu Nyonya Kueh is located right in front of McDonalds on the Concourse floor of Sungei Wang Plaza.

Floor Plan courtesy of Sungei Wang Plaza.

Lulu Nyonya Kueh
CLB7(A) - Concourse Level
Sungei Wang Plaza, 
Jalan Bukit Bintang, 
55100, Kuala Lumpur.

Plan B Sekeping Kong Heng Ipoh. #Your New Local

Happy Labour Day and I'm sure many of us are traveling for holidays or back home; our places of origin :)
As for me, I'm back in Ipoh and the little town is packed with people - it's the holidays sign! When it comes to Ipoh, the first thing we will say ~ what's good to eat?

Ipoh's old town, packed with delicious local food; one if the places you should visit for cafe hopping or starting a little local food trail. You can find local favourites curry noodles, chee cheong fun (I love Kong Heng's CCF), stay for breakfast, fishball noodles and so on.

Not long ago, local chain restaurants and cafe had started to set foot in this golden gem area making Ipoh old town a must-visit area when you're coming to town. One of it is the local restaurant chain, Plan B by The Big group which opened in year 2013 serving delicious fusion and western food to the locals. You don't have to travel all the way to KL to try them!

Back in mid March till mid april 2016, the team at Plan B held a Kitchen Takeover event at their Bangsar Village outlet, serving special dishes with a twist from the special menu only. This is part of their baby steps to change the Plan B restaurant into a brand new pop-up dining restaurant concept. To know more about the dishes I tried at their Kitchen Takeover, click here. After a month of getting feedback on customer's review on their new dishes, Plan B is finally ready to launch their brand new exciting menu with a brand new dining concept.

Thanks to the team at Plan B and The Big Group, I was invited to attend their new dining concept launch at its Plan B Ipoh outlet mid last month. It was my first time stepping into this charming restaurant with a unique and nostalgic interior and exterior settings. To locate Plan B Ipoh, go to Jalan Panglima and spot the infamous Kong Heng coffee shop and the Sekeping Hong Heng retreat right next to it. The Plan B Ipoh is located at the corner - right next to Sekeping Kong Heng. And if you're wandering where it's entrance is, do remember and recognize the spot in the picture below, it's their charming entrance into the restaurant.

I actually love their alfresco dining concept as well as the air-conditioned indoor area for a lovely evening date.

There's also a full-fledged bar area where you can party all-the-way with your cocktails, wines and beers for a TGIF's moments.  I'm quite impressed with its bar because there's no other restaurant in town which have such as large scale and complete selection of alcohol (it's purely my opinion and do let me know if you know other places in town okays).

And of course, with its extremely charming restaurant concept, you can take lovely Instagram-worthy pictures in their restaurant. Wait no more and start shooting once you step your foot here in Plan B Ipoh.

I was there at their new menu launch party with my BFF Mei Kuan and Sean Liew as well as Sean's friend; Ah Bi. Must thanks Plan B and The Big Group a lot because it's been ages since I met my BFFs and this event had managed to bring us together! Yay!

A sneak preview into the signature dishes which we sampled during the launch event.

As for drinks, I tried their Passionfruit Iced Tea (RM10) where the Iced Tea is served with an ice-cream as topping (the ice-cream was a little melted in the picture because I was busy snapping pictures of their lovely interior). You need to stir the drink well for a balanced sweet and sourish taste - and savor it before it gets diluted by the melted ice. I would prefer if there's a bit more strong sweet and sourish elements in this (just my opinion) but overall it's good.

My BFF Mei Kuan had the Elderflower Mint Lemonade (RM12) and it's a great choice of drink! This is the drink which I love the most among all the drink options available and we all agreed! Birds of a feather flock together! It has the balanced & mild sweet and minty elements making it a perfect choice to quench our thirst under the hot weather. And the whole stem of mint leaves makes the drink looks refreshing for our eyes too. Do pluck a leaf or two to munch while you're drinking!

Sean and his friend shared this candy-in-your-eyes looking Iced Chocolate (RM10). Strong icy cold chocolate drink topped with whipped cream, a piece of home baked chocolate cookie and some pretzels. The bold and strong chocolate drink brings you the sweet and a tiny chocolatey bitter elements, the cream creates the creamy flow of drink into your throat, the chocolate cookie gives the texture in your indulgence and lastly, the pretzels serves as the savory elements as a balance and a twist in your chocolatey journey. A great drink for the chocolate lovers especially among the ladies. A must-order to have a complete tea-time session.

We were also entertained with a live band performance throughout the night! 

We started off our meal with the Skin On Fries With Dips (RM9) as an appetizer where in-house freshly made fries with part of skin still visible is served with 3 types of special dipping. I love the Singapore Chilli dipping the most because it has the strong savory, spicy and a tiny bit of sourish flavours which serves as a perfect sauce to open our appetite for the incoming dishes. And I normally paired my fries with a spicy elements; thus this Singapore Chilli dipping is like a golden gem created just for me. Love this dipping so much that I kept the sauce to pair it with the other dishes served!

For those salted egg lovers, you can now dipped your crunchy fries into the salted egg dipping at Plan B restaurant. A creamy salted egg sauce with hot and crunchy fries is heavenly. It's a strong savory sauce but I would love it if the salted egg flavours is more intense (just my personal opinion okays). A must try at Plan B!

The last dipping sauce is the Lime Mayonnaise and it's a great dipping sauce too. A bit of twist to your average mayonnaise sauce where this one has a refreshing acidic element to give a kick to your fries.


Up next on the menu is the Kristy's Krunchy Kale Salad (RM18) which also suitable for vegetarians because there's no presence of meat products in this one. It's basically a kale salad with peanut dressing and the twist in this dish is the presence of our childhood favourite snack - Mamee Monster crisp. Instead of the usual bread crumbs or croutons which you can find in a salad, the small bite pieces of Mamee is used as a replacement which gives it a super crunchy texture to your bite. It's a brilliant idea by incorporating the unusual elements in our daily salad. I love this salad a lot and I it's actually my second time tasting it - where I actually praised this salad a lot during their Plan B Kitchen Takeover event.

If you love waffle and also fried chicken, you will adore their Buttermilk Fried Chicken (RM33) dish. The fried chicken is great - crunchy coating - juicy chicken meat - great flavours. The thing is that you gotta eat the fried chicken, waffle, coleslaw and a bit of chilli dipping together in one bite. It has an unusual combination of flavours and texture. That's how a true savory kind of waffles should taste like.

The next dish on their preview menu is also one of my favorite item on their menu. This Zucchini Spaghettini (RM22) is a twist to the normal aglio olio styled pasta - in fact a healthier option I would say. The al dente spaghetti is served with thin strips of zucchini, generous shaves of parmesan cheese, chopped tomatoes and garlic confit - with the confit oil to give a great flavours to the pasta (garlic poached in olive oil resulting in a gently, sweet and flavourful morsel - I love them!). The presence of zucchini gives a crunchy and refreshing texture to your bite - and supplying you with great fibers! Great that they provide a generous amount of shaved parmesan cheese in the dish that you don't have to ask for extra cheese powder if you do at other restaurant.

Our last mains which was served the other night was the Salmon Rice Bowl (RM33). You'll be served a bowl of Japanese rice, topped with the star - grilled salmon, pan-fried avocado coated with sesame seeds, edamame, strips of carrots, white radish and cucumber ~ together with a tiny science lab beaker filled with special in-house chilli soy dressing. Before you eat, pour this special sauce around the rice, then mixed the vegetables (except the avocado and salmon) with rice - just like the way you eat your bibimbap! It's a refreshing bite with all the vegetables presence - healthier alternative and another reason to eat rice for your meal. The grilled salmon and avocado is another wow thing that you can alternate them between your bites - a healthy source of protein that you'll need.

Then, it's the another exciting moment which I was waiting for - it's dessert time! We were served 4 types of signature desserts from their brand new menu.

The most eye-catching dessert served is the Springfield Donut (RM18), and you might associate this pinky donut with The Simpsons Movie. Oh yeah, you can now have a taste of the dessert which you have always seen on the film at Plan B. And it's actually not a doughnut even though it might look like one from the top view. It's actually a doughnut shaped cake coated with bright pink frosting and decorated with bits of oreo, marshmallow, Kit-Kat and rainbow sprinkles. Pretty for your eyes with great flavours in your mouth and best part, I love PINK! Pack this pretty Springfield Donut as a gift to your loved ones and they will be melted with you! Haha.

And chocolate lovers will be delighted once again - with this Jaffa Cake (RM15). This is another masterpiece where it's worth to be on your Instagram. A rectangular orange-flavored chocolate cake covered in white sugar icing, topped with an orangy lego-man shaped chocolate and a chocolate ball with a real-cone forming an ice-cream structure. Lots of details are structured in this dessert and I love its bold and strong flavours cake. Yum!

 The third item in our dessert menu is the Black Forest Pavlova (RM18). A mini pavlova topped with rich chocolate brownies, chocolate pieces and of course, the infused black cherries! The best part of this dessert is the chocolate brownies and the black cherries because they are superb but the pavlova is passable though (just my opinion okays) because I love those super airy and crunchy version. I'll be sure to grab all the brownies for myself the next time round.

Last but not least, the Cham Affogato (RM10) is relatively perfect where a mixture of coffee and tea which is the 'cham' - which means mixture in Cantonese (and we always refer it to coffee and tea) is poured onto an ice-cream before being served. You'll get an intense coffee plus tea flavours in this case; a bitterly and bold taste and balanced by the creamy texture and sweetness from the vanilla ice-cream. U-la-lah! I need this icy cold and strong flavours to end my meal from now on! It's great and you should try this too.

That was the culinary journey of their new menu launch event at its Ipoh outlet. And now, this awesome menu with a twist is served at all Plan B outlets nationwide and in fact, they revamped their entire menu to serve you chic fusion dishes with a twist in your mouth. And that's why you need to visit your nearest Plan B outlet to check out their brand new menu which includes other signature items such as Singapore Chilli Crab Spaghetti, the real Johor Laksa with pasta, Pineapple Salad and so on. The new Plan B concept's tagline #Your New Local aimed to serve you delicious fusion dishes with a twist - the localized taste and favourites.

Thanks to The Big Group for the invites and I had an awesome moment trying out new dishes with my fellow friends. And in-fact, I'm a big fan of The Big group myself because of the unique concept in all its dining outelts as well as the supermarkets, Ben's Independent Grocer which I usually shopped at (have you visited their new outlet at Glo Damansara which offers free parking currently?).    

Visit your nearest Plan B outlets today and do check out their latest news, promotions and offerings at their official website or their Facebook page at Plan B by BIG. And do follow Plan B's Instagram for their yummylicious post too.


Plan B (Ipoh outlet)
No. 75, Jalan Panglima,
30000 Ipoh.

- located right next to Sekeping Kong Heng.