Hooked with an Impression

Major pun intended there. So what's this post gonna be about? Doesn't take a genius to take a guess at 'food', hahaha. It seems to be the trend lately, won't you agree? *grin* So what's the catch for this weekend? Hooked!

Yup, that's the name of the place: Hooked. Located in The Curve (Damansara) opposite Vivo... somewhere above TGIF, though that's just my estimate. The quickest way to sum up the shop at a glance: Cheaper alternative to Manhattan's Fish Market (MFM). The menu seems slightly choicier at Hooked, but its been a while since I've been to MFM. Regardless, my friends and I entered this shop at random... and walked out oh-so-satisfied. Food was really good, and price was even better (to a point... I ain't picky about price, unless the food sucked :P).

Let's get some photos rolling, hehe.

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Ok, sorry 'bout this one. We didn't exactly know we were gonna enjoy the food here so much, so the cameras came out when this fella was almost gonna be done. Good news is, we managed to capture the rest with no casualties to gluttony :P

This tiny appetizer is actually shrimps in crumbs. Literally small shrimps wrapped in a crust of crumbs. Shrimps were pretty fresh and its probably the only appetizer worth sharing due to the number of shrimps. Not large and numerous, but enough for ppl to actually have seconds :P

Then there was appetizer, part deux! The yellow stuff... its young mango!! A true delight for ppl with a thing for sour stuff (hehe.. yay!!). There's a mild amount of cream in there though I can't identify what it was. Other stuff in there are the usual salad stuff with mushrooms and ... yup... one shrimp :P This was a lovely appetizer. *nyum nyum*

And then come the main courses. This is salmon with some spaghetti. The fish is good, the sauce is good... but the highlight of the dish is really the under-appreciated brocolli. Actually, it's brocolli covered in cheese!!! *mega-slurp* Those alone make the dish worth the while.

Next in line is dory topped with mashed potatoes and.. er.. forgot the sauce. Sorry :( Heck with it, all you need to know is... yup.. it was good, too :P The yellow stuff is not young mango as I initially assumed. It was cucumber! Don't know what dressing they used, but cucumbers never tasted so good, haha. The serving includes rice, btw. I don't know what they call it, but if you've been to Manhattan and ordered their dishes with rice... well, its the same type :) And it particularly goes well with the next jewel *grin*.

Here was what I ordered. One of the few dishes with a choice of fish: dory, salmon, or cod. I love cod, plus the other two dishes had dory and salmon. The salad... standard affair. The real gem of this dish is the combination of fish, gravy and rice. This is really smooth cod, served in creamy mushroom sauce and rice. The sauce was an excellent match to the mildly flavored cod and a flavor enhancer to the rice. I really love the cream + rice combo... loved it in Manhattan, loved it here.

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My only complaint about these (especially the cod *slurp*) was that its wasn't satisfying enough. Not in a bad sense, but its just soo good... you want more! Hahaha. The helpings are by no means small... just about nice for the average person. All the more reason to try out stuff while you're here coz you know one of these won't bog you down :)

Price-wise... on average the dishes were in the RM16-20 range. Appetizers were RM7-12. The priciest was the cod, of course. It raked it a hefty RM31 which is higher than the rest, but still cheap in terms of relative enjoyment factor. Just fyi, the same dish with dory was RM17 :) You are paying for the fish, in case you're wondering.

So would I go again? Hell yeah! And I'll probably bring along people who haven't been there yet. Spread the joy, I would say :P Oh, did I mention that Citibank card owners get a 30% discount on some of the main dishes? I don't have exact info on this coz I only found out when I got the receipt. Although it's not on the entire range, we got discounts for 2 out of 4 main dishes. Btw, there was a pasta dish that I don't have a photo of. So the photos above only showed 3 main courses and 2 appetizers. Half of the main courses were 30% off. Yippee! Delightful surprise, indeed.

Of course, taste is a personal thing. I'm just happy I had an enjoyable lunch at a place I had no idea existed, hence the complete lack of expectations. I do know that I enjoyed it just as much as, if not more, than a visit to MFM. Can't wait for a return visit, hehe.

Fellowship of the Food!

Well this is about 2 weeks late, but again; better late then never, right? *grin* That phrase is seriously over-used, I must admit.

Ipoh reached, Ipoh left. That's *really* making a long story short. Went to Ipoh two weekends past. Went on a Sunday morning, came back in time for dinner on Monday. Yup! Nothing beats using your annual leaves for all the good reasons... which is FOOD by the way :P Ipoh was all about food, and I intend to summarize it in a straight stretch. The following are the food moments:

Lunch, tea, dinner, supper part 1, supper part 2, breakfast, lunch-cum-tea combo

Food we had follows (in chronological order :P):

Ipoh Hor Fun + Sotong Kangkung + Popiah, Chee Cheong Fun, 9-course dinner, some shaved ice in jelly and lime, white coffee, DIM SUM... lots of it, more drinks.

Yup, it can't beat my Penang trip last year in terms of variety, but it comes close in quantity and frequency. After all, this was in a span of 24hrs. I was sooo stuffed, I had food withdrawal urges for the next few days. I stuck to healthy sandwiches and milk, haha.

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Then there was Serdang. I was introduced to a new shop for lunch. Every alternating weekday, they serve tomyam noodles. Take my word for it: this place serves tomyam that has 'Ooomph!'. I'm sooooo disappointed that I didn't discover this spot sooner. Well, better to have found than not at all, eh :)

Then there was Saisaki. Finally managed to check it out yesterday night. Heard loads about it, and finally getting to visit it in person was a welcome indeed. Always nice to move stuff from the 'must go' list into the 'been there, eaten that' list, haha. My take: it has variety, that's for sure. Can't possibly go wrong in that department. However, I was rather disappointed with the 'famed' cheese baked oysters (or watever it is really called). Touted as their specialty and served calculatingly for 1-piece per person, I had high expectations for it. Unfortunately, it must've been my (bad) luck that yesterday's batch just didn't live up to it. Even the regulars among my friends claimed that it wasn't as nice as before. Also, the crowd was huge; which lead to finding the place unpleasantly warm. Word from the wise... wear something light and comfortable. You *will* sweat a little. Overall, it is still pretty decent food. Since it is my first take at Japanese buffet, I have no means of comparison. It was a good start though. Someday, I shall compare it to Jogoya or something similar, hehe.

That shud be enuf food news to summarize the past 2 weeks. There was the tiny part about another Japanese sushi dinner I went to last Saturday at Osaka (the restaurant, not the city :P), but I'd rather skip the details. Can't go wrong with Osaka and their famed black-dragon (osft-shell crab + unagi sushi platter). Niceness...

Well, one thing is for certain... I have a lot of working out to do to lose the unhealthy calorie build-up recently, hehe. Have to keep fit for January. What's on in January, you ask? I'll talk about it in the next post... I hope :P