Las Carretas, Subang Jaya, Taipan

Las Carretas has always been one of our favourite restaurants to go to when celebrating an occasion. Why? Well, not only the food is great but the staff there are extremely friendly and fun too. We've been going to Las Carretas since we were young and even with their change of location years later, now located at the same row as Standard Chartered, their standard is just as good as before! The atmosphere is so interesting and colourful with many mexican paraphernalia's around the restaurant, giving you an eye full to look at.

Deco.

They always serve you a basket of nachos with salsa while you order. However, this time around the salsa lacked taste.

Nachos. "Crisp Tortilla Chips Gratinated With Jalapenos, Bell Pepper Relish, Enchilada Sauce, Cheese and added minced beef." RM17.90 

For our starters we had the tortilla chips above which always has a lot of cheese, and with a lot of cheese, it is of course, satisfying. We had ours with added minced beef. However, you have the option of choosing plain (RM15.50) or even with seafood (RM 19.90).

Freshly flown in Pacific Oysters. RM34.90 per half dozen.

I really really enjoyed the fresh oysters here! At first we ordered half a dozen, and after having that first half, we decided to order another half. The oysters were really fresh and had that amazing smooth, creamy texture. Oh it was like heaven sliding down your throat! If I'm not mistaken, they will be serving these until March 2012!

Piña Colada. 

Quesadillas. RM 24.90

A tortilla stuffed with Monterey Jack Cheese, Onions, Bell Peppers, Jalapenos topped with salsa,sour cream and guacamole. This dish is somewhat light, a vegetarian option but you can choose to add minced beef or chicken and even mushrooms.

Lamb Shank, RM 34.90.

Braised with 12 Different Herbs & Spices & Served with Tossed Tagliatelle & Seasonal Vegetables. The meat is really tender and falls off the bone, but the portion is a little too small.

Boneless Smoked Short Ribs, RM 39.40

Carefully Smoked with Mesquite Wood Chips in its own "Jus" & Served with Steak Fries & Salad Topped with Italian Dressing. Usually, I'd have Fajitas but this time I decided to try something new, so I picked the Boneless Smoked Short Ribs. Made a mistake there since I don't really enjoy my meat dry! Didn't expect it to be so smoked and dry, but it does have nice smokey flavour from the wood chips. But if you do like smoked meat, then maybe you could try this but I don't think I'd try this dish again, definitely not to my liking.

However, the staff was really nice and were kind enough to offer me their available steak sauces to which I chose the Mushroom Sauce. Definitely made it easier for me to eat it though! (:

Wagyu Beef Cheeks (on their special menu).

Saving the best for last, the wagyu beef cheeks which they display on their special menu is definitely a dish we always order whenever it's available! Unfortunately, I think we were too excited and drooling over this dish that the picture came out blur! The dish might look small in portion, but it definitely has a flavour and texture that compensates for its size! Accompanied with potato gratin, the meat of the cheek is so tender and melts in your mouth. We really recommend this!

Las Carretas Subang Jaya

No 29 USJ 10/1F

47620 Subang UEP

Malaysia.

Tel  +60 (0)3 5637-3058
Fax +60 (0)3 5637-3059
Email: info@lascarretas.com

Website: http://www.lascarretas.com/index.html

They have other branches in Ampang and Damansara Heights so head on over to their website for more info!

Crab Cakes.

Crab is an amazing shellfish that people hate to love. One of my favourite ways of having crab is making them into crab cakes! Crispy on the outside, soft and juicy on the inside. Very very tasty! Hmm, I wonder if the Krabby Patties on Spongebob Squarepants are this way?

Eating crab cakes outside at restaurants can be quite pricey and often you have very little crab meat in the crab cakes usually served in the crab's head. However, crab cakes aren't very tough to make. There are so many types of crabs you can choose from in the market like brown, blue or mud crabs. For this batch of crab cakes we used blue crabs which have a very sweet flavour. Besides that, I feel that blue crabs have a sweeter taste.

After killing the crab humanely,mix the core ingredients, onions, spring onions, egg and add the usual seasonings; pepper, salt and sugar. Finally, add a dash of sesame oil to the mix. Here we have 350g of crab meat all picked with love! Don't forget to add the crab juice with the crab meat, but not too much though! You wouldn't want your crab cakes to fall apart!

Prepare the bread crumbs or you can even use crackers which is a faster option. Take a handful of crab meat, roll it around in some flour followed by egg wash and biscuit crumbs! This helps to hold the crab cakes together.

When you're ready to cook, add a dash of olive oil to the pan with a medium heat and cook the crab cakes until they turn golden brown on both sides.

There are many ways to accompany the crab cakes such as lemon, mayonnaise, salsa or just sweet and sour chilli sauce. One of the best things to accompany crab cakes is mango salad because who doesn't love the freshness of fruits to follow a fried dish?

 A simple mango salad to put on the side with crab cakes.

Dice the mango and add some onion, spring onions and a dash of fish sauce to the salad. Definitely store the mango salad separately in the fridge before serving it with the freshly pan fried crab cakes.

Crab Cakes:
350g crab meat
1 small onion
Spring onion
1 egg
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp cracker/ bread crumbs

Mango Salad
1 mango
1/2 small onion
spring onion
1 dash of fish sauce

Famosa Chicken Rice Ball & Jonker 88

A while back on my short day trip to Melaka, I finally had the chance to try the famous Melaka Chicken Rice Ball! Decided to try the one at Famosa Chicken Rice Ball located on Jonker Street which was one of the many restaurants packed with people. As you know, Melaka is filled with tourists everywhere, camera in hand and everyone's always looking to grab a bite! To read what I think about the famous chicken rice ball, scroll down!

 Their Char Siew was pretty good, really fatty too!

Wan tan was alright too, cooked just right without overcooking the meat so the filling was soft enough.

Alright, now to the chicken rice balls. To be frank, I didn't enjoy the chicken rice balls too much! It's what I thought it would be, weird. But yes, even with my preconceived ideas about it, I did try it with an open mind. However, it had such a weird texture; like clumpy overcooked rice and a little tasteless considering that it's supposed to taste like chicken rice. It wasn't even like ketupat,  Maybe this place didn't make it too well, but ah, I just wanted a proper bowl of rice after that! Didn't really satisfy me and I don't think I'd want to have another try of chicken rice balls.

Jonker 88 is a pretty famous shop here down Jonker Street and has even been broadcasted by Ho Chak. When we went to get some the line was already forming on the street with everyone waiting to get their desserts and another line waiting for their meals. Had a taste of the famous Melaka cendol there which was amazing! Ah, perfect on a sunny day! Ice shavings with good old sweet gula melaka. It had a generous amount of gula melaka and even though many were saying it was too sweet, I'd say what's wrong with an extra dose of sweet stuff right! (Provided you don't have diabetes)

Well, I know this post isn't much, but we'll soon be going down to Melaka to try out more food at different restaurants there! (Hopefully!)

Have a good week! (:

Asian Crab Salad with Rice Crackers

We had the privilege of having some fresh crabs the other day. Sometimes it's a chore to pick out all the crab meat from the shell, but it's worth the effort I say! The flavour of the crab cannot be replaced by anything else! There are so many things that you can make with crab, but one of it is a simple asian crab salad. 

You'll need some finely chopped shallots, spring onions, few drops of sesame oil and a squeeze of lemon juice to give it that zing. But don't be too generous with the shallots cause you don't want it to overpower the crab that you painstakingly picked out from the shells. Season with some salt and pepper.

Just mix the ingredients with the crab meat and enjoy it with some toasted bread or with a rice cracker. You could also add some sesame seeds on the top.

There you have a simple crab salad that can be served as orderves too! (:

Xiao by crustz

Recently, we had a chance to try these beautiful creations by Xiao by crustz. So what is Xiao by crustz? It is a new online based pastry shop that brings you cakes, chocolates and pastries and such to your tingling taste buds. They offer sweet services to customers from beautiful customized gifts and boxes which is their specialty and even customized dessert tables for any occasion! {about}If you have a sweet tooth, Xiao by crustz is your solution! It's not just for your tummy, but eye candy too! Beautiful and edible.   

First up we have for cakes is Passion. Passion is not your typical cake as it doesn't actually have cake in it. The bottom layer is a biscuit base, followed by a light milk chocolate ganache. The orange layer is a tangy mango and passion fruit jelly. The tanginess gives this light but rich dessert a lovely freshness. Last but not least, the layer that holds everything together is the light yoghurt mousse.

Xiao by crustz has other cakes available too, Carrot Cake and Dark Haven.

 Lemon Mint Chocolates

These chocolates are not your everyday chocolates. When I first popped this into my mouth, I had a pleasant surprise! Handmade with care by Xiao, a dark chocolate shell coats a lemon jelly infused filling with a hint of mint. The sourness from the lemon jelly compliments the dark chocolate and the mint gives it a refreshing touch.

Xiao by crustz has a variety of macarons to choose from! Lemon Passion, Chocolate Crunch, Green Tea and Raspberry Rose.

The Lemon Passion has a passion fruit infused milk chocolate ganache with lemon macaron shells. The Chocolate Crunch has a thick chocolate ganache filling with a feuillitine ((fo-yer-teen) a praline textured with small pieces of crispy, oven baked pancakes) to give it it's crunch. This rich and flavorful macaron is a must try! The Green Tea macaron is necessity for green tea lovers as it's not too sweet and rich with green tea. Lastly, the Raspberry Rose macaron has a rose flavoured shell with a raspberry jam filling that gives it its sweet tangy flavour.

Drop on by to Xiao by crustz to fulfill your dessert needs!

Contact details:
Ms Koh Xiao-Ly
Tel: 016 2110 932
Email: kohxiaoly@gmail.com
Blog
Facebook