Quay Po Cooks: I thought I was smarter than my GPS

Thursday, October 11, 2012

I thought I was smarter than my GPS

Zen Garden is a rather new seafood restaurant in Cheras. Tucked at the back of a sports complex, it may not be an easy location to find. I used my GPS but then I was silly not trust it. When I was instructed to go straight, I saw the sports complex entrance. So, I turn around and went the other direction. After going round and round, it still directed me back to the same spot. This time I called the restaurant to check their location and I was told the restaurant shared the same entrance as the sports complex. I should have known, how can I be smarter than the GPS? LOL!

I was invited to taste the food there by my friend, Criz Lai of Criz Bon Apetite. Hey Criz, thanks for the invitation. It was great to meet you in person finally. I am glad to know there is a new seafood joint in Cheras. Next time, when I visit my step brother and his family, we do not need to drive to Teluk Gong for seafood. What I really like about Zen Garden was the ambience and the ample parking space and the varieties of items to choose from in their Menu.

The most expensive item on the menu is probably the lobster which is still reasonably priced in my opinion. Other than the prawns and crabs, the rest of the items are priced at RM6.90 to RM12.90 per serving.

It was nice talking to one of the owners. He seemed to welcome feedbacks from all the invited guests. I could see his enthusiasm in wanting to deliver good quality and delicious food to his customers.

We had two kinds of soup for the steamboat. I liked the traditional soup over the tom yam soup. There were a variety of sauces to choose from and I tasted everyone of them. They were all good.

The tom yam soup for me was not spicy enough but I reckon not everyone like super spicy stuff like me. I was impressed with the freshness of the seafood and the attentive service. I will return with my family to taste the other seafood dishes on the menu.

Before we call it a night, we had to snap a shot for the album.

Zen Garden

Jalan Koop Cuepacs 3F Cheras, 43200 Selangor, Selangor, Malaysia.

Tel: 603-9074 0336

Mon - Sun: 5:00 pm-2:00 am

GPS: 3.076974, 101.758691

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zen-Garden/424061350968009

54 comments:

GenskieOctober 11, 2012 at 11:34 AM
awww the gadget won over man lol
The seafood look so fresh... I would love to have a steamboat escapade... :)
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UnknownOctober 11, 2012 at 11:43 AM
Aw...I was trapped in such scenario before. I trusted myself more than the gadget. haha..I always love steamboat, in fact my whole family love it. We always go to eat to our heart's content at nearby restaurant every couple of months. I was drooling over the crab dish. I'm a crab lover too :)
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UnknownOctober 11, 2012 at 12:03 PM
I must agree with you, the place looks nice,clean and well organized but it looks more like a steamboat restuarant than a seafood outlet.........

By the way,I must agree with you,sometimes we really think we can be smarter than those high tech gadgets but then again sometimes they fail us too, don't they?
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Windsmoke.October 11, 2012 at 12:16 PM
I don't trust a GPS because it can lead down the garden path. Give me a street directory or a map. Sometimes the old fashion methods are better than high tech gizmos.
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Joceline LorOctober 11, 2012 at 12:17 PM
很好的分享也。环境和食物都不错的。有机会可要去一趟了。谢谢你。。。。。。
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VickylowOctober 11, 2012 at 12:40 PM
The environment of the restaurant is nice. Yes the price for the mussels and seafood is quite reasonable. Well dun blame that your aren't smart than the GPS. Sometime GPS might show us longer route too.
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ReanaclaireOctober 11, 2012 at 12:43 PM
Yes, I like the environment too... so the food is about steamboat and grilled, i notice..
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PHOctober 11, 2012 at 1:41 PM
Very nice ambiance and the selection of food looks really good. Would be a good place to take guests for a lovely dinner.
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Baby SumoOctober 11, 2012 at 1:50 PM
The furniture looks really new! Pretty nice decor inside.
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mNhLOctober 11, 2012 at 2:26 PM
When having steamboat, I prefer the normal soup over tom yam.

haha.....we used GPS too and sometimes, we just have doubt about the directions. At the end, we still need to trust the GPS in order to reach the destination.
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CQUEKOctober 11, 2012 at 2:39 PM
A fabulous treat!
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pingOctober 11, 2012 at 4:04 PM
Don't know about the garden, but looking at all that good food sure is giving me a ton of zen! Good, you can take me there, no need GPS. Like I said before, GPS srands for "Guna Pun Sesat"!
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AnonymousOctober 11, 2012 at 4:35 PM
What a lovely exotic place!!! And who were all those handsome young guys and pretty young ladies in the group photograph?
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Jessie-CookingMomentsOctober 11, 2012 at 7:08 PM
Quay Po, I have to agree with you for the lobster price,generally a small lobster is selling for like aud$30per kg. Here if we order lobster, it is charged by the market price. The crab looks delicious! A new nice place for me to catch up with my friends. Better go to like their Facebook site first b4 I forgot! Thanks for sharing!
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Lois EvensenOctober 11, 2012 at 7:31 PM
What a wonderful place! Just beautiful. And, such fun to be able to meet everyone and sample the wonderful foods.
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daphneOctober 11, 2012 at 10:37 PM
seafood galore!! Those prices are so reasonable - and all so fresh. I think you have found a gem of a place.
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AnonymousOctober 12, 2012 at 3:22 AM
What a pretty place!
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Small KucingOctober 12, 2012 at 11:47 AM
Lovely place. Serene too.
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DianeOctober 12, 2012 at 5:02 PM
Sometimes you CAN be smarter then your GPS, they are not always right :-) Sounds like you had a wonderful time and the food looks fantastic. Take care Diane
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Rosita VargasOctober 13, 2012 at 2:12 AM
Lugar maravilloso y las comidas están estupendas,abrazos hugs,hugs.
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WokandSpoonOctober 13, 2012 at 3:35 AM
Hehe - I'm always smarted than my GPS...I like to think so anyway!
Some lovely dishes there!
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Jackie BOctober 13, 2012 at 8:49 AM
Hai hai, thanks for dropping by my blog. Like you I married an angmoh and only started cooking thru married life and due to living overseas. I missed my Malaysian food so much and so had to remember everything my Mum taught me in childhood days. Everything else I sourced from the net. So great to connect with fellow foodies like you.
I love this place on your post. It does look very zen and serene. Will have to visit on my next trip home as my sister lives in KL.
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Jes's Deli CornerOctober 13, 2012 at 3:27 PM
Nice place. I love steamboat. Must visit there
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Sokehah cheahOctober 13, 2012 at 5:07 PM
Nice ambience.... may pay a visit when I next go to KL. Your pics make me drool ..........
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இ Baŋäŋaz இOctober 13, 2012 at 5:57 PM
Love the tables and chairs and agree very nice place for makan. We have to understand the 'lingo' from GPS first and also to know the difference of distance else will be going in circles. One example Mango was about to turn left at less than 50m when GPS says 300m.
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Baking DiaryOctober 14, 2012 at 11:27 PM
looks like a great place to eat....all the food so fresh! If only the location is not so far away!
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UnknownOctober 15, 2012 at 12:04 AM
Oh I would have been all over those crayfish, yum. Great food selection and lovely ambiance
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A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.