MyElephant Thai Restaurant Review

Colleagues decided to have lunch at MyElephant at Section 17 PJ. Heard lots of good reviews about this place so had high hopes.

Parking was a problem during a week day lunch, so we were dropped off to get a table first. Luckily we did because if we didn't we would have had to join the long queue. We managed to squeeze all five of us on to a small table for four. Well it was that or queue outside. Easy choice hehe..

I forgot to take a picture of the menu, but the lunch sets start from RM9.90. Lunch set comes with a main meal with a choice of hot or cold pandan water.

Pad Thai

Did not try the pad thai, but was told it tasted good.

Tom Yum

Tom Yum was spicy and sour but not overpowering.

Fried Tang Hun

Stole a bit of this from my friend. The fried tang hun was surprisingly good. I'm not a fan of tanghun but the taste was similar to the pad thai but tastier.

MyElephant Special Noodle

Did not try the special noodle but was told it was average only.

Minced chicken with basil and rice

The minced chicken with basil was mine. The chicken was coarse and chewy, the green sauce on the right was nice when mixed with the chicken. Sweet, sour, mildly spicy, very appetising.

Added a piece of fried chicken costs an additional RM6. Not bad for a whole thigh.

Fried Chicken

The tang hun would be an item I would order the next time I visit. I would stay away from the basil minced chicken though. Also, service isn't their greatest strength. Found the waiters/waitresses to be rather rude when asking for service. For a thai restaurant, I would have expected excellent hospitality.

Mini Aquaponics 1 Day 5

Not much update today except that I added a sponge to the end of the air hose to provide more aeration. 

New Sponge attached

All baskets appear to be growing well although basket 1 and 2 looks like it has slowed down. 

Day 5

Below is a picture from another angle. Looks like I might need to reposition the light, basket 1 & 2 is growing towards the light, worried that it might tip the balance of the raft (if it ever grows big haha).

Seedlings from a different angle

Mini Aquaponics 1 Day 4

Had our first fatality today. Our largest neon tetra has died this morning :( Gills were red n was seen gasping for air at the surface of the water.

RIP Neon Tetra

Could have been caused by the water change yesterday or could have been because the water was dirty. I was reading around the internet that the symptoms were of ammonia poisoning. If that was the case that could mean that the water was too dirty. Will never know for sure as a newbie.

Woke up early this morning to have a look at the seedling growth. The two baskets on the left (Basket 1 & 2) appear to be growing well, this could be due to the fact that they are directly above the airstone. Basket 3 did not show much growth and basket 4 was a brown n withering.

8.20am Wake up seedlings

By night, WOW! What a difference!! Basket 1 & 2 showed tremendous change! Both opened up with four leaves already. Such a huge difference from the morning. Again basket 3 & 4 was not showing any signs of growth.

8.20pm Four leaf seedlings

Decided to start taking pictures of individual baskets to keep track of leaf growth more clearly.

Day 4 Basket 1 to 4 (from top left to bottom right)

Health Status: 

• Basket 1
• Showed greatest health, four leaves have opened up
• Basket 2
• Doing second best, four leaves have almost opened up. This basket is situated directly under the airstone and experiences the most amount of air bubbles. 
• Basket 3
• Seedling did not show any growth and was replaced with another from the germination chamber 
• Basket 4
• Seedling died and was replaced with another from the germination chamber

Healthiest plant of the day goes to Basket 1

Mini Aquaponics 1 Day 3

Did a clean of the aquarium today. Changed 80% of the water since it was murky white. Might have been caused by the cucumber that I was feeding to the sucker fish. After the clean, the water is clear again.

Clear aquarium with sucker fish busy munching the cucumber

I've been germinating some seeds since day 1, decided to have a look at how its going. Oh wow.. the bak choy has already sprouted. That was quick, it has only been two days!

Bak Choy Sprouts!

A closer look at the little bak choy

Excitedly, I quickly transferred 4 sprouts into the 4 available baskets in the floating raft. Some of the baskets were quite high with water, I hope that doesn't drown my little bak choy.

Sprouts transplanted to basket

Another sprout transplanted

Notice the raft is quite low into the water. I hope as the plant grows it won't sink further. Might need to add more polystyrene underneath it to keep it afloat. Fingers crossed.. :)

Mini Aquaponics 1 Day 2

Wanted to build the floating raft today, so went to buy some polystyrene and cups for the construction material.

Floating Raft Holes for cups

 Decided to cutout a few different layouts to see if there are any differences in growth. The four layouts are listed below:

1. Two small holes at the bottom and big holes on side
2. Single large hole at the bottom and big holes on side
3. Two small holes at the bottom and slit holes on side
4. Single large hole at the bottom and slit holes on side

Cut out some holes in the cups, 4 different cutouts

 Put some stones in the cups, placed it into the the polystyrene. Lets hope the polystyrene holds the weight.. Plopped it into the aquarium and the polystrene sinks half way. *phew* it works haha..

Floating Raft with stones in it

 Since the roots absorb oxygen, I placed the air stone directly under two of the cups to see if that makes any difference. But I wonder if the air bubbles are too big to be absorbed by the roots?

Under the raft, lots of air bubbles

Mini Aquaponics 1 Day 1

Start the exciting journey into Aquaponics.


Purchased the following:

• Equipment
• Adjustable Air Pump
• 2M air hose
• 5.5L Plastic container
• River Stones
• Triangular Airstone
• Fish
• 4x Neon Tetra
• 1x Sucker Fish
• Plants
• Bak Choy Seeds
• Coriander Seeds

17/03/2012 Purchases

Aquarium was setup using filtered tap water.
Air pump appears to be too strong for the size.

Air pump Specifications:

• Brand: Hailea
• Model: ACO-6603
• Power: 3.0W
• Pressure: 0.014Mpa
• Output: 3.5x2L/min
• Noise: <40dB
• Weight: 0.41kg
• Size: 110x70x160mm

After further reading, realised that it is recommended to use a one way valve to prevent water backflow into the air pump when it is switched off. A work around is to reposition the air pump higher than the water level. 

Completed Setup of Aquarium

After setup, I started germinating some seeds (Bak Choy and Coriander). I placed the seeds into a wet tissue and placed it into a resealable bag.

Germinating chamber :)

Waroeng Penyet Review

Had a craving for Ayam Penyet this morning so headed down to The Curve to our favourite Ayam Penyet outlet called Waroeng Penyet. Today we wanted to have the Jus Alpukat. Avocado juice with chocolate flavored condensed milk in it.. Mmmm... makes me drool just thinking about it.. Unfortunately.. they were out of avocado's that day.. guess nobody collects avocado's on new years day maybe hehe.. Anyway we tried the Soda Gembira instead.

Soda Gembira - RM3.50

Soda Gembira tasted like a fizzy air bandung. Still doesn't beat the jus alpukat though..

Ayam Penyet - RM7.90 + RM1.00 for rice

Then ayam penyet was served really fast today, could be because of the huge crowd that they might have pre-fried all the ayam penyet.. not a good sign. Well on the surface it still looks delicious to eat.

Meat is a little dry

Hmm.. spoke too soon.. Tearing away at the flesh I found the meat drier than usual. Usually its moist, not dripping moist but just moist enough not to leave a grainy taste in your mouth. Luckily the dryness was only on the surface of the ayam penyet and was easily lubricated with the unlimited supply of sambal sauce. Just talking about it makes my mouth water again.. *slurp*

In short, I'll always go back to Waroeng Penyet everytime I do get a chance to pass by the curve. The sambal is truly to die for and goes very well with the chicken but be warned, its really spicy yet addictive and I always end the meal with a pool of sweat :p

San Francisco Steak House Tropicana Review

It was New Years Eve, its time to have something special.  The place was empty since we were having an early dinner. There's suppose to be a firework show at tropicana tonite so we expect this place to be crowded later.

We ordered the strip steak and rib eye both well done. If done well, I would go for medium done. Had bad experiences before when ordering medium done steaks.

The steak took about 25 minutes to be served, guess they needed time to heat up the grill.

Rib-Eye RM62.90

Strip Steak RM59.90

Presentation was very poor and the taste was as tasteless as it looked. The baked potato was dry and course, the sour cream helped to lubricate my throat to swallow the cardboard tasting potato. Terrible, I think a hawker style western food would taste way better than this.
Worse still was the steak..
Wikipedia defines well done as "meat is grey-brown in the center and slightly charred". Well this was what I got.

Rib-eye Well-done?

Does that look like well-done to anyone? I don't think so.. Even though it was pinky inside, the steak was tough and had a rough course texture. I tried to reduce the torture by drowing the steak in mushroom sauce, sadly the sauce was watery and was bland in flavor. Truly a very poorly done steak in what's suppose to be a specialised establishment for steak.
Shame on you Tai Thong Group (San Francisco Steakhouse is part of the Tai Thong Group, their not from San Francisco), just stick to chinese food cause you definitely suck at western cuisine. I'd stick to having my steaks at The Ship (also nearby tropicana), their steaks tastes way better and recommend them over San Francisco Steakhouse anytime.

In short, STAY AWAY from San Francisco Steakhouse at all costs unless you like to donate your money to the Tai Thong Group.