Zipangu @ Shangri-la, Kuala Lumpur

This is going to be one of those rare occasion where I write up a new review when the food from the restaurant I'm writing about is still digesting in my stomach. When you're bored on a Friday night, I guess this is what you do.

Anyway, Zipangu @ Shangri-la is probably one of the best Japanese Restaurant in KL. For those interested in buffet, Zipangu serves buffet lunch (RM96 nett) on weekends only. Personally, I rather have a la carte (the French word for according to the menu). Most restaurants tend to save the best stuff and nice cuts for a la carte anyway. I have this mentality where I rather sit down, order what I like to eat and not gorge myself with food in a buffet. In the end, the cost would probably be similar (a la carte is usually slightly higher).

Although someone mentioned that most of the chefs in Zipangu aren't Japanese (this is KL man), everything still has to go through the big man (head chef) who is Japanese. And when you come to such a place, you know that the food quality won't disappoint.

Off to the food.

Salmon Sashimi

The salmon sashimi (RM60) was one of the best I've tasted. The fish was cut into fat thick slices, and was extremely fresh.

Soft Shell Crab Maki

The Soft Shell Crab roll (RM40) came one whole crab rolled up with flying fish roe, cucumber and Japanese mayonnaise. The roll done just right (as in the rice wasn't too tight nor was it loose). Each bite had a good amount of soft-shell crab in it.

Tofu Salad

The salad (RM28) consisted of nice big pieces of tofu, a few type of seaweeds, the usual salad vegetables and a few chunks of century egg. It came accompanied by 3 types of sauce (salty, slightly spicy and sour). Mix and match the sauce anyway you fancy. This salad was so good that I am willing to bet a non vegetable lover would eat it.

Pan-seared Foie Gras and Unagi on a Winter Melon Broth

Priced at RM40, the foie gras was seared to perfection (slightly crunchy on the outside but had that nice melt in your mouth sensation on the inside). The winter melon broth was pleasant as well. The only think I dislike was the Unagi (eel). I think the dish would have fared better without the eel (its RM10 cheaper without the eel). The eel was a little chewy.

Seafood Kimchee Soup

Yes, I know this is a Japanese Restaurant. The waiter claimed that this soup (RM70) was very good (better than the Sukiyaki), so we opted for it instead. It wasn't exceptional, but it didn't disappoint either. It came with a good deal of seafood. It consisted of clams, prawns and a few types of fish.

Assorted Tempura

The tempura (RM60) wasn't anything spectacular. It was crunchy on the outside. It was alright I guess. To me, a tempura can only be either bad or normal. So yea, I'm not saying Zipangu didn't do a good job at it.

Tenderloin Tepanyaki

The beef (RM90) was overcooked. I requested for medium but it came well done. Since I'm always nice, I decided not to complain. Although overcooked, it wasn't tough.

Seafood Fried Rice

The fried rice (RM18) didn't taste exceptional in anyway. The picture above was only 1/2 of the actual portion as I requested them to split it into two bowls instead.

Daifuku Chocolate

This is actually ice cream wrapped with rice cake (some pancake made of rice flour I presume) and topped with some red beans. I actually wanted black sesame ice-cream but they didn't have it today. Just my luck. This dessert was RM18.

Macha Tiramisu

This Green Tea Tiramisu (RM15) better resembled a green tea cake. It was too milky and slightly too rich for my liking. We left half of it behind. The name tiramisu certainly deceived me. I felt cheated. ROAR!!

All in all, I quite happy with the food. When one comes to places like this, the food has to be good. For the price you're paying, it better be. Service today was good as well. The waiters knew their stuff and could describe each dish well. On top of that, they could even recommend dishes to try. One word of advice though, get the Shang Prestige Card or your dinner might cost quite a bit. I still can't decide whether Iketeru is better. It has been a while since I was last there.


*Opinions expressed are solely based on my personal experience

No Pork

Dresscode: Smart Casual

Pricing: About RM100+ per person

Map to Zipangu @ Shangri-la KL

Address:
Zipangu
Level 1, Shangri-La Hotel,
11, Jalan Sultan Ismail,
50250 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.

Contact:
Telephone number: 03 2074 390
Fax number: 03 2070 1514
Website: click (here)

Opening hours:
Lunch : 12noon - 2.30pm (Monday - Friday)
Lunch: 11.30am - 2.30pm (Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays)
Dinner : 6.30pm - 10.30pm (daily)


What other Floggers wrote:

Joe who is constantly Craving
'Old Man' FatBoyBakes
A Whiff of Lemon Grass
kyspeaks

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Pork Noodles @ Restoran Kean Fatt, SS3, Petaling Jaya

When it comes to Pork Noodles, everyone happens to have their favourite place. Some claim that Restaurant Pomander is the best, others would argue Restaurant Sun Sea is better. Alas, there is another pork noodle place that can certainly match up to those two above, one that I haven't been to in 2 years. Yes, I'm talking about Kean Fatt in SS3.

From LDP, turn into the Ss3 road, and keep going straight (pass the cross road) till you see the restaurant on your right. If you're still having difficulty finding the place, please refer to the map below. Finding a parking here is very very difficult. Either pray lady luck is shining down on you, or you could always park in the housing estate (that's if you can find a parking there to begin with).

The last time I was here, I didn't have a food blog, nor have I heard of Sun Sea in OUG. This time round, after having tried all the famous pork noodle places, I was determine to find my personal favourite.

I was here for an early lunch (about 12pm). There wasn't much of a wait before the food came. I didn't get the sense of snobbishness I get at some of the other famous places (I'm not gonna say which one).

A bowl of Porky Goodness

The noodles came with a choice of kuey teow, yellow noodles or mee-hoon. I opted for kuey teow and requested a poached egg to go with it. The noodles had a nice porky taste to it, and didn't came saturated with MSG unlike Pomander. The egg was poached perfectly. I was very satisfied with my meal. The noodles was priced at RM5 for small and RM0.50 more for large. The egg was an additional RM0.80.

All in all, the staffs were polite, food was good (and didn't taste solely for MSG) and the price was reasonable. Its been a while since I last went to Pomander, but my vote goes to Kean Fatt. Looks like this is gonna be my new pork noodles joint. I will definitely be back for more.

Note: I hope I didn't make any careless mistakes in my post as I'm dead tired after doing sh*t loads of questions.


*Opinions expressed are solely based on my personal experience

Pricing: Under RM10 per person

Map to Kean Fatt

Address:

Kean Fatt ( near the Taman Bahagia LRT station)
Jalan SS3/59E
47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Malaysia

Opening hours:
about 12am-2pm (close Wednesdays)

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Char Siew @ Spring Golden Restaurant, Taman Perindustrian Axis (nearby Section33 Shah Alam)

Back in the days when I was still a 'noob' photographer (I'm not saying I'm a 'pro' now, but I am certainly better than I was back then), I took quite a few places that I have yet to put up. Since I was rather skillless back then, do forgive the 'crappy looking' pictures.

This place was recommended to me by Kurau King. He claims that this place conjure up the best Char Siew in Selangor. With such recommendations, how can I not give it a try? Although a little far from my place, when it comes to food, I am willing to make an exception.

Spring Golden Restaurant

Finding a parking spot is usually not an issue here. The wait time for the food wasn't long as well. I was thinking to myself, I doubt this place serves the best char siew. After all, it was semi empty.

Char Siew

The char siew was too burnt for my liking. To make matters worst, their char siew came with more fat than meat. The best part was that I specially requested for pieces with less fat and burnt. The excuse they gave me was that the meat were all the same. They don't do lean meat with less carcinogen.

Siew Yok

The Siew Yok was reasonable. Nothing really great.

Kon Loh Wanton Noodles

The noodles were nothing close to good wan ton noodles. They tasted ordinary.

All in all, this was certainly a bad experience for me. According to Kurau King, the owner probably had a bad day as he has never experienced something like that before. He usually gets the nice parts when ordering char siew at this place. Looks like this place requires a revisit. This time, I'll be sure to drag Kurau King along.


*Opinions expressed are solely based on my personal experience

Pricing: About RM15 per person

Map to Spring Golden Restaurant

Address:
25, Jalan Sepadu C 25/C,
Section 25,
Taman Perindustrian Axis,
Shah Alam,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.

Contact:
Telephone number: 019 337 9319

Opening hours:
8am-4pm (days off not fixed)

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Roast Duck and more @ Loong Foong, Paramount Garden, Petaling Jaya

Paramount Garden, a couple of stone throws from SS2 is the Roast Duck Heaven of Petaling Jaya. Almost everyone knows that Sunrise and Loong Foong serves one of the best Roast Duck in the state. What people don't know is that Loong Foong serves other good dishes for dining in as well.

Finding a parking is no biggie but finding a parking right in front of the restaurant proved to be quite a formidable task. As I always say, a brisk walk before dinner is always a good thing (no scientific study done on it but I don't mind walking before dinner). The place was packed tighter than a can of sardines. We were seated after a brief wait.

We started off with their 1/4 of a roast duck (which I just had the day before).

Hong Kong Style Roast Duck

The Roast Duck was golden brown and had a super crispy skin and a thick layer of fat (which I am not too fond off). The meat was succulent as well. The accompanying chilli and duck sauces were superb as well. Usually I take away a whole duck but the duck somehow tasted nicer when dining in. A whole duck goes for RM48.

Fried Sweet Potato Leaves

We had to have some vegetables for the sake of a complete meal. Somehow, vegetables fried in a restaurant ALWAYS taste much better than they do at home. This is probably due to their super high heat stove giving it that nice 'wok hei'.

Mixed Seafood in Pumpkin

This dish consisted of all the goodies found in Chinese Cooking. It was ladled up to the bring with scallops, sea cucumber, clams and fish bladder. The pumpkin was probably for the sake of presentation. I really enjoyed this dish.

Freshwater Prawns with Cheese

This prawns sure looked better than they tasted. I was a little disappointed with it. It came saturated with lots of jarred mayonnaise that certainly masked the natural taste of the prawns.

Steamed Sultan Fish

The Sultan Fish (Ikan Sultan / Jelawat in Malay) was steamed to perfection. The fish was extremely fresh (which is a MUST when it comes to fresh water fish). This dish certainly was the winner of the night. The fish was priced at RM20 per 100 grams.

Note: The name of this fish originated from way back in the past where the wild Ikan Sultan was very rare and was only served to the Sultan. However, nowadays with commercial culturing of the fish, this fish is no longer that rare.

Fish Head Noodles

After having so much good food, this fish head noodles no longer stood out. It tasted reasonable.

All in all, I was pretty much happy with dinner. The total bill came up to RM337 (including nuts, drinks and rice). This restaurant certainly deserves a revisit.


*Opinions expressed are solely based on my personal experience

Cash ONLY

Pricing: About RM50 per person

Map to Loong Foong Restaurant

Address:
1, Jalan 20/13,
Paramount Garden,
46300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Malaysia.

Contact:
Telephone number: 03 7876 9045 / 012 202 9045

Opening hours:
4.30pm-9pm. (closed alternate Sundays)

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China Court @ Subang Avenue, Subang Jaya

As I am current having a mild headache, I am going to make this a short post.

After the countless drive-by of China Court at Subang Avenue, I finally decided to go give it a go one day. Parking wasn't an issue. The restaurant was relatively empty.

We asked the waitress for some recommendations and she came up with tiger grouper soup. Chinese restaurant tend to push you to have their seafood to rip you off some good profit. Being familiar with their scheme, we asked the weight of the fish. She told us that all their fish were above 1.3kg (which is very big for 3-4 people). So we decided not to order their fish and made do with the other dishes.

Note: Being quite familiar with fish and their sizes, I went to check out their tanks and saw a couple of 700-1000grams fish. So much for pushing us for the bigger fish.

Char Siew and Siew Yok

The Char Siew and Siew Yok weren't the best I've tasted. I would say they were reasonable though.

Fried Brinjal with Belacan

The brinjals (egg plant) were soggy. Any random 'tai chow' would have done a better job at this dish.

Pumpkin Stew

Not being a big fan of pumpkin, I didn't really enjoy this dish. This dish seems to be on every other table (I am not sure whether it was because it was good or the waitresses seem to be recommending it)

Beef with Radish

The beef was probably the best savoury dish that night. It wasn't exceptional in any way, but compared to the other dishes, it sure stood out like a shining star.

Freshly Baked Egg Tarts

If you ask me, they should close down the restaurant and only sell egg tarts somewhere. This egg tarts were soft and smooth on the inside, and packed a nice flaky texture on the outside. I couldn't stop eating them.

All in all, I'll probably come back just for their egg tarts. The other dishes were between average to below average. The meal was about RM180.

Note: My relatives recently went there for their roast goose. Apparently it wasn't anything special.


*Opinions expressed are solely based on my personal experience

Pricing: About RM30 per person (depending on what you order)

Map to Subang Avenue

Address:
S2-01, S2-01, Level 2,
Subang Avenue Shopping Complex,
Persiaran Kemajuan SS16,
47500 Subang Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Malaysia.

Contact:
Telephone number: 03 5636 0888

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La La Chong Seafood Village @ Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya

When one hears of La La Chong, one usually think about that seafood place beside Terminal 3, Subang Airport. Alas, there is another La La Chong situated in Ara Damansara if you didn't know about it. This Lala Chong in Ara Damansara, was actually one of the first restaurants that opened in Ara Damansara. I have been there a couple of times since they opened about 3-4 years ago. I personally feel that the standard of the food served there has significantly dropped in the recent years.

The sole purpose of our trip to Lala Chong this time was to let them cook this nice big Coral Trout (Chat Sing Pan) aka 7 Star Grouper. The fish was slightly too big to go into a usual steamer. So down to the dishes.

Note: pictures were taken with my phone hence the quality.

Siong Thong Lala

Lala (a type of clams) steamed with Chinese Rice wine, spring onions and lots of ginger. This dish was mediocre. Nothing really great about it.

Paku with Belacan

We had a vegetable dish for the sake of calling it a complete meal. Nothing really great about this dish either, but we had to have some greens no?

Lemon Chicken

The lemon chicken had to be one of the better dishes that night. Compared to what else we had, this dish was one of the better ones. It had a nice zing to it, and the chicken was crunchy and nice.

Steameed Coral Trout

The Coral Trout was overcooked. They wasted my good fish. Aaaaarrgh!! The sauce was alright but the fish was way overcooked. Such a pity.

Steamed Coral Trout with Ginger Sauce

Cooking a good fish with lots of ginger is actually one of the biggest sins in the culinary world. Our excuse was the fish was too big so we opted for it to be cooked 2 ways in hope that we will not get bored of it. This fish was overcooked as well. The sauce was reasonable though.

Salted Egg Crabs

The crabs were sticking to the shell, had a weird taste, and the sauce had too much 'Pandan' flavouring to it.

All in all, I was pretty disappointed with their cooking. Most dishes were alright unless you're a fussy person like me.


*Opinions expressed are solely based on my personal experience

No Pork

Pricing: About RM30 per person

Map to La La Chong Seafood Village

Address:
31, Jalan PJU1A/5A,
Ara Damansara,
47301 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Malaysia.

Contact:
Telephone number: 03 7845 1250

Opening hours:
12pm-10pm daily

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Chong Fatt Seafood Restaurant Off Jalan Genting Klang, Kuala Lumpur

Quite a while back, my grandfather wanted to treat me to some freshwater prawn noodles. This time round, he though we should try a different restaurant rather than the usual place we usually patron. He decided to bring me to Chong Fatt Seafood Restaurant.

This time round, we went to the main branch of Chong Fatt, which is located off Jalan Genting Klang. Their main branch is a typical seafood restaurant where one will see tanks after tanks of seafood whereas their sub branch is more of a cafe like place that specialises in Fish Head Noodles.

Shark's Fin Soup

Bean Sprouts

We have been cutting down on our consumption of shark's fin soup these few years (in hopes of not supporting poachers from cutting off the shark's fin and throwing them back into the water). When I was much younger, we used to have shark's fin soup very frequently.

Anyway, this shark's fin soup (RM38.80 per bowl) was served with those nice plum beansprouts that 'tails' and 'head' have been plucked. It is actually very tedious work to pluck both ends of every single beansprout. The soup was nice and flavourful. Shark's fin is actually one of those neutral tasting ingredient that is highly sough after for its texture. Chinese cooks will tell you that shark's fin is in fact quite tasteless. So, the broth is very important in a good shark's fin soup. I would say that this bowl of soup was average.

Sweet and Sour Pork

Since young, my cousin has been a sucker for sweet and sour pork. So, he had a nice big plate of this as well. I don't blame him, I actually find sweet and sour pork quite nice as well. he plate above was RM30.

Freshwater Prawn Noodles

The highlight of the meal, the fresh water prawn noodles (RM126). The prawns were nice and succulent. Accompanied by that nice crispy noodles, they made a killer combo. The sauce however, wasn't as good as Greenview's. Nevertheless, it was relatively good. For the amount of prawns we were getting, I would say that the noodles were probably cheaper than Greenview's.

All in all, Chong Fatt Seafood Restaurant serves reasonable seafood (I wouldn't say exceptional). This place resembles of those typical seafood Chinese restaurant (Unique Seafood, Pantai Seafood etc).


*Opinions expressed are solely based on my personal experience


Map to Restoran Makanan Laut Chong Fatt

Address:
11, Ground and 1st floor,
Jalan Perusahaan Kiri,
Off Jalan Genting Klang,
53200 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia

Contact:
Telephone number: 03 03 4023 1088 / 03 4023 1077
Fax number: 03 4023 8088

Opening Hours:
Lunch time until 10-11pm daily

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Wan Ton Mee @ Restoran Chan Meng Kee, SS2, Petaling Jaya

The last time I stepped foot into SS2, I realise that there was a new shop title on the 'famous' wan ton mee place. It didn't occur to me that it was a different name and totally different owner from what it used to be. I thought they just did some renovation with the place. Sometimes I can be quite blur. After all, 'Ho Weng Kee' and 'Chan Meng Kee' sounds quite similar no? I only realised the change after I reading masak-masak's blog post on Chan Meng Kee.

Parking is always an issue in SS2. So pray hard for some car to come out in front of you.

Anyway, Chan Meng Kee now serves Bak Kut Teh as well. I tried it on my last visit and didn't find it particularly special or great in any way. So this time round, I decided to stick with the noodles.

Service at Chan Meng Kee is better compared to Ho Weng Kee (where the owner acts as if he's doing you a favour by serving you during peak hours).

'Kon Loh' Wan Ton Mee

A large plate of noodles is RM6.50. The noodles were still as good as before. When it comes to Chinese hawker food, the more lard fritters (chu yau char) in it, the better it taste. As for the condiments, the char siew was relatively burnt (although I requested it to be not burned at all). I shall not complain as the last time I forgot to tell them not to give me burnt meat, every single piece was burnt till black (seriously). The char siew was very very fat, hence the nice melt in your mouth meat texture.

Note:
1) A high fat diet is one of the major risk factors for myocardial infarction (heart attack). 2) Burnt meat is a risk factor for colon cancer.

Ngau Lam Mee

I didn't taste the ngau lam, but according to the person who had it, it tasted somewhat similar to Ho Weng Kee's. I guess thats a good thing then, as it is pretty hard to find good ngau lam nowadays. A plate of Ngau Lam Mee with additional char siew goes for RM9.

Wan Ton Mee (Soup)

I prefer my noodles dry. I didn't get a taste of it but I guess it was probably alright. The char siew is served on a side plate so that it doesn't turn soggy from soaking in the soup. A bowl of this goes for RM6.50 (large).

Steamed Herbal Duck Soup

The Steamed Duck Soup (RM6) was tasted reasonable. I doubt I'll order this the next time I'm here though.

All in all, this stall (although the owner has changed) still serves out very good wan ton noodles. Some people say that it is no longer as good. On the bright side, I don't have to queue outside for 20 minutes during lunch hour. Taste wise, it didn't differ much from the previous owner. This stall is stall my favourite place for Wan Ton Noodles in Petaling Jaya.


*Opinions expressed are solely based on my personal experience

Non Halal

Pricing: Under RM10

Map to Chan Meng Kee

Address:

Restoran Chan Meng Kee

32, Jalan SS2/66

Petaling Jaya,
Selangor D. E.
Malaysia

Opening hours:
8am-3pm daily (close on Mondays)

Other Floggers who wrote about Chan Meng Kee:

Masak-masak

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Monte's Restaurant and Bar @ Bangsar Shopping Centre, KL

After a good cup of Coffee Luwak with Kahlua, no wonder I'm still awake at this hour. If you're wondering what Coffee Luwak is, I'll be more than happy to enlighten you. According to Wikipedia, Kopi Luwak, also known as caphe cut chon (fox-dung coffee) in Vietnam and kape alamid in the Philippines, is coffee that is prepared using coffee cherries that have been eaten and partially digested by the Asian Palm Civet, then harvested from its feces. The civets digest the flesh of the coffee cherries but pass the beans inside, leaving their stomach enzymes to go to work on the beans, which adds the coffee's prized aroma and flavor. Apparently, there are a lot of imitations in the market. I have no clue where this coffee is from but nevertheless, it tasted good, and that is all that matters. By the way, did you know that the Civet Cat was responsible for the outbreak of SARS a couple of years ago? I know, I'm such a killjoy.

Since I'm getting tormented by my constand sneezing and running nose, I'm gonna make this short.

Monte's is located in Bangsar Shopping Centre. Service was reasonable that day. The waiter knew his stuff (we could recommend dishes), so all was good. Food didn't take long to come as well. Thumbs up to that.

As for the food:

Caesar Salad

The salad (RM16) was probably alright (I can't seem to remember how it tasted, meaning it was probably average, hence not being memorable). Anyway, its pretty hard to screw up caesar salad, and I don't think Monte's messed it up (otherwise I would have remembered).

Escargots

The picture above was a double portion of escargots cooked in a thick curd-like sauce. It was very good. If only I had those nice crusty buns to eat the sauce with (instead of those store-bought soft dinner rolls). A portion of escargot was RM16.

Deep Fried Calamari

Monte's deep a good job with the squid (RM18) as well. It well coated in crispy batter. Definitely no complains here.

Slow-Cooked Lamb

According to the waiter, the lamb was slow-cooked for 8 hours. The lamb (RM30) came on a bed of mashed potatoes and certainly didn't disappoint. I would give them credit for presentation.

Ribeye Steak

I chose to have the ribeye steak (RM56). One could always order an accompanying sauce for an additional few bucks but since I prefer my steak without sauce, I opted not to. The steak wasn't exceptional, but it was edible.

Charboiled Fillet Mignon

The Fillet Mignon is supposed to be the best and most prized part of a cow (click here to read more). If this slab of meat was from a 'wagyu' spesies of cow and had a good marble score, I can't help but imagine how much it would cost. Anyway, this dish was far from perfect, but nevertheless, reasonably good (I still prefer the steak though, but thats where personal preference comes into place). It was priced at RM53.

Pan Seared Cod

The cod (RM48) certainly looked good. I didn't get to taste much of the dish, so I shall not pass judgement.

Sizzling Lamb

The lamb (RM32) tasted alright. Didn't taste it so no comments for it.

All in all, if you're looking for dishes that blow you away, Monte's is NOT the place for you. However, if you're wanting reasonably priced comfort food with nice presentation, you know where to go.



*Opinions expressed are solely based on my personal experience

No Pork

Pricing: About RM60 per person

Map to Bangsar Shopping Centre

Address:
F112, Level 1, Bangsar Shopping Centre,
Jalan Maarof,
59000 Bangsar,
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia

Contact:
Telephone number: 03 2094 1112 / 03 2094 1113
Fax: 03 2093 0119

Opening hours:
11.30am-11pm daily


Other floggers who blogged about Monte's:

FatBoyBakes

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