Penang Day 1

Last month, during the Raya holidays, my family and I took a trip up to Penang. Penang being my mom's hometown is a blessing because there are loads of good food up there.

MING COURT IPOH

This time round we decided to be a little adventurous and detoured to Ipoh on the way. We heard that the dim sum at Ming Court, Ipoh was good. So, we decided to go there for breakfast.

We reached the place around 10am and it was packed full. All the waiters were busy with handing out food that they left us to fight for out sits ourselves. We ended up having to share our table with another couple. Not cool :(

Yam Puff

This was one of the best yam puffs I've ever had. The pastry was soft and flaky. My parents felt the same too but dislike the porky filling but I was fine with it.

Fried Prawn Fritters

This was not bad although abit on the greasy. I like fried stuff so I favoured this. Prawns were quite fresh too.

Siew Mai

Prawn Chee Cheong Fun

Radish Cake

Apparently the radish cake was the famous thing there. I was dissapointed. It tasted like medicine to me. Most probably came from too much lap cheong.

Char Siew Pau

The Pau was good too. The bun was soft and fluffy.

I don't know some of the names of the Dim Sum. The rest that I didn't comment on were just so-so only. Nothing much to shout about.

Overall I think the Dim Sum there was mild in taste unlike those in KL whereby you know the food is laden with MSG. Management of the place is bad seeing that they waiters with trays of food kept missing our table because we sat at the side. I was a little ticked off by that since. They should come out with a way of distributing food. Total bill came out to RM45 which is pretty cheap compared to the ones in KL.

We wanted to try food at other places but our car fan stopped working which caused our car to get overheated. There was a bad jam in the town and the car could not take it. So we decided to get out of Ipoh as soon as we could. Bad experience in Ipoh. Sighs..

Ming Court Restaurant

36, Jalan Leong Sin Nam, Ipoh

NYONYA BREEZE, STRAITS QUAY, PENANG

For dinner that they, my aunt treated us to Nyonya food at Strais Quay. Nyonya Breeze as the names says serves only Nyonya food. Looking from their menu they have many varieties to choose from. They have more variety than Ah Tuan Ee.

Nasi Ulam

My mom used to cook this at home and that was the only Nasi Ulam I've ever tasted. Reason being this dish is seldom found in KL. It's a northern thing. This was more herby and saltier. I liked it.

Perut Ikan

I never liked Perut Ikan no matter how good some poeple say it taste. I took one sip of the gravy and gave it a pass. Nah....I won't give my opinion on this since it would not be valid.

Pork Roll

I eyed this the whole dinner. Why?? Because it's fried stuff!!:D This was so good. The pork was minced finely and was flavourful enough. Besides it didn't taste too porky which is good. I loved it.

Kari Kapitan

This was one of the few good ones around. Thick and spicy enough.

Prawn Curry

This was my favourite dish besides the Pork Roll. Full of coconut lemak-ness. Prawns were HUGE and fresh. I wanted to drink up all the curry gravy if not stopped by my mother. So goooooooooood....

Petai and Apple Salad

I don't quite remember what this dish was called but it was a mixture of petai, apple and sambal. A unique dish and surprisingly good combination.

Lor Bak

This too was not too bad. Adequately amount of filling and fried well.

Sambal Goreng

I don't know how this is Sambal Goreng but whatever it was it was good. I've never tasted this or seen it before for that matter. It consisted of cocnut milk, spices and cashew nuts. Don't be fooled by the colour. It has got some spiciness too. It was creamy and smooth and when eaten with the cashew nuts was a match so good.

Peach Tea

I did not expect much when I ordered this. I just wanted to quench my thirst. But it took me by surprise! The tea had a balanced taste between peach and tea and was not too sweet. That was good.

Lek Tau Suan, Hak Lor Mai and Pengat

All three were not bad but I prefered the Hak Lor Mai best simply because it was tasty more thick and rich.

Nyonya Breeze is an awesome place to go if you plan on having family reunions. Good food and good ambience. Most of the food there is good and some awesome.

Nyonya Breeze

3A-1-7, Straits Quay,

Tanjung Tokong

Penang

Little Jakarta

Friday is the day of the week that my mom doesn't cook lunch. Normally after my piano class, we'll look for lunch and then go off for grocery shopping. Last week we were at Pearl Point because mom wanted to buy some groceries and also to reload my phone credit ( yes I do it the old fashion way *winks*). We have passed by Little Jakarta a couple of times before this but never drop in. Reason being the price and the fact that this restaurant has hardly a soul. Never the less, we decided to give it a try.

Ice Tea

Little Jakarta has lunch sets that come with a main course, a choice of dessert and ice tea. We chose the Pepes Tenggiri Set (RM15.90). Pepes Tenggiri is actually otak-otak made out of Tenggiri fish.

Ijo

(or something like that I can't really remember)

To me ice tea was a little on the sweet side but then again I didn't care much about it. For desserts we chose Ijo. It is a mixture of cincau (grass jelly), gula melaka and milk with lots of ice. The cincau was good compared to others whose cincau has this kind of cardboard smell. It was a good combination.

Pepes Tenggiri Set

Next up is the Pepes Tenggiri set. It comes with otak-otak, nasi uduk (yellow nasi lemak), telur baladok, tempe, keropok bawang and sambal.

Only one word can describe the otak-otak...AWESOME! It had so much fish! Besides the fish was extremely fresh. I the meat came out layer by layer. Nasi Uduk isn't your ordinary nasi lemak you get outside. It had a hint of kunyit taste which also explains its yellow colour and lemak-ky too. The telur baladok and sambal are two very powerful parts. It was extremely spicy. FUH! Having said that the chili was still good being very aromatic. The spicyness gave it the kick. Definitely not for the non-spicy eaters. This is where the dessert comes in handy as the saver of lunch. Haha...

I would definitely come back for more. I'm aiming to taste the sotong bakar and bakso which I saw in the menu. Hope to go there soon.

Little Jakarta

GF, Lot 10.23,

Pearl Point Shopping Centre

Off Old Klang Road, KL

Pasta Zanmai

Fancy having Teriyaki Chicken in your pasta? Well that's what fusion is all about in Pasta Zanmai, a cross of Japanese and Italian cuisine.

My cousin, Esme has been there 4 times the whole of last month. Besides she gave my mom a treat on her birthday there. She had good reviews of that place. So, we decided to give it a try.

Potato Salad (RM6)

Forgive the unappetising picture. Everyone dove into the Potato Salad before I could take a picture of it. It looks better than it seem. The mash was smooth, creamy and delicious.

Kani Avocado Pasta (RM 23)

This had crab filament and avocado with spaghetti. Surprisingly this tasted good! Who would have thought that avocado would go well with spaghetti. A little sweetish and salty. Good combination.

Soft Shell Crab Pasta (RM 23)

To me this was the best pasta. The soft shell crab was delicious well partly because it's fried but then again they fried it well. Crispyly good and deliciously tasty. Pasta sauce was creamy and had a strong taste of sesame.

Chicken Katsu (RM 23)

This had the same pasta sauce base as the previous. As for the chicken it again fried very well. Crispy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside.

Tori Kinoko Pasta (RM 19)

This pasta sauce was more creamy and milky than the two previous ones. More carbonara-ish. The chicken this time was pan-fried instead of the Chicken Katsu which was deep-fried. I like that the sauce was creamy but not for my parents who after many mouthfuls starting feeling 'jelak'.

Chicken Teriyaki Tortilla Maki (RM 4)

Smoked Salmon Tortilla Maki (RM 5)

Yakiniku Tortilla Maki (RM 4)

Kani Avocado Tortilla Maki ( RM 5)

Salmon Tortilla Maki (RM 4)

Soft Shell Crab Tortilla Maki (RM 5)

Ebi Tempura Tortilla Maki (RM 5)

Yes we had quite a list there. I did get to try all of it. I only had Kani Avocado TM. Unfortunately for this one, I didn't get to taste any avocado :( . Too little? I just tasted the crab filament, vegetables and tortilla. To me it was so-so lah. From the others reviews the best was the Soft Shell Crab TM and Ebi Tempura TM. The rest was nothing spectacular.

Hotate Pizza (RM 26)

Thin crust pizza topped with scallops and loads of mayonnaise sauce (as you can see). The crust was crispy and the mayonnaise had good tasting sauce. The down side of this dish however was the scallop. It had a very fishy smell. That spoiled the whole pizza. I didn't like this.

Cheese Cake with Green Tea Ice Cream (RM 13)

Now don't be fooled by this picture. It looks big here but really it's the tiniest and most miserable plate of dessert I've had. The cheese cake slice was the size of half my thumb and just one scoop of green tea ice cream?? Dessert are supposed to be shared. Now how am I suppose to share a dessert small???? Taste wise...not bad I must admit. The cheese cake was cheesy at first then salty towards the end. The ice cream was bursting with green tea taste. Good dessert but RM 13 for such a miserably small dessert? That's robbery!

On the whole the food was good. But I still prefer eating Japanese and Italian food seperately. I still prefer my pizzas with peperoni and cheese and my Maki(s) to be made of seaweed. Pricing? Well, on the expensive side I just say. There were six of us that day and only four of us ate and total damage was RM 205.30.

Having said that, I would recommend that you check out this restaurant. I too would not mind a revisit.

Cafeteria @ Cameron Towers

Many weeks ago, my cousin took my family to a cafeteria up at Cameron Towers Condominium. He wanted to "belanja" us before he moves off to another state. A farewell dinner la.

Getting there is not a problem.Parking is. Outside the condominium is rows and rows of terrace house which explains parking difficulty. We reached there I think 730pm, went round and round looking for a space. By the time we got to the cafeteria it was already 8 plus. It was full house! After awhile we got a place to sit and ordered food. If you think that's the end of all disaster, wellllllllllll.............we waited close to an hour for food to arrive!!. Yup ate dinner at 9.

Sambal Belacan

When food arrive I say it was worth all the hassle and wait. See the sambal belacan above? It was good! It had strong belacan taste and was chili hot.

Kangkung Belacan

To be honest I don't quite remember how the Kangkung tasted but I remember it was good. The fact that I don't remember the taste prove something, eh? Haha..

Kapitan Chicken

Now, this Kapitan Chicken taste different from the one my mom cooks. In fact her version of Kapitan chicken is different from everybody's. This tasted nice. Enough lemak, enough spices and lots of onions. Mmm Mmm..

Tofu

The next dish is tofu in a certain sauce I can't remember. To me, the tofu was smooth and the gravy was think and flavourful. Another good dish.

Thai Style FIsh

Now for the highlight of the night...jeng jeng jeng...! THAI STYLE FISH! Now this I remember vividly from how it taste, the texture, everything. The fish was deep fried - so crispy! Wow! The sauce had just the right amount of sourness and sweetness. They give a mountain full of I don't know what is that but it tasted good. I think I tasted some cucumber, bunga kantan and cili padi. But whatever it was that was one awesome dish.

That was one good dinner. I don't know how much everything cost because well I wasn't the one paying. Hehe... I may come the next time. And I would definitely come by EARLIER.

Cafeteria, Camerom Towers

9, Jalan 5/58b,

Bukit Gasing 46000

Petaling Jaya Selangor

Sanuki Udon

I didn't blog for so long that I've so many pictures in my stocked up. So, I decided to blog about this :)

Sanuki Udon is a shop in Taman Bukit Desa. Just like the shop's name, they sell udon noodles. Their noodles are freshly made by the people there. What I like about this restaurant is that it is run by a Japanese. That spells AUTHENTIC :)

House Special Udon (RM 5)

The House Special Udon is actually just half cooked egg and udon noodles. I liked it better with the chili paste they serve or else it will taste like our Malaysian breakfast of half boiled eggs and bread only this time with udon.

Original Soup Udon (RM 5)

The original soup udon was just udon noodles and soup. The soup was just alright. However, I was surprise that it was not as salty as other restaurants.

The udon noodles was very smooth. One of the smoothest tasting noodles ever. It also had the right texture and quite bouncy considering the thickness. To me that is what good noodles should be. My mom, who was there with me, thought the noodles tasted like tai loke mee (noodles used in Hokkien Mee). Well...ya a little. As for the different variations, nothing much to shout about. There was not much stuff like if it were egg then there was just an egg or if it were soup it was just soup and nothing else.

After that, mom saw that they had salad with our all time favourite seseme dressing. I forgot to snap a picture of it. But after tasting it, I may as well not take a picture. The dressing wasn't good at all. The dressing tasted as though there was sand and they did not give enough dressing. This is far from the version I've eaten in Sushi Zanmai.

Cheap food, good noodles. I won't mind going back there but definitely not ordering the salad again.

Sanuki Udon

No.9, Jln Bukit Desa 5,

Taman Bukit Desa

58100 Kuala Lumpur

Durian Durian

Durian Durian is a kiosk where they sell everything DURIAN!! All you durian lovers *applause*.

Anyway I went to Pavilion with my parents when we past by Durian Durian. We were full already after lunch so we ordered durian ice-cream only. YEAH..that was a great decision!

At RM3.90 for one cone, it was on the pricey side but for the taste it was worth it. This is the best durian ice-cream I've ever eaten. It was creamy and smooth not to mention it was full of durian taste. I say they use good quality durian.

For now this will be the best durian ice-cream I've ever tasted. I'm surely going back to try the rest. I saw that they have durian mousse, durian pancake, durian tart etc.

*droooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolls*

Of Chocalates and Marzipans

I recently had many treats pouring into my house. Mostly chocolates and a box of Marzipan from Germany given by someone.

Lady Bird shaped chocolate

Chocolates come in various shapes these days huh? This was shaped like a lady bird. Well, not exactly shaped lah, just the wrapper. Nevertheless it is so cute! This chocolate was rather soft even after I left it in the fridge. Taste wise? Alright I guess. Nothing really much

Vochelle's Almond Coated Chocolate

This is was given by someone else who apparently bought it from the airport. One bite and I knew it was local chocolate. Local chocolate somehow doesn't taste as good as the overseas ones. Could be our cocoa. Chocolates from overseas are softer, creamier and smoother. This one was hard and not creamy. However the chocolate and almond did go well together.

A box of assorted Marzipan!!

I've heard of Marzipan multiple times but never knew what it really was. So I googled Marzipan and it says that Marzipan is a candy made of ground almond, sugar and egg whites. Sooooooo...Marzipan is a CANDY. Not chocolate although the pictures look so. It was coated with chocolate but the inside was mostly paste.

Classic Marzipan

Pineapple Marzipan

Pistachio Marzipan

The Marzipan tasted like ubat to me. It tasted like those almond drinks. Seriously...maybe it's because of the almond. I it's an acquired taste. Maybe after taking a few more I would get used to the taste. The Pineapple Marzipan and Pistachio Marzipan both had a hint of their respective flavour. I think I'm gonna learn how to acquire the taste of almonds before I attempt another Marzipan.