Perhentian Island Escapade

Went to Perhentian Island August during the Merdeka weekend. Was beautiful and really enjoyed the sun, sand and sea very much!

The Private Beautiful Beach

Stayed on the idyllic and quieter side of Perhentian Kecil at Shari-la Resort. You got me right, not Shangri-la but Shari-la :) It consists of chalets and was given a pretty decent one except that the lighting in the rooms are a little too dim and we kind of have problems with the lock due to the high salt content in the air causing the locks to rust a little. The resort have access to a private beach which I think is cool. Not sure coincidentally that area is called Lover's Beach haha.

Shari La Lobby

Shari-La Room

Eating Area

The buffet fare was a little on the disappointment side. However on the last day, they actually served us dishes instead of buffet because there were too few guest and the food was good!

Seafood BBQ Platter

The water was really clear. You can actually see the fishies swimming in the water and that is how clean and clear the water is. Plenty of fishes, corals and sea cucumbers :) Do order their milkshakes when you are at the beach. For RM6, they are a steal and really delicious!

Banana Milkshake

Snorkeling there was great. There were all kinds of fishes and so abundant in marine life that even when you stand at the jetty, you can spot sting rays! Well, I don't know all the fishie names but they were really nice and colourful and a wide variety. We saw turtles too! In fact, two! Unfortunately I did not manage to see the baby sharks even when the guide kept on saying that it's there, it's there. Sigh! The corals were abundant at Rawa Islands and the water was really shallow. Got some souvenir scratches from there :(

Saw an interesting sales pitch. Haha.

Diving Advert

I am considering coming here again!

Belanga @ Gardens, Midvalley

Fancy good and delicious Kelantanese food over here in KL city? Smacked in a bustling shopping center? Welcome to Belanga :) This has been a long overdue post due to some busy happenings recently. At one time after being bored of Chinese, Japanese and Western fare in Midvalley, we decided to try this little hidden quaint shop in the LG floor of Gardens Midvalley next to Nyonya Colours.

Menu

Menu

Right here, Nasi Dagang with Curry Chicken (RM11.90) which was yummy. The rice is served just right and creamy. The curry chicken that goes with it is delicious as well.

Nasi Dagang with 1/4 Chicken

The Nasi Dagang with Beef Rendang (RM11.90) is good too. The beef was deliciously tender.

Nasi Dagang with Beef Rendang

The chicken in Nasi Kerabu with Ayam Percik (RM11.90) is good. However, I did not like the raw vegetables that goes into the kerabu rice especially when one does not like raw bean sprouts. The raw vegetables consists of bean sprouts and shredded herbs. You can choose not to mix the rice with the vegetables but that defeats it being called nasi kerabu because that is how it is supposed to be eaten and is supposedly healthy.

Nasi Kerabu with Ayam Percik

The portions are big and very filling as all of us couldn't really finish everything. Definitely delicious and something different. Plan to come here again :)

Address:
Lot No. LG 230B,
The Gardens Mid Valley City,
Medan Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur.

Decanter @ Damansara Heights

I have heard and read a lot about Decanter but have yet to try. So one fine day, with a couple of my good friends we decided to go to Decanter for brunch which was an excellent idea! :D The American Breakfast was a little on the disappointing side. Just normal gardenia style slices of bread, two sunny side ups, miniscule piece of ham, two measly sausages and some bakes beans and just a sliced of grilled tomatoes. Frankly speaking, nothing really impressive.

Big Breakfast

Banana pancakes came out pretty out of our imagination. I would have imagined just stacks of pancake with freshly cut bananas. However, the ones here have cooked bananas swimming with custard which was absolutely delicious!

Banana Pancakes

Peach Crumble was pretty good and it is served with a generous amount of custard which was yummy. You can choose to have it with custard or with ice cream.

Peach Crumble

Eggs Benedict was really good too. Served with a dollop of hollandaise sauce, two stalks of asparagus and ham and eggs.

Eggs Benedict

Address:
7, Jalan Setiakasih 5,
Bukit Damansara,
50490 Kuala Lumpur
Tel No: 03 2095 2507
Fax No: 03 2094 2335

Restoran Tien Pin @ SS2

Was told by my ex-colleague about this place that serves affordable yet tasty food. My guess is that it is a Hainanese Place as it has got Hainanese Taste wordings its signboard. It is situated at the lesser traffic area of SS2, behind the row of shops where Sri Siam is. So parking is ample here.

Front Store

The menu is pretty extensive. Ranging from noodles, porridge to snacks and even toast.

Menu

Menu

The signature noodle would be Mee Pok (RM5). It claims that it is the Original Mee Pok. The noodles are pretty tasty as it is served with minced pork meat, plenty of fried pork lard (my fav!) , spring onions and a side soup of fish balls and paste. They use pork oil in the noodles as well, making it really fragrant. The fishballs are really springy and tasty. Pretty good in my opinion.

Dry Mee Pok

The Fu Chuck Skin Roll (RM6) is basically Fish Paste Wrapped in beancurd skin and another layer of chu cheong fun served with plum sauce. This wasn't really that good as the fish paste texture is not as springy as the ones that come with Mee Pok.

Fu Chuk Skin Roll

Yam Cake (RM3) wasn't really good as it was too gummy and lack in taste.

Yam Cake

The total came up to about RM16 inclusive of a cup of tea and sky juice. Cheap! No tax or service charge. Probably will try the porridge, sweet soup or the other fried noodles next time.

Address:
Tien Pin Restaurant,
19, Jalan SS2/30,
47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor
Tel: 03-7875 2120

Arisu Korean BBQ Restaurant @ Kota Damansara

I have been missing in action for quite some time due to work commitments, recent happenings at home and being just plain lazy :p

An initial plan to go to Dorae Korean BBQ Restaurant changed because I was not too sure of the location. I thought I saw one at Kota Damansara. In the end, we could not find it and found Arisu instead :) Parking is ample as it was situated in the more quieter part of Dataran Sunway shoplots.

Interior

The owner of the place, a lady and if not mistaken is a Korean. She was nice enough to recommend us some dishes to order as we were pretty unsure of what to choose. The menu is pretty extensive. Choices of meat for barbeque, ala carte orders of rice or noodles, soup, porridge and a alot more!

As we sat, plates and plates and plates of side dishes were served. The table was nearly full of the side dishes even before the dishes that we ordered arrive. There was even a whole piece of fried fish.

Side Dishes

First came up was the Korean Seafood Pancake (RM25). It was yummy as it was really fragrant with lots of chives and pieces of seafood. Just the way I like it. The portion is really big too.

Korean Seafood Pancake (Pan Jeon)

Next came the Lamb barbeque which is ok. The portion is really big. Just find that the meat pieces are a little on the fatty side. While eating the lamb pieces, the lady boss was really nice to suggest which side dishes goes well with the lamb pieces. Talk about customer service :)

Barbequed Lamb (Yang Galbi)

The Barbequed Pork (RM30) was really good. The marinade blends well with the meat. The juicy and tender pieces of meat was really enjoyable.

Barbequeing the Pork (Dae Ji Galbi)

The Korean Ginseng Chicken Porridge (RM28) was just ok. The consistency of the porridge is like rice in broth which I like. The only thing is that I would prefer the broth to have a stronger ginseng taste.

Korean Ginseng Chicken Porridge (Samgaetang)

Next came a complimentary Steamed Egg Custard which was steaming hot and fluffy. This was really good. Simply enjoyable as you can find bits and pieces of surprise in the egg custard :)

Steamed Egg Custard

Overall, I would come here again. I love the service and friendliness of the staff. Portions are big and really value for money. The total cost for a seafood pancake, two large portions of barbequed meat and a ginseng porridge comes to about RM130 for three (including 10% service charge and RM3 for two cups of tea) There were leftoevers as the portions are really big.

Address: 32/3, Jalan 5/16,
Dataran Sunway,
Kota Damansara,
47820 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor

Fong Seng Nasi Lemak @ Bencoolen

After hearing some positive comments about this place, I decided to try it out during lunch. Apprently, this is a fast food style of nasi lemak and affordable too. For S$8, I get a big portion of mutton curry, chili squid, fried cabbage, a piece of hash brown and a glass of drink. They do not have the normal condiments that is usually in nasi lemak like the sambal and peanuts. You can choose a variety of dishes from curries to fried stuff to go with rice. Anyway, I still prefer nasi lemak in Malaysia anytime. The delicious sambal, fried peanuts, fried anchovies, sliced cucumber, hard boiled egg and steaming coconut rice with an occasional chicken rendang is still the best!

A Plate of Boutiful Feast

Soup Spoon @ Bugic Junction

I have been eating too much lately and decided to have a light dinner by having soup and salad. Was interested when I came upon this soup place called The Soup Spoon and we don't have this in Malaysia.

All soups are served with a bun. If not mistaken, you can choose eitehr the normal plain bun or the sunflower seed bun. Chose Mushroom Stragnoff soup (S$6.80) as I saw the person in front of me ordering that and it looks good. The soup is cream based, chunky and have a bite to it. I always like soups with a bite to it as I feel that I am really getting good ingredients in there rather than just watery or diluted broth. It is very filling on its own even with just a small bun to it eat it with. It was a good choice of soup.

Mushroom Stragnoff

Asian Tofu Salad (S$6.70) was not really my cup of tea because I find that they put too much tofu and not enough greens. The sauce is pretty light and it is similar to Thai chili sauce. However, I did enjoy the fried wantan skins they added.

Asia Tofu Salad

The Soup Spoon
Bugis Junction
Basement 1 Unit 04/26(Alight at Bugis MRT station)
Tel No: +652 6238 8601

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar @ The Esplanade

Max Brenner is a special place for chocolatiers or chocoholics :) We have chocolate cafes in Malaysia namely Theobroma and Cocoa (there are more that I don't know :p) Since we do not have a Max Brenner here in Malaysia, off we go to Max Brenner.

What's going to a chocolate cafe if you don't try their hot chocolate drink. Although we were very full from dinner (this is supposed to be dessert but wait til you read the rest of the entry), we couldn't resist trying their Venuzelan Chocolate Drink. It comes in a hug mug. What's a hug mug? It is a mug shaped like a dew drop. The reason for its shape is to enable the chocolate drinker to hug the mug with both hands (not very practical in Singapore as it is already very hot here, normally in cold countries this would be practical because it is cold and one wants to warm their body up with a cup of good ol' hot chocolate).

Hug Mug

Hug From Here

Ordering the Chocolate Fondue (Small size and large size - we chose the latter). They serve three types of chocolate dip. He he..looks cute and pretty colourful. Milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate. However, the melted chocolate that they serve is too little as we had a lot of stuff to dip. The best is the milk chocolate dip. Second comes the dark chocolate and last, white chocolate. I am normally alright with white chocolate but this one is too milky and I just don't like it.

Tri Colour Fondue Dip

The fondue comes with marshmallows, banana cake cubes, fresh sliced bananas and huge strawberries. Isn't this too much for three for dessert? :p The fruits were fresh, the cake good too and marshmallows :) I wish they could provide more chocolate dip as it was not enough for all these. You can even treat it as a light meal for three people. We were stuffed to the brim as we had a very filling meal earlier.

Fondue Ingredients

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar
8 Raffles Avenue,
#01-06/08 Esplanade Mall,
Singapore 039802
Phone number: +65 62359556

Waraku @ Marina Square

Finally I am able to access my hard disk in my almost-dead-but-managed-to-revive desktop computer. Thus, the continuation of the Singapore series. Waraku is a chain of Japanese restaurants in Singapore. They serve good Japanese food at moderate prices. Usually it will be crowded but due to the economic slowdown, there were ample places to sit. Now let's focus on the positive and talk about the food instead :)

Geso Karaage (S$6.80) which is deep fried squid in light batter was ok. It was crispy and tasty but a little on the salty side. An appetising appetiser.

Geso Karaage

Fancy some minced raw tuna (toro) with plenty of spring onions and shredded seaweed on a bed of rice? Doesn't really sound appetising? Negi Toro Don (S$10.80). Well, it does taste good! I was pretty surprised at how this turned out but one must like raw fish to start with this. The fish was fresh and pretty tasty in my opinion. It does taste a little bland but you can always dip some wasabi and soya sauce or just let the natural fresh fish taste mingle with your tongue.

Negi Toro Don

A Closer Look

Tried the kimchi based hot soup called Chige Nabe (S$14.80). Plenty of vegetables and meat. Soup was spicy at a bearable level. Moreover, there's a stove to keep in warm the whole time so that is stays hot. The soup is pretty addictive and portion big. Suitable during rainy days to fire up your body on a cold day.

Chige Nabe

Let's Stay Warm!

It is indeed delicious yet affordable Japanese food. Don't convert to Malaysian Ringgit la. In one-to-one terms, it is!

Delicious @ Midvalley Megamall

Delicious was a spinoff from Ms Read that sells plus size clothes. In the beginning, it was just a boutique. Eventually, they set up a small area just for food and Delicious was born. Delicious has got a cosy and comfortable concept. A place you would want to hang out as they even lay sofas in certain areas for you to laze and lounge.

Tree o' Lanterns

Wild Mushroom Soup (RM13.90) had a nice chunky texture which was delicious. I always liked those chunky mushroom soup that have a bite.

Wild Mushroom Soup

According to my friend, the Green Curry Chicken with Rice (RM19.90) was good. Well it did smell good too :p

Green Curry Chicken

Grilled Mushroom Sandwich (RM19.90) is a must for mushroom lovers. Sauteed fresh button mushrooms and chunky straw mushrooms with balsamic vinegar was really good (very fragrant!) on a piece of grilled bread. I do find the bread a little tough but still ok. Nice and light sandwich.

Grilled Mushroom Sandwich

The Traditional Tomato Spaghetti (RM17.90) was just ok. It was made strictly vegetarian upon request (my friend is a vegetarian). No garlic and no onion but was decent enough. This place is a good place for customizing your food as in you can tell them not to add certain things and they really keep that in mind. Unlike certain places, they tend to take down whatever you request but do not as was told.

Traditional Tomato Spaghetti

The Spaghetti Cabonara (RM22.90) was excellent. Cream pastas are always excellent here. The cream is rich yet not too thick which suited our palate very well. Plenty of beef bacon in this. Yummy yum yum.

Spaghetti Cabonara

The Classic Chocolate Cake (RM11.90) was excellent stuff. Rich delicious moist cake, covered with warm melted chocolate and topped off with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The combination of both warm and cold was good. The choice of vanilla ice cream was good as the chocolate is already rich enough and the vanilla ice cream tones down the richness of the cake.

Classic Chocolate Cake

The food is on the pricy side but it was really good and so was the ambiance. There is an additional 10% service charge and 5% government tax.

Delicious Midvalley Megamall
Lot G-001, Ground Floor,
Midvalley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: +603-2287 5770
Fax: +603-2287 4770