A little at a time…

After our breakfast on the 7th morning in KL, I decided to follow Melissa and her mum as they went browsing through the shops in the adjoining mall next door. It did not last very long though for while they were still in the first shop where they stopped to look at the clothes and stuff, I decided that I would make my way back to the hotel by myself. Hehehehehehe!!!!

On the way, I saw this place…

My friend had the coffee there and shared her photograph of it on Facebook and Annie-Q commented that I must drop by to try it…

So, was it any good? Well, at RM8.00  a glass, it just had to be good. Tsk! Tsk! Four glasses of that and we could buy a kilo of the best locally-roasted coffee in town which may be just as good or perhaps, even better…and drink ourselves to kingdom come!

I also ordered a slice of this – mango…

…to try as we do not have that flavour here and if I remember correctly, it is one of Annie-Q’s favourites. RM11.90!!! Just 10 sen more and we could have two slices of our just-as-nice ones here – vanilla. For one thing, I think I’ve had too much of those over these last couple of years so I’ve grown quite impartial to it – no longer something that I would die for, not anymore.

After that pit-stop on my way back to the hotel, I dropped by this stall…

…as I would like to buy some…

…and take them back to the hotel room to try…

I thought the lady was definitely no Miss Congeniality though I would not say she was ill-mannered or rude or anything of the sort. The impression that I got was she was very proud of what she makes and sells – like they were the best in the world. Unfortunately, I did not share those same sentiments, I’m afraid – the filling was so-so and there wasn’t any egg inside…

…but the pastry was crispy all right, though a tad too hard especially along the crust. I would think the ones I had in Sungai Petani were half the price at the time and heaps nicer…and at RM2.70 each, I definitely would think twice about having that again.

I also saw this on my way back to the hotel…

…at this place…

…and I wondered if they were anything like bagels…or perhaps, even Sibu kompia, so later that afternoon, I made my way back there to give it a try.

No, I did not go for those sweet stuff that seems to be the craze at places like this…

…and is very popular among the younger set. Ok…ok…I’m old, I know that and I’m not really into those things, I’m afraid.

The coffee was nothing like those that I had had at the other places…

…and no, it was nothing like bagel or kompia…

- it was more or less like bread and to be fair, it tasted all right though I felt it was a bit small and at RM10.50 for all that, you can jolly well guess whether I would or would not be having that again.

Next stop, dinner – and a great time with some blogger-friends who cared to drop by. Stay tuned!

Pancake & syrup…

That was what we had for our dinner on the 6th day of our holiday in the peninsula.

Melissa and I really enjoyed our set lunches at this pancake place a few years ago and this particular outlet…

…seemed to enjoy pretty good business as I would see quite a lot of people eating there at any time of day everytime I walked past so we decided to go for it that particular evening in question.

Melissa had the best taco special set (RM15.90) and she got these…

…and also three pieces of pancakes…

…and a drink in the form of a glass of iced peach tea. Of course, she enjoyed them very much – she is always into this sort of things, my little girl.

I opted for the house specials set (RM19.90)…

…which also came with the pancakes and the peach tea.

I reckoned that in having that, I would be able to try most of what they had to offer but I was not really impressed with what came in the platter. The spaghetti was so-so and the slice of garlic bread was…like garlic bread. I wasn’t too sure what dip they had in the middle but it did not particularly turn me on and the fried chicken…

…wasn’t anything to shout about either. The pancakes were all right though, a little bit too thick but they were fine.

My missus did not want any of the sets and she chose their smoked grilled tilapia (RM15.90) instead…

…and I would say that the fish was really very nice! It had the taste and fragrance of ikan salai, our local smoked fish and I could not for the dear life of me figure out how they could remove ALL the bones in the fish…

…and put it all back together again. Amazing!!!

All in all, it was an o.k. meal…but we probably should have tried the other pancake place, Paddington, on the LG floor of the Gardens next door instead. In fact, we wanted to go there on another day but we just did not have the time. That would just have to wait till our next time around, I guess…

Good & bad…

I saw my friend’s updates on Facebook praising what she had here…

…to the skies so I just had to drop by for lunch and give it a try, the 6th day of our over a week-long holiday. I think, if I remember correctly, I did not have any breakfast that day or rather, I had to finish all the food that I had in the room and that was it.

The first stall certainly seemed immensely popular – the chap fan (mixed rice) place…

By the time I had finished my lunch and was leaving, the queue had already gone round the corner – it was that long. They certainly had a lot of choices but they were the usual stuff one would find at such makan (eating) places…and I was stunned when I glanced at the prices displayed on the wall – over RM9.00 for 2 meat and 1 vegetable. Good grief! I’d much sooner go for something else and you wouldn’t catch me queuing up for it, that’s for sure, not at that price.

I found the stall I was looking for – at the end of that same row, just round the corner…

- the one selling the Portuguese grilled fish…

I ordered the fish-sotong (squid) combination…

…with rice and true enough, it was absolutely awesome! Be forewarned though as it is VERY spicy. By the time I was through, perspiration was gushing out from every pore but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can’t remember exactly now but I think it was RM6 or RM6.50 plus another ringgit for the rice – and it was definitely worth every sen, I must say!

The next morning, the 7th day of our stay, I went back there again with my missus and Melissa to see if we could find anything nice for breakfast. We were early, around 9 something, and most of the stalls were not open yet. I decided to try the nasi lemak kukus (steamed) at this stall…

You can see the big rice cooker used to steam the nasi lemak at the back…

It was very nice…

…and I particular loved the sambal kerang (cockles)…

…and the fact that he used fresh ones unlike at my favourite stall here in Sibu but the rice wasn’t as great, not as lemak, I’m afraid…but it was good enough and I would not mind having that again should the opportunity arise.

Melissa went to this stall…

…and ordered their curry mee…

She did not like the fact that the noodles were overcooked till too soft, almost soggy…

I tried a bit and thought it tasted quite nice but she said she had had better ones at some place in Sungai Petani in Kedah.

In the meantime, my missus had this…

…from this stall…

She didn’t like it much…but I did not get to try so I am in no position to make any comment on it.

For one thing, there are so many other stalls at that place and in our brief stay, we just couldn’t possibly go there all the time to try everything to see what would be good…and what would be bad.

Night after night…

I first met him when he came to Sibu last year and I thought I would just text him to say hello and let him know I was in town…but I did tell him that I was heavily booked and would not be available. However, he insisted on taking us out for dinner and would not take no for an answer. So, here we went…

…on the 5th night of our trip. This place is actually a workshop by day and a restaurant by night and is located along Old Klang Road, across the road from the Mazda showroom. A little further ahead, you would come to the traffic lights junction after which would be the infamous market where the jam would be quite bad at certain times of the day.

Of course, it was not a pleasant looking place but just one look at the cook…

…would tell you straight away that the food would be really good. As they say, never trust a skinny chef! LOL!!! For one thing, he was really fast and the dishes were served in no time at all.

The fried kangkong was very nice…

…and somewhat different from the usual. I could taste a hint of sweetness in the sambal and I quite liked it this way as well – a little bit sweeter and it would not have got into my good books already.

The pork ribs were great too…

…but of course, we can get them elsewhere, even right here in Sibu.

Now, these were exceptionally good – their own-made tofu…

…and it did not even feel like fried bean curd. It came across something like keropok lekor…and it tasted just as nice, if not nicer.

But this was the dish that took the cake…

- their deep fried tilapia basted in their special nyonya sauce and wrapped with lotus leaves and steamed. This must be their signature dish as looking around, I noticed that the customers at every table had ordered that same thing. The sauce was absolutely out of this world – something like the gravy in Penang asam lakas but very much nicer. We truly enjoyed it very much and I think one of these days, I would like to try to cook my own and come out with something like this or at least, similar…if I can.

Soon after we arrived, it started raining cats and dogs and yet, the people kept coming and coming. Some dropped by to tapao (take away) the food home and just looking at the brisk business is testimony enough that the food here would be really good…and that was not all! The bill for the four of us came up to around RM90 only – cheaper than all the other places that we had been to before this.

Fast forward to the following night, our 6th in the peninsula, yet another friend of mine said he would be in the vicinity but he could only meet me at around 8.00 p.m. I told him not to bother and we could get to meet some other time when I would come to KL again but he too was just as persistent so there we were at this place…

…on the lower ground floor of The Gardens in Mid Valley.

I already had dinner and I did not want anything particularly heavy…

…so we shared this dish of Thai spring rolls…

…that were actually something like those Vietnamese spring rolls that we had in Wellington, New Zealand…and later made our own at home.

They certainly had some pretty good ingredients in them – why, they even had prawns…

…but the skin was tough and the most important ingredient was missing – the peanut butter hoisin sauce. All in all, I did not think it was all that great and I would not think I would want to have that again.

The pomelo salad…

…was not to my liking either as they had daun ketumbar (coriander leaves) in it and I get put off by the smell. The ones here and here are a whole lot nicer.

I think this was chicken…

Gosh! Whatever it was, it certainly did not leave an impression…and I cannot even recall eating it, much less remember what it tasted like.

The only thing that could not possibly go wrong was this favourite Thai dessert of mine – the mango pulut (glutinous/sticky rice)…

…and true enough, it was all right just that I thought they could have been more generous with the santan (coconut milk) cream.

So, there you have it – two nights…two different places, one simple and the other a bit more atas (upscale), one really good and the other, just so-so but whatever it was, I really do appreciate the effort made by my two friends in taking their time off to meet up and treat me (and my missus and daughter) to dinner/supper. Thanks so much, guys!!!

Fierce…

smallkucing‘s grandma came to town, unexpectedly so he and his parents were not all that free anymore to take us around here, there and everywhere. Ummmm….no, the title of this post is not about her but is actually the name of this place…

…that they brought us to. LOL!!! Gosh!!! They were so nice, so concerned that they even managed to take some time off to take us here for lunch – on our 5th day in the peninsula.

This is actually an Indian makan (eating) place…

…and quite a well-known one at that.

Hey!!! My blogger-friend‘s photograph is in their menu…

I wonder if they pay her for the use of that snapshot.

Hmmmm….and this certainly is the best thing I’ve heard/read in ages…

LOL!!!

I had the mutton bryani that day and it was served in this stainless bowl, the lid sealed with dough…

You will have to remove the seal…

…and turn the bowl over onto the tray on which it is served…

Oops!!! Clumsy me! It did not come out as a perfectly-round mound.

The mutton curry is wrapped inside the rice…

…and though it was very nice, I would prefer bryani with a lot more curry gravy like the ones we have in Sibu.

They certainly were very generous with the papadums though…

Most of the time, we would just get one miserable piece, if any but I do wish they could be more gentle in handling it though so we would get them whole instead of in bits and pieces like this.

Everybody else had the banana leaf set…

…which did not come served on a banana leaf which would be the usual practice at such shops, but in a food tray lined with the leaf cut into small pieces.

I did not try any of it so I cannot comment on how good it was or otherwise but somebody did not want the dessert…

…and passed it to me. Gee!!! It was very nice! I certainly liked it a lot…and sure would love to try making my own at home sometime.

Papakucing ordered this chicken…

…but I was already too full by then to tell the difference between what was good and what was bad…so I think I’d just refrain from making any comment on it.

ANDDDDDD…if you think that was all, you’re very sadly mistaken! Mamakucing got these nyonya kuehs for me…

…from some place outside…

…which definitely would be cheaper than those in a mall and actually, I thought I had something that looked exactly the same at this place here sometime ago but of course, I had to fork out a bit more then – RM2.50 for a pack like that.

Wait a minute! Wait a minute! There’s some more…a lot more! They also got me these very lovely treats…

…from this place…

…and also some roast goose and pork belly…

Nom! Nom! Nom!!!!

Actually, they wanted to drop us off at some other shopping mall to browse around and they would pick us up a couple of hours later to send us back to our hotel but we politely turned down the offer – they had gone out of their way to take us  to so many places and to eat..eat and eat…and I honestly think we had troubled them enough and would not want to impose on them any further.

Ah yes!!! Somebody dropped by the hotel to see me before we left for lunch. She used to comment quite a lot right here in my blog – a Bovril kampua convert after she tried it upon seeing that in my blog and there has been no turning back since…and we are still very much in touch with each other on Facebook. She came with her hubby and they brought along these very fragrant Mexican coffee buns for me…

…and she had some stuff for me to pass to mamakucing – they’re fellow-book marathon readers and Facebook friends but they never got to meet one another in person. Well, I told her she was coming to pick us up so she could get to meet her finally…and she did!

Thanks for the buns, King Hua – it was a pleasure making the acquaintance…at last and thanks so much to smallkucing, mamakucing and papakucing for everything. As the Malay saying goes:
Hutang emas boleh dibayar, hutang budi dibawa mati…

I’m going bananas…

No worries! I’m not about to go bonkers just yet, just that when I was in KL, Bananaz and his missus, Mango, dropped by to say hello and they took me to tea here…

Actually, I had gone there that very morning itself, our 5th day in the peninsula, for breakfast with my missus and Melissa…

I had the nasi lemak set (RM4.50 with a cup of coffee)…

…which might appear cheap but there was so little in the packet and tastewise, it did not come anywhere near my favourite right here in Sibu.

My missus had the mee siam set (RM4.50 with a cup of coffee)…

I guess I do not have to say anything at all – it certainly is pretty obvious how good that is just judging from its appearance. Ok…ok…to be fair, it tasted all right but I would much sooner have my own which, needless to say, would be heaps nicer.

I ordered this for my daughter by mistake – the mee siam with chicken rendang (RM9.80)…

The mee siam was exactly like the one in the packets but the chicken tasted pretty good – except that we were given one huge chunk of breast so that was quite a chore to chew.

Actually, Melissa wanted this – their nyonya-style roti jala with chicken curry (RM9.80)…

…which was very good indeed. We all loved it a lot even though the curry tasted kind of different – more like masak lemak but with a much thicker gravy. It was certainly a welcome change indeed from the usual, I would say.

I must say that the coffee was great and other than that, I really liked the stools at this place…

- very uniquely colourful and different from any elsewhere.

Then, in the afternoon when Bananaz and Mango suggested coming to this place again, I did not mind as I enjoyed the coffee and I had yet to try their nyonya kuihs…

I would say all of them were good except the pink/red one on the extreme left – the sago pearls coated with coconut. It was sweet and had a strong smell of some kind of essence that was not to my liking.

This one, wrapped in banana leaves…

…was actually a steamed nyonya delight made from bananas or at least, that was my guess based on what it tasted like to me. It was not bad, not bad at all but I prefer the other one, also wrapped in banana leaves…

…with coconut plus gula melaka (palm sugar) inside…

To me, the cucur udang (prawn fritters)…

…were nothing great – no taste of prawn, much less find any in the fritters and on the whole, I thought they were quite bland and dipping it in the chili sauce provided did not really help much. I’m sure we can find much better ones at a lot of other places.

Well, it so happened that my missus and Melissa chanced to walk past at the time and Bananaz asked them to join us. Mango went and ordered these onde-onde…

…which were pretty much the same as the generally-good ones here, there and everywhere and these kueh lenggang as we call them here or what they call kueh ketayap over the other side…

I did not try it but I guess it wasn’t all that great as by the time we decided to make a move, there was one left and nobody wanted to eat it.

My missus and Melissa shared the cendol…

…which, unfortunately, was not the best we have had.

I did not bring anything from home for Bananaz and missus (*face palm*) as he just had some eye surgery done and is presently still coping with the problems and the recovery so I did not expect he would come and see me when I was in town…and not only did he do that but he also brought along this for me – the famous Bentong ginger powder…

…which, I gather, has a lot of health benefits. I have not tried it yet so I cannot comment on it but I sure love the quotation on the tag attached:

“Sharing comes from the heart and brings warmth with it.”

That’s so beautifully-said and sure rings true, don’t you think?

Thank you so much, Bananaz & Mango, for the lovely gift and the delightful tea. It sure was nice to see you two again…

Move closer…

Gosh!!! I’ve been back for well over 1½ weeks and I’m not even halfway through my 8N/9D trip to the peninsula. I think I will need to have longer posts so as not to drag this for too long and bore everyone to death. Anyway, on our 4th day there, since everything that had got to do with Melissa’s convocation was over and done, we decided to move closer to KL proper instead of staying all cooped up in the airport hotel in the middle of nowhere…and since my friend, Ivan, would only be flying off to Melbourne that night and was free that day, he was able to help us move.

On the way, we stopped for brunch and as it was conveniently located along the way, we went to this restaurant yet once again. I had their fried kway teow with a raw egg on my first visit…

…and I liked it very much so I ordered that for my missus and Melissa to try. I think they call it Moon River here but I remember it being named Moonlight Serenade some place else.

We also had this new noodle dish…

…that we wanted to try the other night but they were out of some ingredients at the time and we had to go without it. I would think that the fried pan mien that I had when I was there for the first time with Ivan was much nicer.

Ivan ordered this fried vegetable dish…

…which turned out to be a bit too salty. Usually, I would prefer to eat this type of vegetable raw.

Now, before I proceed further, I must extend a very big thank you to Ivan for everything. You’ve been a great help really and I really do appreciate all that you did for us…and thanks also once again for the dinner and the gifts.

Well, as soon as we had checked in into the hotel at Mid Valley in KL, my missus and Melissa went off on their own on a shopping spree and I did not get to see them again till late that night. I did pop out for a while though to get these nyonya delights for my afternoon tea…

…from one of those carts/stalls on the lower ground floor of the mega mall. The serimuka was good while the angkoo was all right, not bad at all. I did not like the steamed yam cake which was kind of mushy and not firm enough – I think they had a bit too much flour and not enough yam in it…and I thought the fried (white) carrot cake wasn’t anything to shout about either. They did not come cheap though – each item would cost between RM2-2.50 but since I cannot find anything half as good in Sibu, I would have gone there again and bought some more despite the prices…if there had not been so many other things to enjoy at the place.

Later in the evening, I dropped by this Irish place for a bite…

…and I would say that the Americano coffee (RM7.00) was good…

I ordered their new-on-the-menu smoked turkey ciabatta (RM12.90) but they were out of that particular kind of bread and asked if I would mind their using the shambo bread instead…

Of course, I did not mind at all – no harm trying since I had not had that before…and I was wondering why it was shaped like Mickey Mouse’s ears…except that there were three, not two. Perhaps that was supposed to be the shamrock, the national emblem of Ireland.

I enjoyed it very much and I loved how thick that slice of turkey ham was…

…unlike the paper-thin ones we would find in some buns or sandwiches at some bakeries.

After having had my fill, I walked around the area close by to look around and this particular stall caught my attention…

Eeeee…the young chap called me “uncle“! I wish he had addressed me as “sir” or like what they usually do, as “boss” instead. Ah well! I guess I should count my blessings and be happy that at least, he did not call me “atuk” (grandpa) as in the name of the stall. Hehehehehehe!!!!!

I couldn’t resist buying the lemang to try…

…so I would be able to make a comparison with the ones I had in Sibu. For one thing, it was less expensive here and I would say that it was pretty well-done too – more or less the same, I think.

The beef rendang in the pot looked very oily…

…and thankfully, the boy made sure that he left most of it behind in what he scooped out for me…

…to be eaten together with the lemang. Oooooo…that tasted really good! A bit spicy, but the lemang-rendang combination was absolutely yummy!!!

They had serunding (meat floss) too at the stall and the boy let me try the beef…

…and it was really good but very very spicy! I did not buy any though – it did cross my mind that I could buy some home but by the time we were about to leave, we did not have any luggage space left and were on the verge of having to pay for excess baggage. Tsk! Tsk!