Not so bad after all…

I know a lot of people love going to Taiwan and they praise the street food to the skies and of course, the bubble tea and dessert joints right here in our own country are always packed to the brim. Even in this little town,  there are so many of them around – it has slowed down a bit by now but at one time, you would see them popping up all over like mushrooms after the rain. I am not sure whether those are franchises originating from that island republic or some enterprising local people jumping on the band wagon and setting up their own along those same lines to cash in on the craze.

This…

…at the mega mall where we had the gelato that day is one of them and obviously, it is doing pretty well as it has been around for many years now, probably two or three, at least – as long as the mall has been opened for business.

I have never stepped into the place myself though and I am not even sure if it is one and the same or two separate entities. My girl went once and had the chicken chop from the stall on the left and she was not exactly thrilled by it so after that, she was not all that keen on dropping by there again. That afternoon, however, I insisted on taking a look at the fried stuff stall on the right – the “I Love Yoo!!!” to see what they had.

They had just finished frying the ham chim peng (Chinese five-spice doughnut) and were placing them in the glass case beside the yew tiao or yew cha koi (crullers) and whatever that was in between…

We were not interested in those though but the balls caught our eyes…

…and we decided to buy both flavours to try – sweet potato and yam.

I remember I had something like these when I visited the Cameron Highlands a long time ago and I enjoyed them very much…and if I am not wrong, they make those using sweet potatoes. These, however, were different – it looked like they used mostly sweet potatoes (or yam)…

…and very little flour unlike the Malay counterpart and I must say they were very very nice – not cheap, 5 for over RM3.00…but nice! I certainly wouldn’t mind buying more of those to eat should I happen to drop by the mall again but then again, when the time comes, I may decide to try some of the other things they are selling there instead. I wonder if their curry puffs are any better than the others that I had had…and whether their butterfly bun is anything like our ma ngee or horse’s ears. I think I would want to check those out as well and maybe, some of the rest too.

Incidentally, moving away from the post proper, I am sure everybody knows what this plant…

…is called – the mother-in-law’s tongue! That’s not very flattering, I would say and thankfully, my mother-in-law is very nice and not at all as sharp-tongued, not at all. Anyway, I saw my neighbour planting a few pots of this and I was wondering if he was doing that to keep away the many stray cats in our neighbourhood. They leave their fur, their paw marks, urine, claw scratches on our cars…and the worst thing is that ever so often, I would find headless bodies of rats or birds in my garden – they are deadly predators, those felines! I googled and found out that this plant is, in fact, poisonous to dogs and cats so if you have these in our house as pets, you should make sure you do not plant any of this or if you already have any, perhaps you should get rid of them or give them away. Anybody wants to give me theirs?

P.S.:
Somebody just commented – unfortunately, I have no way of verifying the identity – no blog, no website, no Facebook account so I am afraid I am reluctant to let the comment go through moderation. Anyway, he said, “Cekodok is actually banana. Its [SIC] like deep fried banana bread, not sweet potatoes,” and indeed, when I googled, that is very true – I got all the banana balls. My apologies – that was what my friends over there told me those sweet potato balls were called – we did not have such things here so I did not have the slightest clue what the name was. I have already amended that in the above post nonetheless, even though this cooking blog has it down as “cekodok ubi”. Thank you, whoever you are, for the correction.  

It was fun while it lasted…

Gee!!! Time sure flies, doesn’t it? School has resumed for a week now and my girl will be home for the weekend today.

This was last Friday when we dropped by the supermarket about 200 metres away from my parents’ house. Other than the convenience, I do like the place – not overly big and one can get most of what one wants plus the vicinity is not congested, parking is easy and free. For one thing, they have a wide selection of fresh vegetables and I do mean fresh. If you drop by when they open at 8 in the morning, you will see all the empty shelves and the workers packing the new arrival for the day – it is that fresh!

Well, after my girl had bought all her supplies for the week to come, we just went to the hawker stalls opposite for our lunch. This time around, we decided to try the nasi campur (mixed rice) here…

My girl and the mum shared this (RM5.00)…

 – the masak hitam (black-cooked) beef, the sambal terung (brinjal) and the pumpkin.

I also ordered the ulam (RM1.00)…

…for them. Unfortunately, I have not acquired the taste for those ulam raja leaves so I did not get to enjoy that.

I had these selections in my platter (RM7.00)…

– the assam fish, the pumpkin and ladies’ fingers and one salted egg and yes, I did enjoy what I had.

We did not go for the Moroccan or pili-pili [sic] rice this time around but I saw that the African guy had some sandwiches for sale at his stall…

…and I bought the egg (RM2.00) and the barbecued chicken (RM3.00) but at best, I would say they were all right. I think I’ve had nicer ones at some of the bakeries in town though I cannot remember the prices and I never took note of the prices for the ones at my regular Malay kuih stall at Bandong plus I have never bought those at the latter to try either, not when there are so many nice things there to pick and choose.

The next morning, we had to wake up really early and by 5 something, we were already on our way to my girl’s school. It was pitch dark, really very very dark and I had to go very much slower than usual. I noticed that I could not see if there was a turning right ahead along that very winding road until I came quite near to it. Thankfully, there were not that many vehicles on the road at that time of day and we got there before 7.30 a.m. – in time for her extra class for her Year 6 pupils at 8.00 a.m. My missus and I stayed there to clean up her quarters, empty for two weeks already, and when my girl came back during the lunch break at noon, we had lunch together after which her mum and I left and headed home.

We did not go anywhere for the holidays but we sure did spend a lot of time together and yes, it was fun while it lasted.

Moving away from the post proper, I would like to say a BIG thank you to Claire for this beautiful postcard…

…that came in yesterday – all the way from the US of A! It certainly is so very thoughtful of you to take sometime off to go and pick such a lovely one, scribble a message…

…and post it to me. That, I must say, is very much appreciated. Problem with the internet connection there? I thought we would only encounter such things in Third World countries like here. Never mind, it’s the thought that counts and as long as I am always on your mind – Hey!!! That’s one of my favourite karaoke numbers…(song starts at 4:10) –

…that is all that matters. Wink! Wink! Enjoy yourself there, take care and God bless.

Come back again…

This place…

…was closed when we dropped by the 2nd day of the Gawai Dayak holidays so we went to this Taiwan-franchise place instead.

Well, we made our way back there again last week and for the uninititated, this is where one can get authentic Indian and Indonesian cuisines here, both under one roof – they have two separate kitchens and three menus – one Indian, one Indonesian and one for drinks. As for the location, it is along Lai Chee Lane, right behind the sole BSN branch in Sibu.

I did not notice these before…

…and I thought that was a nice idea, using those kitchen utensils to hold up the creepers and potted plants.

My missus had this fried kway teow or flat rice noodles (RM13.00)…

…from the Indonesian menu with a special request for it to be extra spicy and she even asked for sliced cili padi to go with it so of course, she enjoyed that to the max.

I had the tandoori chicken with rice (RM16.50)…

– not my first time having this and yes, and it was as nice as always. My missus went and sat at a table inside, the air-conditioned section, and my girl followed her – I am not all that fond of the choice as it is a little dim so that would make it hard to take nice photographs knowing the limitations of my small digicam. The one I have in this earlier post of the same sure looks a lot nicer – we were sitting outside that day.

My girl had the tandoori chicken paratha (RM11.00)…

…for a change instead of her usual lamb curry bryani rice and she liked it. She also loved the Indian curried potato salad…

…that came with it and also the raita that was in my set – I have yet to acquire a taste for it so I passed that to her.

They have increased the prices of everything in their menus but rightfully so, I would say, considering that of late, the prices of everything have been shooting up like nobody’s business. It is perfectly all right by me as long as they are able to maintain the quality of everything served here to ensure value for money and that is one thing that I can say each time we drop by – we always feel that what we have here is consistently good and we sure would not mind coming again and again.

The bill that day came up to RM48.50 and the boss was kind enough to round it up to RM45.00. That sure deserves another double thumbs up…and we sure enjoyed what we had a lot more than our orders at the Taiwan chicken place that day for over RM48.00 but of course, others may choose to differ – like I always say, to each his own!

Mambo gelato…

After our breakfast that morning with my dad, we were already very full so we decided to skip lunch that afternoon…and went around here and there to while away the time.

Then I asked my girl if she wanted to go and roam around one of the mega malls in town and she did! She said that she would like to try the gelato there. ..

…so off we went!

This place has been around for a long time now, over a year perhaps or maybe two or more…

In fact, when my cousins were here early last month, they were impressed that we have a stall here when they do not have one in Kuching and one of them even took a photograph to share on Facebook…

*Cousin’s photo on Facebook (Gee!!! These look so much nicer! Must be freshly made or new stock – and the ones in my photograph are already over a month old, the leftovers! Tsk! Tsk!)*

They did not give it a try though and all this time, neither had we…especially when they certainly do not come cheap…

Ah well! My girl is working now, already officially confirmed in her post, and I do not have any commitments, no unpaid loans and stuff so we just went ahead. At least, we can say yes, we have tried!!! Now, nobody can say that we, small town people, are so backward (living in trees and all) and do not know what a gelato is…and the difference between that and ice cream.

We placed our order for three scoops, three different flavours – one each…

…and in the meantime, I went around the stall to see what else they have in store. There were these waffles…

…and whatever these were…

…among some other things as well and they also sell freshly-squeezed juices too…

…concentrated, unadulterated…not diluted like what you may get at some places including those at some upscale cafes and restaurants but no, the ones here, if I’m not wrong, do not come cheap either. Honestly, I am very surprised that they do seem to be doing very well – everytime I am around there, there are always people around ordering this and that.

We sat down to enjoy our gelato…

…my girl and her mum had started off on theirs while I was going around taking photographs – the honey dew on top and the tiramisu on the left respectively. My Nestum is on the right. I did check the prices of those at one place in KL and it appears that theirs do not come cheap either, more or less the same prices…but of course, those are branded ones…like the celebrated ice cream brands that cost a bomb too…per scoop!

So were they any good? Yes, I would say they were very nice – not sweet, creamy but at those prices, I think I would much sooner grab a few tubs of our regular ice cream at a supermart and eat myself to kingdom come.

The one…

The other day, my dad heard that the kampua noodles here…

…was very nice and I think he did go and try himself. I guess he liked it so when he came back to the house, he started telling his grand-daughter all about it and asking her if she would want to go and eat it. We thought he was just mentioning it in passing and nothing was confirmed. The very next day, I got word from my sis that he was waiting for my girl to go for the kampua noodles. Good grief!!! My girl was still sleeping (young people these days don’t wake up so early – only old folks like me have a problem getting up late) so we had to quickly wake her up and were on our way in a bit.

Business sure seemed very good and it was very crowded. Nevertheless, we were able to get a table and promptly placed our orders which, despite the number of customers around, were served very fast.

My girl and the mum had the kolo mee (RM3.60)…

…while my dad and I opted for their own handmade noodles (RM3.60)…

…and both were great! I loved how generous they were with the fried shallots, two spoonfuls, scooped, and I was pretty sure they had garlic in it too and tossed with the noodles, that gave the dish a special fragrance which brought the taste to a whole new level, a lot nicer than many of the rest in town.

The sweet girl wanted to pay for everything but of course, the grandpa would not hear of it – even though she is now working and can jolly well afford it.

Now, if anyone is wondering where this place is, it is among the shops right across the road from this Kin Orient Plaza (where the original Sing Kwong is located)…

…along Jalan Tun Abg Hj Openg, formerly Queensway. The back of this block of shops faces the Iban Methodist Church…

…located in that same vicinity.

For one thing, this is not in the town centre plus most of the shop lots are presently not occupied so the area is not congested and not only is parking a breeze but it is also free. I liked the kopi-o-peng (iced black coffee) that I had very much but of course, that would have to wait till the next time I drop by to see if it is consistently so…

On a clear day…

It was a clear day that day…

…when we dropped by this coffee shop…

…located along this road…

…in the town centre.

In the past, the weather would be hot and dry around this time of the year but lately, we do get some rain on some days, thankfully. It was sunny and very hot that afternoon but we heard that there is a bak kut teh stall here and the dry version is very good so we wanted to drop by and give it a try. Unfortunately, it was closed – according to the people there, it is not open for business every Tuesday.

Well, since we were already there, we reckoned that we might as well check out what they had at the other stalls and see if they were any good. After all, we do not go around that part of town very often as it is usually very congested and finding a space to park the car can be quite a pain.

My girl wanted the meat porridge (RM3.50)…

…that she did not get to enjoy the day before and the day before that. There was an egg inside, drowned in the porridge, and she said that it was nice and to her liking.

My missus had the kolo mee (RM3.70)…

…while I had the kampua noodles special (RM4.00)…

…and yes, both were pretty good though I would prefer it a lot more if they could cut down a little bit on the msg – should I happen to drop by here again and have this, I certainly would just ask them to do that. I don’t think that will be a problem. However, if that happens, we probably would want to try the bak kut teh…or something else.

Anyway, if anyone is interested and is not exactly sure of the location, it is to the left of the HSBC Building here, to the extreme left of that block of shophouses facing the side of the bank, right below Phoenix Hotel.

Any day…

You can drop by here…

…any day of the week and it would be very crowded and it may be hard to find a seat, especially on weekends. It sure does not help one bit that everyone wants to park their vehicles as near to the place as possible so there is always a congestion around there.

That Sunday, my girl felt like having some meat porridge and I remembered that the one I had here was quite nice and there would be all the other options from the other stalls for us to have. That was why we ended up heading there and yes, we did have a problem with the (huge) cars going in and out of the parking spaces in front of the shop. The last straw was when we were waiting for one to reverse out so we could take that space, another one right beside my car started reversing quite oblivious to the fact that we were behind him – I had to blast my car horn to alert the guy and thankfully, he did stop in the nick of time. That pissed me off…and we went straight home right away! I would say the things here are all right, quite nice but I would not say they are THAT nice to merit all that hassle – I would much sooner go elsewhere.

Anyway, the next day, we decided to drop by that same place – it was 11 something, past the morning tea break and before lunchtime, so as we had expected, it was not really packed…even though we did hear the kampua noodle guy telling somebody that he was sold out for the day and the meat porridge was sold out too!!! That was why my girl opted for the lor mee…

…instead except that she asked for bihun as she is not entirely fond of yellow noodles. She said it was nice but she seemed to be struggling through it and no, she did not manage to finish it all. Maybe she was not really hungry or the serving was a little too big for her.

The mum had the kueh chap special…

…and she liked it. Yes, the one here is pretty good. I did not find out how much each of those cost but in total, I forked out RM11.00 so my guess would be RM4.00 for the lor mee and RM7.00 for the kueh chap or RM5.00 and RM6.00 respectively perhaps.

I ordered this bak kut teh soup (RM7.00)…

…from another stall to share and for myself, I asked for the black vinegar pork leg…

…with rice (RM11.00). Ouch! That sure did not come cheap but I did hear that pork is mighty expensive these days, RM38.00…almost RM40.00  a kilo!!! Good grief! Go ahead, jack up the prices some more – we sure can live without it, not a problem at all! Tsk! Tsk!

Anyway, back to what I ordered, the bak kut teh was good, nice herbal fragrance – not overly strong, just right. However, between the two, I loved the black vinegar pork leg a whole lot more. It was sourish though not too sour, just the way I like it. I hear at some places, they make it sweet and a lot of people are not too fond of it that way. The meat was nice and tender but it was the gravy/sauce that I enjoyed most of all – it went so absolutely well with the rice that came with it.

It was already past noon by the time we finished but no, it was not all that crowded. This place used to have the best chicken rice in town – the rice, that is and sometimes, I would even tapao some home…but some new people took over from the previous ones and though initially, they did maintain that same standard, the last time we had it, it was not nice anymore and a lot of people agreed when I shared my opinion on Facebook. I wonder whether that was the reason or maybe, it was a Monday…or perhaps, it was still a little early and most people would knock off work a little later to come by here for lunch.

P.S.:
ATTENTION: All those of you on blogspot.com
Apparently, Blogger.com has decided to do away with the photographs and has reverted to letters…

…for verification purposes. I tried at least a dozen times yesterday in my attempt to comment on a friend’s blogpost but in vain. I checked out some other blogs and it was the same – at times, the comment box refused to appear even, just a grey rectangle with an unhappy face icon. If this is what it is going to be like from now on, when you do not see me dropping by your blog to comment, you would understand why. My sincere apologies to all concerned.

P.P.S.:
Thankfully, they’re back to using pictures (of food) now. Hopefully, they will keep it this way…

Nowhere near…

It was in the news sometime ago that the municipal council here is embarking on a street art project beginning with one of a wharf labourer, a common sight around that part of town in the old days. After that, another one followed on the wall of a complex in town where our trioplex (a three-hall cineplex) is located – I am not too familiar with such characters but I think it was one of Iron Man.

More recently, more appeared, this time along the small lane leading from Market Road to Channel Road where the Sibu Central Market is. These include one  of the kampua noodles…

…and the kompia…

…and also the dianpianngu…

– things that are synonymous with this little town and representative of Sibu.

Of course, these are works of art, not photographs, so we cannot expect them to look anything like the real thing where the noodles are concerned…

…or what the kompia actually looks like in reality…

…but if that last one was not labelled, I would not be able to tell what it actually is…

…as all I could make out would be those bits of cuttlefish tentacles. Still, I would say that they are indeed very appropriate choices though I really wonder about the rest. Is the penyeram…

…or what we call kuih lipeng supposed to represent the Malay community here? If I am not wrong, these are available all over the country and a much better choice would be the ederam…

– the ones here have many holes while those in the peninsula that I have seen online have one only, like a doughnut. Likewise, I think the pulut panggang…

…is available throughout the country, not just in Sarawak or Sibu…like how the kek lapis (layer cake) is quintessentially Kuching. I wonder if the kelupis would be a better choice…

…but then again, it is not that readily available around here and wikipedia says that though it is the traditional snack of the Malays in Sarawak and Sabah…

…it has its origins in Brunei. Or perhaps one might consider the Melanau delights such as the sagu’ (sago pellets) or tumpik or the terbaloi (coconut sago crackers) or kuih cina instead?

I guess the kuih jala…

…is representative of the Iban or ethnic community…

…even though that comes across to me like instant noodles.

Unfortunately, when I was in that lane that morning, I thought it was kind of sad that everybody was walking past like the pictures were not there at all. For one thing, they do look like something you would find on the walls at some food court or hawker centre advertising the things that are available there. Perhaps they can make them a little more “interactive” so to speak, like the works of Ernest Zacharevic in Penang, Kuching or elsewhere. There can be one of people eating kampua noodles at a table in a coffee shop, for instance, with a chair jutting out from the wall and people would be able to sit on it and have their photographs taken, looking like they were one of the group…or for the one of the wharf labourer, they may have a sack protruding from the wall and people can pretend to be carrying it while somebody snaps their photographs. Still, whatever it is, I would agree that we should show some appreciation for the effort on the part of the authorities or the people concerned. Keep up the good work!

Altogether…

Born in the Year of the Ox, my dad will celebrate his 90th birthday or his 91st, if we follow the Chinese Lunar calendar, this coming Sunday – the 28th Day of the 4th Month. He will celebrate it following his Chinese date of birth every year and in the past, my mum would do all the remembering as to which date exactly it would fall on and my sister will keep tab on it as well. These days, it is very easy to find out exactly when the date is on our regular western or Gregorian calendar via one of these websites…and I will always key in the reminder on my handphone to make sure that I do not forget.

However, this Sunday, my girl would have gone back to her school so he wanted to have it earlier so we could all sit down together for a dinner to celebrate and that was why we had it last Sunday evening. Instead of ordering food from outside, we decided it would be better (and nicer too) to cook a few dishes ourselves and that was exactly what we did. For one thing, my parents do not have very strong teeth so they would not be able to enjoy any meat or anything for that matter that is way too tough for them to chew and of course, if we cook our own, there would not be that overdose of msg that we often get when we have anything from the Chinese restaurants outside.

They love phak lor duck – stewed duck with soy sauce and five spice powder…

…and we cannot get any outside that will be exactly like how my mum would cook it in the past so we decided to have that. My missus can cook it that same way as her mum used to cook it like that too in her family. Of course, duck can be very tough so she cooked it the night before, heated it up the next morning and again, that afternoon so that by dinner time, it was really very nice and tender.

There was this dish that my dad used to buy home from an old-school restaurant in town and we loved it a lot. Unfortunately, the last time I went there, the waitress taking our orders said she never heard of it and it was not on their menu. We wanted to have that for old times’ sake and my parents would not have a problem chewing. I made the meatballs more or less the same way that I did the other day, replacing the beef with minced pork (and leaving out the mixed herbs and spices) and later in the evening, my missus cooked the sweet and sour sauce for them, the same way she would cook the sauce for her sweet and sour fish…

Everybody certainly enjoyed the meatballs that night, I must say.

And talking about fish, I went and bought this white pomfret (ikan bawal putih/pek chio) and my missus steamed it…

*Oops!!! Sorry, the snapshot came out a bit blur!*

My father loves the white or silver variety and is not all that fond of the black ones that would have a stronger smell and of course, he loved this very much. The fish was very fresh and nice – when you go for something like this outside, it would be rather expensive plus at times, especially when it is steamed, the fish would taste kind of bland, probably not all that fresh, and I would have to resort to eating it with a lot of soy sauce and sliced red chili to make it more palatable.

We also had a simple sweet corn soup to wash every thing down and this salad dish…

…with our special salad dressing that has been in my maternal side of the family for years and years. Inside, there were boiled prawns, potatoes, egg…and tomato and cucumber slices. We had a problem getting the lettuce as for some reason or other, there was none available anywhere in town. Hmmm…no wonder that day when we had lunch at the Italian restaurant, they were using what we call Sabah eyew chai instead. Finally, we had no choice but to go in search of our local ones at our Sibu Central Market and there was none to be seen…until I saw a handful with very small leaves at one stall. I grabbed all of it, of course, and the girl asked for only 30 sen for the very much coveted stuff. There was just enough for the dish that night, thankfully!

I could see that both my parents enjoyed everything – they did eat quite a lot and there were smiles all around. My dad commented that it was good that we could still cook like this – I guess what he meant was that we could cook dishes the way my mum did before she became bedridden some 9 years or so ago. He must have missed her cooking very much.

Yes, it was a small simple celebration – just the three of us with my parents and my sister but it was, without doubt, a good and meaningful one – nothing beats having the family members altogether especially in one’s golden years.

Nothing much…

There wasn’t anything much other than the usual routine last Saturday. We stopped by here again for the very nice nasi kerabu…

…for our lunch that day and talking about that, it really pissed me off that somebody had just helped himself/herself to my 2011 photo of this and used it without even the simple courtesy of asking for permission. The irony of it all was that this dish was supposed to be one of the masakan Kelantan (Kelantan cooking) selections and looking at it, it certainly seemed that the best looking nasi kerabu was this one right here in Sibu. Then, there was this article in this website that took the liberty of using my 2010 kacang ma chicken photograph, also without permission – I wonder if the writer got paid for that.

Of course, it is very easy to get the photos and use them. One would just need to google for the images and he or she will have a whole lot to pick and choose. However, the links to the sources of the snapshots are always given and the onus is on one to click on that and go to the blog or website to ask for permission instead of just helping oneself to them with that devil-may-care kind of attitude. According to my blogger friend:
“It doesn’t matter if you
– cited or sourced the photo
– didn’t know what you were doing was wrong
– didn’t make money out of it
– didn’t claim the photo as your own
– have a disclaimer on your blog
– or have taken down the photo after the photographer asked you to,
basically, if you did not get permission from the photographers themselves to use their work, you are in the wrong and can get sued. You have to either get permission from the source to use their work or get it from a copyright free/public domain site. Having someone else’s photos in your blog without permission is basically having a ticking time-bomb ready to blow up at any given time.“

Well, I have no intention of pursuing legal action against anybody – after all, my photographs aren’t all that great and I really wonder why people would want to take and use them (and there are more than just the two aforementioned instances) – but it would be nice to just drop a comment on the post to ask. Some did so with regard to this poem that I wrote here and of course, I said yes!

Anyway, going back to what we did last Saturday, we went for the sunset service at a church here as we had something to do the following day, Sunday, and we went here for a very late dinner. I asked for the sweet and sour spare ribs…

…but no, I think their honey one that we usually had was much nicer. Besides, I had expected a lot more sauce but what we were served was somewhat dry.

The sotong (squid) with dried chilies…

…wasn’t all that great too. I thought it would be dark with black soy sauce, the way they would cook their pork belly with dried chilies and salted fish in a claypot.

Our regular orders, the cangkuk manis fried with egg…

…and the sea cucumber soup…

…were good as always and I enjoyed the peanut with sago pearls drink…

…that I opted to have that night.

All in all, inclusive or rice and drinks for three persons, the total came up to RM49.00…and as always, the nice boss gave me a discount and returned to me RM2.00 change for my RM50 note.

Incidentally, I did hear that there would be two Korean restaurants coming up soon. I heard one is already running but it is not officially opened yet as they are still trailing the food and finalising their menu. I have not dropped by to check it out though. As for the other one, I had a vague idea of its location but I did not know exactly where it would be until I spotted it that day…

…when we were in the vicinity for lunch. It was still under construction – we saw the people there busy setting up the place and if anyone is wondering where it is, it is in the same block as the Italian place we went to – right at the end, to the left. Rest assured that my girl and the mum would love to drop by and check this place out as soon as it opens its doors for business…