Jalan Alor Bukit Bintang

For many, Jalan Alor is just another tourist trap. For me on the otherside, this is a place that brought me plethora of good memories. I used to come here a lot when I was young for family holidays. My dad loved the place and still do! So coming back here (I know I am based in KL for almost a year now, but I spend most of my time working.) was a lot like walking back to a childhood story.The fact that we still order the same food makes the memory even more vivid.

This porridge here is from my father's favourite mee sua stall. They are famous for their pork mee sua and my dad worship this! They have it in the porridge version and taste as good! For RM5, this is worth every penny with the generous amount of pork and innards given.



Clams! How can you missed this when you're having street food? The clams was from the stall nearby but as much as I love clams, I didn't like that it was prepared too bloody for my liking. Chili sauce too lack the ooomph and spiciness.
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Feeling rather guilty from the excessive order of greasy and cholesterol laden food we ordered a plate of sotong kangkung - just to fulfill the you know, vegetable quota. :p Not too bad, but not exactly something to shout about.



I thought the fried oyster was terrible. It was tasteless, the batter were not very cooked and the oysters were ...errm.. scarce. This costed RM 20 , definitely a killing price for a dish badly prepared. I remember it tasted really good, but back then I haven't been to Penang yet! Penang really does spoils your taste bud y'know? :)

and believe it or not, this place has the best fresh orange juice. It still taste the same after so many years! I never got to know what type of orange they use but I can assure you, not even a high class hotel could beat the taste! The moment I took the first sip I felt like I was deported 15 years back, where I was young and *cough*, very innocent. :P

My whole point of writing this is not really on Jalan Alor but how this place brought me memories and I miss my parents so much. Family holidays is something that is so hard to come by now. So if you had the privillege to work and still stays with your family, appreciate it. If you don't, make sure you call home. :)

Donald and Lily Melaka

wow, it's been a while since I last blogged and it's one luxury that I really, really miss.

Anyway, just last week I drove to Melaka with Huai Bin for a food trip!



The highlight of the trip for me was this place called Donald and Lily's. Huai Bin actually found the place while surfing for food while I was driving and wanted to go that night itself but it was a little late when we arrived. (Thinking back, I think we should have gone and try the ayam ponteh instead of the easily forgettable McQuek's satay celup).



I had a really good feeling the moment I enter the place. The whole place looks entirely like a home and it feels like dining at a friend's place. Whenever I enter a place that gives me this homey feeling, i'm almost 100% sure that a great spread of food is about to be served.



I wasn't wrong. The chendol we had was spectacular. I don't know if they had made the gula melaka themselves but it tasted like no other that Ive tasted. It was so good that Huai Bin had two bowls of it. Man, I wouldn't mind to pay RM 10 for this bowl of goodness if it's available in KL.



I don't think they have a specific menu though. The food options changes by days and the waiter would actually tell you what they have on that day. I love the hospitality though. The auntie who served us is really friendly.



I went for the mee siam. My mum made really good mee siam and she has set the bar so high that no where else could compare to the one she made. I didn't like that the sauce that came along was a little sweet. The fried beehoon too taste very mild. You can skip on this.



The curry laksa that Huai Bin had was nice though and he loved it. It was not too milky to the point that you'll feel "muak" just half way finishing that bowl of laksa but just thick enough to give the rich feeling.



I also ordered Tofu Rojak to share (but I ate most of it. Huai Bin doesn't eat much! T.T) . I don't actually eat tofu but since the lady recommended it and I wanted a side dish, I went for it. The rojak is a platter of fish cake, cucumber and pineapples served with rojak paste and homemade chili sauce. I don't know if it's a "Melaka thing" but the paste is really different, very distintive in taste a lot stronger on the prawn flavor. It goes really well with the fish cake. The only thing I didn't like about the rojak was the fact that the cucumber and pineapples is cubed.

I've always love how people Melaka (maybe cause I'm just a kampung girl at heart) is so laid back and you hardly see people rushing. Can't wait for my next trip to Melaka again sometime soon and yes, looking forward for that damn awesome chendol here again!

Bisou , Bangsar Village

If someone were to ask me what is the worst days of 2011 thus far, I would give an instant answer. It was last week. I was going through an extremely hard time at work and it doesn't help that it was the last week before my pay is out. I was broke, demotivated and almost committed suicide. Heh, just kidding about the last one. :P

After much nicotine and alcohol infused to my body on weekdays, I decided that I'm gonna eat a high calorie lunch on Saturday to comfort myself and go back home to sleep.



Little did I know , instead of heading back home to continue sleeping, we en route to Bangsar Village. I wasn't very keen of going to be honest - I was too under dressed! Not that I'm always very well dressed, but I was in a worn out tee and it's Bangsar!



We were supposed to just go and get some pens in Cziplee but unfortunately it rained heavily so our supposedly 'banana leaf rice lunch' became a coffee afternoon. We chose Bisou solely because the Red Velvet cake looks very tempting. For the uninformed, Red Velvet cake is actually beet root chocolate cake sandwiched with cream cheese. It was quite dry and a little tasteless for me. RV cake in general are quite tasteless, I had the one in Delicious and it tasted as tasteless too.



Most would have known Bisou for their cupcakes but as jakun as this may sound, I never tried them before. Yes, you can go ahead and laugh but I don't see the relevance of paying RM 5 for a cupcake with fancy icing. I am not a fan of cupcakes so I find them tasting nothing above alright, but you're definitely going to get a sugar rush from the icing.



Moving on to the beverages side, I was very pleased with my cup of flat white. The coffee were very aromatic and what I really appreciate is that the coffee is served hot. Something most local cafe fail at.



The ice cappucino too was very good. I don't usually order cappucino but if I do visit the place again, this is definitely going to be my drink of choice. It was intense, thick and just very very comforting. Priced at RM 10++, this is definitely worth every penny! :D

We finished our drinks and but guess what, we didn't go back home! We went to The Curve and I did chakra reading for the first time. Haha, not that I actually believe in crystals and stones, but it was free so why not? :P

oh, the best part about confessing that you're broke? everything is paid for ;p

*all pictures taken with BB, hence the quality ;p

Sundays

Ah, looking at my blog I feel so sad that there's hardly much updates from my side. I still do check my blog everyday though and I have like a gazillion pending posts. It's just that I can't find the inspiration to blog especially after a stressful brain crunching day at work.

On a happier note, my article was on The Star last week! It's posted under a pseunodym tho' and cause it's related to my work nature, I don't think it's safe for me to mention which article is it. But still really nice to have your article published on the local papers.


Anyway, in case you're wondering, I still do cook! Just not as often as I did last time, and my dishes are a lot simpler. Today I cook Spicy Seafood Belachan fried rice that tasted fucking A! :D



And the accompanying dish is Black Pepper Chicken with Potatoes. ;) I used to find cooking very therapeutic but of late, I avoid cooking if possible. Yes, it's weird bt all I wanna do on Sundays is stay in bed (preferably with a partner. oops.. what I did I just said again? No, no I didn't say anything ;p but partner can be a cat right? :D )



Oh, and have you all been dilliegently eating durian? hahaha. I love durian and I've been eating durian every night! Sinful yeah, I know but whatheheck. :p



On an unrelated note, whose with me when I say the new Starbucks logo is fugly? It's like some weird voodoo mermaid? and without the word Starbucks is just plain weird. Personal view - not meant to offend anyone. Please don't sue me. :P

Anyway, it's the end of another beautiful weekend again. Till then, have a good week ahead beautiful people :D

Simply Chicken Rice

Pardon me, but I'm gonna start with this - I'm super, super stress with work. I've been working 12 hours a day, sometimes more and seriously it's ripping my brain off! I really do enjoy the challenge. So much, that at some point I feel like I'm obsessed with my job. I come back at 10 pm, and at 1 am, I feel like going back to work. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing. I know it's totally unrelated but I just feel like ranting it out!



This post is by inspiration from Huai Bin writing about the last meal for death row inmates and what would be our preference. His first choice was chicken rice and yes, that would be my choice too! Not first on the list though, but second!



I love chicken rice! Simply Chicken Rice was discovered by chance when I was done doing my furniture shopping in IKEA. It's just beside the car park and you're definitely going to pass it when you're paying your ticket at the auto pay machine. Seriously the aroma is so good that when it goes through my nostril for the first time, I told myself I just have to try it! And then I fell in love with it.



I love steamed chicken and the one they have here is perfect! The silky skin that blends with the sesame oil and soy sauce is just orgasmic!The chicken is a burst of all the flavors steamed chicken should have. It's also tender, moist and ah, everything good! The roasted chicken too taste as good as the steamed one but I prefer the steamed chicken for the silky texture of the skin and meat. Something roasted chicken lack of.



The real parameter to gauge a good chicken rice however lies on the rice. If there's a grade to give for the rice, I'll give it an A1 ! In fact it is the main reason why I am waxing lyrical and singing praises for the chicken rice here. As guilty as this may sound, the rice must not only be fragrant - it MUST be oily. It's not exactly a statement approved by health connoisseurs but what the heck, I don't go for the concept of eating something you don't like. Eat anything you want, but in moderation! :D



The next criteria is the garlic chili. The one here is very spicy and being a fan of anything spicy I appreciate the fact that I can freely take the chili as much as I want. I usually have like 5 "plates" of this! Seriously, my tolerance for chili is something a lot of people find very amusing. Especially when I'm a Chinese. Haha.



The soup they have here is not something unusual or different. It tasted like any other place but I have to say sometimes the soup is not that good though. Since it's made from the chicken stock of the steamed chicken, I find that at times the 'chicken smell' is a tad too strong. There are also times where the soup is not served as hot as it should be. But ah, this is just a minor hiccup.

If you haven't tried this chicken rice, you really have to! Trust me and trust my taste! :D

But you know what's the saddest thing about chicken rice? It's rice. Something I refrain myself from eating. I only take rice on rare occasions, most probably three times a month. So even when I'm savoring the orgasmic chicken rice, I only allow myself to take half. Blame on my metabolism rate T.T

This post is dedicated to Huai Bin! Happy 30th Birthday! I've said this many, many times but your confidence to pursue your dream job inspires me. I believe you're working half way to it and I wish you all the best in everything! Don't forget me when you're famous ok? hehe.


hahah shall put a classic pic of HB. Sorry ladies, he's taken. hahaha!!

p/s : I'm writing this under the influence of alcohol and high nicotine. Who says they damage your brain? tee hee.

Cafe Barbera, Main Terminal Building KLIA

Airports has always been one of my favourite place in the world and I jump at any chance to be in the airport for the longest time possible. Everyone find it weird but airport gave me this soothing feeling that I find no words to explain.


Cafe Barbera is one of the newest establishment in KLIA taking over the previous Cafe Marche. I'm pretty sure I wrote on Cafe Marche before but I just couldn't find the link. Nevermind on that, we'll just talk about Cafe Barbera for now. I love the settings! It gives me this "leaving on a jetplane" feeling. :p


Cafe Barbera is less known for Malaysians but what we didn't know is that it has a history dating way back in 1870. That's 99 years before Starbucks is founded! Like how most brands started, the founder who hails from Messina, Italy roasted the beans in a small roaster and grew from there. Just looking at the year they were established makes me give them leaps of hopes even before I took my first sip.

The outlet in Bangsar have a longer list of menu but the one in airport is limited to light food and drinks. I find the snacks and sandwiches to be nothing above edible so I'm gonna start with the food first.



The Chicken Focaccia (RM12.90) is a tad too dry for my liking but i thought it was reasonably priced, considering the portion and the fact that this place is located in the airport. I gotta say the foccacia - the bread was very good tho, they just need to work a little on what's between it. :)



Beef Pie (RM10.90) was too dry as well that the beef fillings came crumbly and eating it can make a little mess - something I really don't favour. The taste of the fillings was not too bad, just having it more moist would make the whole eating affair a much more memorable one.



Banana Danish (RM8.90) was the best in the lot. However this pastry needs not much culinary skills to be prepared. It's basically just puff pastry and cooked caramelized banana.

The coffee drinks was disappointingly mediocre. It falls far from the bar I set. While it is noticeable that the beans were of a good quality, I didn't think the end result taste as good as how it smell.

Cappucino Freppe (RM9.90) is definitely one of the worst coffee based drink I've ever had. It was so thick that I felt like I was drinking coffee flavored egg white. Lol. I had to ask for ice to water down the thickness. Seriously, they could just give me spoon to scoop out the coffee instead of a straw.



The Espresso Machiatto (RM7.90) was quite good though. It was quite intense, almost similar to the espresso shots I make every morning before I go to work. The milk froth was also made perfectly.

Cappucino Shakerato (RM 10.90) is the best amongst all the drinks. The bitterly sweet dark chocolate blends really well with the coffee. It was strong yet at the same time sweet - but not overly sweet. I'm going to order this if I do go there again.



The Cappucino Italiano (RM8.90) was well, just ok. It's a very straight forward coffee drink. If you're one who wants nothing more but a cup of coffee, this is the drink for you.

I won't say I totally banned them from my food list because the chances of me visiting them is very high. Coffee joints in KLIA is quite limited and they're one of the good ones if you were to compare them with the rest of the places.



If you really enjoy airports and hotels like I do - as well as a little extra time to spare, try taking the buggy ride for a visit to the Pan Pacific KLIA. They won the Global Luxury Award last year and boy, were their service awesome. For a moment I felt like I was some Datin. The hotel's really pretty too! :D

Have a good week ahead everyone! Can't wait for the weekends again! =X

Warung Santai, Tesco Ampang

Warung Santai is by no where close to any luxury restaurants but it is a place I frequent a lot for dinners. Of course, that was when I was still under my one month training. Now that i'm officially working, I can't remember when was the last time I actually had my dinner during a weekday.

Warung Santai serve normal Malay food. The kind of "masakan panas" stalls food that you can find anywhere in Klang Valley. The taste of the food tho' is a notch higher and since it's inside Tesco, it's air conditioned.



One of the dish that I order every single visit is their Tom Yam campur. I'm very particular about how Tom Yam should taste and if I sense it's straight from the bottled paste you get in hypermarkets, I won't eat anymore. The one here taste nothing like that and I like how the level of spicyness and sourness tally.



Call us weird, but telur dadar is one of the things we order in every visit. It's not that the omelets are different from any other place, it's just that these are the "normal food" to go with rice. I don't take them tho' cause omelets prepared any other place other than the back of my kitchen are usually drenched in oil. Not trying to be bimbo but just imagining the oil going through my esophagus always makes me giddy. Lol.



On days where we finish work slightly earlier - by that I meant 8pm, we usually go for "full monte" dinner. That's when we order dishes we don't normally order like the udang masak petai. It's surprisingly good and I'm extremely fussy when it comes to seafood. Their prawns are not fresh water prawns and that's a huge plus! The petai is also prepared well that it does not give that unpleasant after taste.



If you're into food from the family of Nemo, their Ikan Masak Pedas is worth trying too. There's a variety of fishes to choose from but remembering the names of fishes is something i'm still working on. hahaha. Heck, I can't even remember the name of the fish we chose. lol. The only complaint on the fish is that it is over fried, otherwise it's really not bad.



The only dish I don't recommend ordering is the Kerabu Mangga. But that's only because I didn't like the way it is prepared. I like kerabu to be prepared the Thai way, and the one they have here is the local way of preparing it. I find it a little tasteless and I don't like the fried anchovies. :P



Of course, never forget about your obligation to vegetables. lol. I usually go for Kai Lan Ikan Masin. It's well, errr, edible? Sorry, going on and on about vegetables is not my forte. Lol.



Moving on to the beverages. I usually go for teh o kosong but on days where I feel like going out the norm, I would go for their ais kacang. Not trying to be bias, but I personally prefer ais kacang prepared by Chinese. However the one they have here is worth trying and for less than RM 4, it's worth every penny.

They also have this special in-house drink that is served in an interesting sight. I cant remember the exact name for this drink but it's pictured in the menu so you would know which to order if you do dine there. It's a concoction of sprite, lime and cherry jellies Very refreshing.

Or if you really want the whole Malay food affair, pair your meals with air bandung. Not something I would drink everyday but hey, having something sweet once in a while won't hurt right? :)

Oh yeah, I'm pretty "well-known" there among the staffs as the first time I was there, I asked for so much chili and when the waitress asked me if it's spicy, i told her "not at all." The chefs were surprised how a Chinese like me could take spicy food so well that he personally walk out of the kitchen and ever since then I seem to be getting better service. So don't be jealous if you see me getting better treatment when you're there. :D

Appeared on AirAsia 360 Magazine

I'm back from Bintulu! Sadly and Unfortunately. To be really honest, I miss the place. How soothing and calm it was as compared to the hustle bustle life of KL. But that'll be a story another day cause' I'm hitting the sack soon.

Anyway, as I mentioned in the previous post, I took the first flight out from KL to Bintulu and was really sleepy! Having to sleep only two hours, I was trying my level best to wait for the take off, a part of flying that I really love! So I flick through the magazine to stay awake. The first thing I saw when I open the mag (I have a habit of reading from the middle) was my name! haha

I submitted my comment via e-mail (got to know through fb) and yes, mine is featured! Even though they accidentally posted another person's picture, I'm still quite contented! hehe *syoks*

I'll blog about Bintulu when I have time.

P/s : It's such a good day today :)

Macaroons from Harrods

You know I've always secretly believe that I'm quite easy to please? No, not in terms of my sexual needs. ( I wouldn't be able to judge on that. *cough*) But more like, the route to my heart. I have sweet tooth and is absolutely a fan of desert. Bring me for desert and you get me smiling. :)



Latest obsession on my desert plate is non other than french macaroons! I love how it's so colorful, so detailed and so pretty!



I've been wanting to sample the macaroons from Harrods since .. err, I lay my eyes on these gems? hehe. I usually get the urge to try something when I read people waxing lyrical on it but to be honest, I never read about this one. Because well, it's Harrods! What could go wrong in Harrods? Lol. ( The rye bread there is really good too btw.)



I just got the chance to taste the macaroons a couple of days ago for a certain occassion but unfortunately after much anticipation, I wasn't swept off my feet. Hahah. Well, it tasted good and rich but I much prefer the one in InterContinenatal Hotel (previously Nikko Hotel) I find the one from Harrods a little too soft. It didn't fail to give me a good sugar rush tho'!



Yes, so buy me pretty macaroons or a slice of red velvet cake and you're hitting the G spot - figuratively of course ;p

xoxo *hearts*