Cendol @ Bukit Rambai, Malacca

There's just something about Malacca that makes me want to return here. Managed to 'tumpang' Janis's visit home to her hometown, finally! The trip turned out to be a great makan-makan and photography trip.

It was a real hot afternoon

Janis and her brother subtly "protest" when I said I want to have the 'famous' cendol from this seemingly 'popular' shop that sells cendol and assam laksa along Jonker Street. They can't wait to bring me to try this lady's cendol at Bukit Rambai.

One part of the home turned 'business area' for the cendol fans

She is a pure Nyonya, whom operates the cendol business all by herself. This cendol stall is only open on Saturdays (its pretty obvious that she doesn't work for the money) and she operates the business right at her own yard. The fact that this isn't located within a busy commercialized area, yet, customers were coming in non-stop, made me can't wait for my bowl of cendol to arrive. The customers were mainly locals, and most were nice enough to self-service, by collecting the cendol on their own.

Putting the shaved ice onto the bowl

The shaved ice was really smooth, and just by mixing it for secs, it melted, and blended well with the bowl of starch noodle with green food coloring, palm sugar, red beans and coconut milk.

Bowl of cendol. Price-RM1.50

The green starch noodle is apparently supplied by the lady's brother, whom supplied to several cendol sellers in Malacca. Can really taste that these were freshly made, and just love the fragrant pandan smell, and this lady also used real thick and pure coconut milk.

Yummy bowl of cendol

If you ask the local for this Nyonya lady's cendol at Bukit Rambai, they should be able to direct you. *<>*

(My actual visit here : 171009)

Strawberry Field @ PJ States

Met up with SK, whom I was real close to, during my days at NM. Its been a year plus since we last met.

Based on where's convenient for the both of us, we met at Strawberry Field at PJ, States, last 2 Fridays.

I've been here few times in the past, mainly to have drinks, thus on that night, we opted for cantonese fried kuey teow, and the tom yam mee hoon. Their food and drinks are reasonably priced here.

The cantonese fried kuey teow though nothing fantastic, the standard was on par with some of the 'dai chau' restaurants that I go to. The kuey teow fried till just nice, and thickness of the gravy was also just nice.

Cantonese style kuey teow. Price-RM6.50

The tom yam mee hoon was really good. Just the smell of the tom yam when it was served made me drool. The soup was really good, cooked with sufficient spices, which makes it real aromatic. We really loved this. Tom yam is best eaten together with mee hoon, for the mee hoon could fully absorb the soup.

Tom yam mee hoon. Price-RM6.50

Yum, yum... Can we start eating, SK?

It was a lovely catch up. The close to 3 hours of catching up doesn't seem quite enough - SK, you better not be such workaholic, and spare me more of your time, ok?? *<>*

Me & SK (both with initials of SK, actually)... *<>*

For an evening, in a cosy environment, with food and drink, the total bill came up to RM20.40. Where else to find such 'peng, leng, cheng' place? Keke....

Kafe Strawberry Fields
(behind OCBC bank, facing Menara MPPJ)
14 Jalan Tengah, PJ
Tel : 03-7960 1268

**Halal

(My actual visit here : 091009. Total bill-RM20.40. Thanks SK for dinner)

Sudu @ KL Hilton

I meet up Cass for semi-buffet at Sudu, KL Hilton last week, to take advantage of Cass's membership card.The semi-buffet offers choice of a main meal from their menu, and unlimited serving of appetizers, other food and dessert from the spread. Price will be based on item ordered from the main menu. 3 selections are made available for each of the differently priced main meals - RM99, RM119 and RM129 which are further subjected to 15%.

I chose the slow roasted salmon with oyster mushroom and asparagus whilst Cass opted for the roasted lamb, with stir fried vege and peanut sauce. Both priced at RM119, each.

As it will take 20mins for preparation for the main course, we started our dinner with mushroom soup - which tasted really good as can taste its made from fresh mushroom, fresh prawns,baby octopus and oysters (topped with caviar) - the size of oyster was just nice, not too big, and absolutely fresh. Good start to our dinner.

Mushroom Soup

Oysters, Bamboo Clam, Prawns and Baby Octopus for sharing

The slow roast salmon was roasted till really soft, and served together with risotto. Somehow, I do not quite fancy how this was done, as it felt a little too soft. Guess this way of preparation doesn't quite suit me.

Slow Roast Salmon

Cass loved the lamb. Doesn't have the too strong taste of lamb.

Roasted Lamb

Though I was complaining to Cass that night on how my pants has gone tighter, which signals that I should be going on diet, I in fact did the opposite by going for a few rounds of food. Hmmm... However, we weren't tooo greedy, for we only took ala sampler size of some of the preferred items from the spread.

Sampler Plate.. hehe..

The fresh seafood and assorted caviar

Cass absolutely loved the aromatic coffee - she had 2 cups, and me being really really full, managed to slowly sip, and finished 1 cup too. We ended the semi buffet with bite-sized desserts, and 2 'mini' scoop of ice-cream.. Hmm..

Me & Cass. Cheers Cass.

Pleasant evening. The price that came up to about RM150 after discount was a little high. Thought it wasn't quite worth it should we need to pay full price.

As patrons to restaurants, we were entitled to parking voucher of RM6 for first 2 hours. Our both parking fee combined came up to RM32 - wa liau... that's the price to pay for 'lepaking' at KL Hilton.

Sudu, Hilton Kuala Lumpur
3 Jalan Stesen Sentral
50470 Kuala Lumpur

**Halal

(My actual visit here : 071009. Thanks Cass for dinner)

Kura @ One World Hotel, PJ

To gather a bigger group of working adults, especially of those from one of the more busy industry - media advertising, can at times be quite a task. "Special" effort is made for special occasions like birthdays.

This is what the early birds do - Me, Candice & Suan, using timer to snap self-shot

Yack yack & yack, to kill time, while waiting for the others

The last 3 of the 11 people - arrived late, yet in style.. hehe..

Last Thursday, a gang of ex-colleagues gathered at Kura, Japanese restaurant at One World, to celebrate birthday of 3 special ladies - Jo, Suan & Rina.

After all the 'kaki' arrived by around 8.45pm, it was time to do the ordering. Imagine the 'noise-pollution' by 1o ladies and 1 man attempting to order. At the end, managed to settle for few set dinners, rolls and some side order.

All of us loved the food here.By ordering a few dinner sets, rolls, ala-carte order of fried oyster and salmon head, our table were totally filled up, once the food were all served.

The stamina roll was one of my favourite. The big slice of eel was roasted well, and it being wrapped around rice filled with avocado and omelette roll tasted yummy.

The soft shell crab roll also tasted good, as it was fried till just the right level of crispiness. Salmon head and teriyaki chicken was also 2nd round of order, and salmon head is recommended, as we can taste the sweetness and freshness of the salmon. Teriyaki chicken tasted just alright.

From top left clockwise : Stamina Roll. Price-RM32,Spider Roll. Price-RM22,
Grilled Salmon Head. Price-RM15, Chicken Teriyaki. Price-RM18

Overall the dinner set was good. We took a little of each from each set, and we had a little of everything. *<>* I liked the fried oyster, as it was coated and fried really well, and the batter sticked on well to the rather big sized oyster.

From top left clockwise : Rokkaku Bento, Price-RM65, Sashimi to Yakizakana Zen.Price-RM45,
Part of the Kura Maru Bento, Price-RM85, Fried Oyster-RM25

From left : Sushi to Chicken Teriyaki Zen. Price RM45, Sukiyaki Beef Set.Price-RM42, Sushi Set

Since it was 9pm+ when food were served, total silence at 1 point, with all busy filling up their stomach.

Dinner turned buffet style - go around to get what you wanna eat

We ended the dinner by singing birthday song for the birthday girls. And this cake was really good, called the Mango Yoghurt cake from Cake Sense.Like the taste of mango, spongy cake texture, slight creamy taste and with the right level of sweetness.

Mango yoghurt cake from Cake Sense.Price-RM26.90. Just a nice size, and price was just nice too

Just look at the cake. Looked real appetizing

The 3 birthday girls - Jo, Rina & Suan. Happy Birthday Girls!!!??? Ladies!! ?? Woman *<>*

The whole gang : Standing from L : Karen, Casyn, Clarice, BC, Belle, Kristine, Candice and Myself
Seated from L : Jo, Rina and Suan

When we first looked at the price on menu, felt it was rather expensive. However, with the total bill that came up to RM560, thought it was quite worth it, considering the amount of food we had the other night, plus it is Japanese restaurant in hotel wor...

Kura Restaurant @ One World Hotel
First Avenue, Bandar Utama, PJ
Tel : 03-7681 1111

Business Hours :
Mon-Thu 11.30am - 3pm, 6pm-10.30pm
Fri, Sat, Sun 12nn-11pm

Pork Free

(My actual visit here : 011009. Total Bill-RM569)

Delicious @ Dua Residency

Running out of idea where to go last 2 Fridays, and since I've heard quite a lot about Delicious at Dua Residency, Beng Geok and I headed there. Though its interior is no different from the rest of the Delicious outlets, I somewhat liked this outlet better - could be drawn by the Deli downstairs, and the part where it also operate as florist. Love the variety of flowers sold downstairs (which girl doesn't just love flowers... *<>*)

Inside Delicious - one look you see them all

Pot of earl grey and peppermint tea. Price-RM9.90 each

After a real heavy lunch, we decided to just share a sandwich. Opted for the seafood sandwich, and we really loved this. The sauce that accompanied the seafood (prawn, squid, fish) was this thick creamy sauce, with slight sourish taste, and the lime added zest to the overall taste. For sharing, just nice - think may be a little too much if were to have it on my own.

Seafood sandwich. Price-RM19.90

Me & Beng Geok - yack the whole night long

They also have live performance - love the lady singer. Its so nice to be seated at the restaurant, with live music on the background (seems like background music, as it is rather spacious here) coming from the other end of the restaurant.

Singer was on a break

Would definitely come back here. Parking per entry was RM5, much better than some places that charge up to RM10 just for parking.

Delicious @ Dua Residency
Apt 211 Jalan Tun Razak,
Dua Residency, 50400 KL
Tel : 03-2166 2066

**Halal

(My actual visit here : 250909. Total Bill-RM51.40)

Sentul Ah Yap Hokkien Mee @ Damansara Utama

Heard the famous Sentul Charcoal Hokkien Mee opened a branch at Damansara Utama recently, thus went to try out last week.

A must order is their Hokkien Mee, and I really love this. A right combination with slight taste of the black thick sauce, right thickness of gravy, and with the pork-lard used made the hokkien mee taste even better.

Hokkien Mee. Price-RM6

However, the canton fried yee mee was an absolute disappointment, for the yee mee tasted 'plastic-ky' and it was a little hard to chew. Perhaps it wasn't fried long enough? Not sure, but just didn't like this.

Canton Fried Yee Mee. Price-RM6

Being a fish cake lover, I absolutely love this. Can taste freshness of fish used in making this, and it was fried till just nice. The sauce - slightly sourish and spicy chilli sauce complements the fish cake well.

Fish Cake. Price-RM8

Sentul Ah Yap Charcoal Hokkien Mee
111G, Jalan SS21/37,
Damansara Utama, 47400 PJ.
Tel : 012-303 6800 (Bernard) / 012-281 6862 (Danny)

Business Hours : 11am-2am

*Non-Halal

(My actual visit here : 280909. Total Bill-RM23)