Tom, Dick and Harry@Pavillion

Usually we don't do big lunches but since it's Friday (woohoo!!) we decided to go try out one of the restaurants lining the path outside Pavillion. Tom, Dick and Harry apparently revolved from a neighbourhood pub to a mall-ish pub with hints of the former. There are live performances at night but let's go back to their set lunch.. It has been launched (the set lunch) since 15th October for a rather affordable price of RM18 as compared to their usual price of RM20+ for the mains alone.

The set comes with a choice of soft drinks (we had sprite and soda), either the soup of the day OR dessert (pumpkin and creme brûlée) and a mains (roast chicken/fish & chips/foot long sausage/pork chop/olio oglio).

I have never been a fan of soda plain up but he seems to prefer it (telling himself it contains no sugar to motivate ownself since glupping the rather bland fizzy drink with a slight bitter aftertaste doesn't sound like much fun to me, hahhaha).

The pumpkin is alright in my opinion, a tad creamy with some buttery and nutty taste of the pumpkin. The garlic bread on the side is crunchy and garlicky (nyum!).

Since both of us have the pork chop, I can't review the rest of the mains...perhaps if I give it another visit but for the pork chops, I like it. It's pretty much a plain lean pork marinated lightly and pan-fried/grilled. The meat is quite ok for a thick cut of lean pork, tender with a little bite to it. The vegetables are stir-fried with garlic and the whole meal comes with a side of fries too! Overall the serving is a little small but I guess we can't complain when we only pay RM18nett for food in Pavillion.

The highlight of my meal is probably the creme brûlée which is so tiny that I have to scrap the sides of the ramekins! Urgh, where did they find such tiny ramekins? It feels creamy and smooth, but I'm not sure whether I tasted it right as there seems to be some hints of rum in it. Anyway it is sooooo good! I wonder if the ala carte of the creme brûlée comes in the same minuscule size? @@ Part of me

Is hoping that's just cos of the set lunch and the real one won't be RM15 for such a tiny portion~ hehe!

The Gollum Sentiments~

With all the hype on LOTR and its recent release of The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, I decided to elaborate a little on life (with lots of inspiration and ideas from my muse ;P) with reference to our beloved character, Gollum!

The ONE ring can also be synonymous to what certain individual hold dear and refuse to share, like knowledge, material stuff, food... the list can go on and on..They refuse to donate even a tiny bit of their so called personal stash even if it will not benefit others monetarily and at most save others a few minutes. Their precioussssss are so important that they would resort to giving lame excuses and what not...

Honestly, when you think about it, LOTR's Tolkien is probably so frustrated over the mean-ness of people around him that he comes up with his series of successful LOTRs. Grrrr! I am so pissed at some of the people I have to deal with to earn a morsel of living~

A Walk with Dinosaurs 3D

Well, since I'm posting up stuff in my blog, I might as well review this ASAP! I was excited the whole day cos I got the tickets to watch the premiere of A Walk with Dinosaurs 3D in 1-Utama. The trailers were nice, the advertisements were enticing, so naturally I am pretty hyped! Anyway, after work we rushed over to 1-U, got our dinner real quick and collected the tickets.

5 minutes into the movie, I feel like I was in a C-flick... Granted, the 3D effects are there, DUH! the animations are OK for the dino but what spoils the whole movie most are the rather stand-in-the-mud humour. They are fine for stand-up comedy or even on paper but with dino talking like some modern dudes...that's just a little off. The jokes are also alright and funny at times but sadly they take away some of majestic-ness? of the dinos.

If it's not a free ticket, I would be pretty annoyed at forking out about RM20-30 per pax for a show like this. However, the good thing is they let you keep the 3D glasses (we asked :P cos they have them all packed in clear resealable plastics for everyone)

All the same, I do appreciate Nuffnang giving out the tickets for us (just in case) ahahhaha!
Unless you are really too bored, then this movie is not worth spending a whole evening for.

Ah Yen Seafood @Batu Kawan

The last time I came here was years ago. This place used to be a wooden restaurant with rather *ahem* rustic feel...The food was cheap and good so after pining after it for many a years, I finally came back! (after much hankering and some last minute googling for GPS coordinates) to realise that they have upgraded themselves to a brand new building, with aircon to boot! @@ With a heavy heart (even though I am anticipating good seafood already) we went in... The new renovations and upgrades imply heftier pricetags *sigh*

And well, maybe it was a very long time ago but the crabs and oysters have doubled in price! Hahaha~ Oh well...the food is still as good as I remembered.

We started the *ahem* late lunch with the usual : coconut juice and some chinese tea ;) (Chinese tea is in anticipation of the large feast) It's my first time having seafood for lunch and such a heavy meal it was too!~
The service is a little slow, but as we were getting grumpy, the arrival of the food cheered us up some..

I will start according to my photo arrangements so...first up, the Assam Prawns. This is probably one of the best Assam Prawns I had outside. It is succulent, fresh and well-marinated with sweet and slightly sourish tamarinds...OMG, one plate is simply not enough! We were practically fighting for them. Double thumbs up!

Next up, the salted egg yolk squids...They were very generous with the salted eggs unlike some of the seafood restaurants I've been to but the amount of curry powder that they coated the squids with in the batter more than cover up the taste of the salted eggs. Also, although the portion is quite generous, it feels a bit too much towards the end of the meal.

We ordered the Four Heavenly Kings (basically four different bean or gourd-based vege fried in sambal belacan). In this case, we have petai, long beans, four-side beans, and lady fingers with lotsa juicy prawns thrown in. This is quite good for me but I'm not really a big fan of the petai so I pretty much picked out the other veges.

Last but not least, I ordered the fried mee tiao (long noodles?) cause I remembered them being very good before. I am slightly disappointed as there are probably two small prawns and two rings of squids inside only. The taste is quite alright but well, I had high expectations for this since this was one of the highlights when I came before.

The price might have increased from the one I was expecting but nevertheless it is still cheap compared to cities' seafood and best of all, most of the food are good..so at least you know what you are forking out is worth it.

For visits, do note that they are open for lunch all the way to late dinner...no closing during afternoon.

GPS coordinates: 
5.2643065871078N, 100.42263279012E

Ah Yen Seafood Restaurant
701, Batu Kawan,
14110 Simpang Ampat,
Penang, Malaysia.

04-5872616@019-4133379

What to eat in Taiping?

As I am writing this, I am currently on the way back from my Bidor/Taiping/Kuala Kedah/Batu Kawan weekend getaway. More about the Batu Kawan seafood review here! As much as I enjoyed the feasting and weight-putting, most of my time is spent stuck on the highway. My God! Everyone got the same idea to travel for short trips over the weekend since it's the school holidays and all I think.. Oh well, that gives me more time to write up on the food I had.

We reached Taiping at about 4pm, just in time to drop by the Circus Ground for some tauhua and soy milk. IMO, I prefer the one nearby Hotel Istana KL backlane's or Penang Fettes Park's as theirs have more bite to it. However, this is definitely something different if you like creamier and softer version of tauhua. This remind me of yoghurt with soy flavour. Hahaha!

The total is about RM4.10 for two bowls of tauhua and a glass of soy milk. Quite OK I guess but just FYI the one in kl is about RM3 for the same thing so... Like I said, this can be something different to try when in Taiping. My bf seems to prefer this so who knows? Maybe you will too.

To pass time, we basically went around the Lake Gardens snapping lots of pictures of yours truly...thank you very much...and going round admiring the pretty trees..after a while this gets boring so we decided to hunt for more food even though we are not exactly hungry..ahahha soooo.....

Next, a trip to Kuala Sepetang for seafood. This is one of my fave low cost (not really) haunt for cheaper seafood as compared to KL. You get the rustic old fishing village feel to it and can even catch some monkeys hanging out across the river in front of you.

If you noticed there are black lilspeckles across the river i.e. Mr monkeys! Oh this shop is a lil hard to locate but the effort is definitely worth it. In case you are wondering, this place is called Xin Seafood,  Kuala Sepetang. Oh and in case you have some spare spaces in your tummy after this, you can drop by the pasar malam at this area too! There's a lot of stalls around selling snacks and knick knacks in this otherwise quiet town previously known as Port Weld. Ok back to Xin Seafood~ basically you choose whatever you want in front of the shop itself before proceeding to your seat (optional or you can just send a rep).

For tonight we had the steam garoupa. Verdict: Excellent! I absolutely love the generous amount of fried garlic on top and the fish is so fresh and tender the flesh just drops off the bone. The snow fish is good too (had that on a previous trip). We decided to try d baby crabs since every table there is having that and it's a correct choice! It's deliciously crunchy with a hint of curry powder. Every tiny bite is as appetizing (well at least while they are steaming hot). I find the lala quite average. We had it with taocheong (fermented soy beans) as recommended by waitress. I probably wouldn't order this again in the place as it is a little bland for me..The kangkung on the other hand was wonderfully cooked with fragrant belacan and peppered with lots of dried shrimps. It is a must order in my opinion...

A quick break to drop everything at the very clean but basic hotel before moving on to siang malam for supper. We stayed at Hotel Furama which is cheap, clean and homey. The owner collected a lot of knick knacks and displayed them everywhere in the hotel in pretty glass display. The toys are just their version of Xmas deco... And check out the front of their hotel. Isn't the water feature simply adorable? Best of all, the hotel has a nice collection of books in their library!

After reading some of the books in the hotel, my tummy digested most of the food consumed earlier. So...Supper at Siang Malam (Day and Night)! Basically, this is probably cause it's open from evening to early morning. The best food here is the Chee cheong fun! No doubt about it. There's some other choices too like the wantan mee, or  curry Yong tau hu and Nasi Lemak~ I like the tea here also but the milo is astonishingly thick if you like urs the way I do...then go for the milo :)

For Breakfast, we headed to Casual Market at Taiping town itself. There are lots of selection here but here's some of the food we had:

(from left to right) 1) Milk tea at Stall #65 [Nyummy with more than generous amount of milk...if you are not a fan of milky tea, den maybe you should give this a miss]

2) Rice Cake at one corner of the market PS: Forgot to note any stall number but since the auntie is in the pic, you can prolly look for her [Not a fan but it comes with a slightly sweet bean sauce...very very popular with the local so maybe a try? Since it is pretty cheap at RM0.50 a piece]

3) Wan Tan Mee again (this is at the stall directly behind the char kueh tiaw {Stall # 63}) [Very popular with the locals as well, as for me, maybe I'm just a picky eater but I don't really like the kicap...however I basically don't like any kicap with too much caramelization i.e. with bitter aftertaste if you know what I mean] 

4) Char Kueh Tiaw at Stall #63, I quite like this even though it is not the usual style I love (I like mine with lotsa Chinese sausages, prawns and egg [[penang-style]] I was here early enough to have mine fried by the older uncle..apparently his kids take over from him later in the day and their frying skills are not as good as the old pro..hahaha..so lucky me~ His version of char kueh tiaw is actually quite fragrant with some fishballs, charsiew and bits of pork thrown in...the kueh tiaw smells slightly of XO sauce..the kind some shops preferred in frying their meat and noodles

5) Chicken Soup Noodles at Stall #62 aka Ayam Mee Soup. If you want something lighter in the morning, this will do just nicely. It comes in a pretty humble appearance..just shreds of boiled chicken in clear soup and garnished with some chinese coriander. The broth is light and wholesome and for an extra kick, just dump the chilli paste they give you and your ayam mee soup will taste different entirely. :) One price for two different style of noodles, only in Taiping!

The Press Room, Bangsar

This is one of the best place to have your brunch, dinner, lunch or anything in between...
Despite not being there in nearly a year, my visit today for dinner here is truly memorable...

The food is as good as we remember...

The service is even better than any service you get in most hotels..

And best of all, the price of the meal is truly reasonable...

Let's see, we had the set dinner which roughly adds up to about RM116 for two. Bear in mind that the normal portion might be slightly pricier but the food there is always generous...and when the service is as good as this place's, a little extra might be worth it, don't you think?


We started off with the basket of bread, followed swiftly with the appetizer... we both had the same thing..the cold meat platter... there's beef amongst all those meat but they will enquire about your eating preferences so don't worry...the other choices for the day includes the pumpkin soup and a chicken salad...

The usual free basket of bread

The cold cuts (minus some) cos I took some greedily before I remembered I have not taken any photo

I would advise against finishing the first basket of bread no matter how good they are with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar...cos the appetizer comes with a brioche-like bread to go with the cold cuts...and they truly are filling..there's about 4 different types of meat peppered with rosemary and a lil olive oil-soaked baby tomatoes (soooo sweet) on the side...the pieces of biscuits on top work nicely to just take off the richness of the meat...*sigh, so much meaty goodness*

Next comes the roasted turkey with some mashed sweet potatoes and chestnuts..oh and some cranberry jam too! The meat is definitely tender, and not overcooked like most restaurants'. You can actually choose from a choice of three mains: the turkey, fish and chips or a seafood pasta I think...The turkey leg is gigantic! About 3-5 times a palm's size..so if you gobbled up too much bread or even finish your appetizer all on your own (unless you can really eat, like someone I know *ehem*) then you prolly couldn't even take half of the main already... The waiter is really attentive and will pop around asking whether you need anything extra...like some extra cranberry sauce, some black pepper, etc etc...*thumbs up!*

Check out the gigantic drumstick!

Then, there's the rich Christmas pudding...which is packed full of mixed fruits and spices (cinnamon being the only thing I could name) but slightly too sweet for me...that aside, it is definitely a good pudding (if you are still hungry by this round) LOL. Oh they drizzle a lil royal icing I think...or some sorta more watered down royal icing? on the pudding...I would prefer some clotted cream or less sugary whipped cream with it since it is a little too sweet already but that's the norm I guess with the Christmas theme and all...hahaha
PS: The pic might not do the food justice but believe me, they are good...

Christmas pudding

By the time I played around a little (meaning stuffing my face) with the pudding, I am ready to call it a night...but nooo....our nice waiter actually comes around and offers a whole list of coffee...and being a coffee lover, I just couldn't say no...to be fair, it's just a cup of coffee...so why turn it down right? There's a whole long list to choose from...the usual cappucino, long black, latte, machiato...bla bla bla

Coffee? NOOOOO..it's more!!!

The waiter comes asmiling..Guess what? It's not just a cup of cappucino but that! and a nutty-like muffin on the side and a platter of sweets*slash*chocolate*slash*cake
OMG!!! And the cappucino is really really really good~ Much better than most coffee shops around~

All in all, I would recommend this place as the BEST PLACE for your Christmas dinner for 2013!

Address: Lot G110 Ground Floor, Bangsar Shopping Centre, Jalan Maarof, 59100 Bangsar, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Phone:+60 3-2095 8098

A day in the sea!

Who would have thought weeks offshore would lead me to continue writing for my long-forsaken blog? Haha. Honestly I guess I only turn to blogging when there’s not much to do in life. Otherwise, between work, play and travel, there’s not much time left for it. Yeah, if I am disciplined and have the determination to portion off part of my day each day like some of the dedicated bloggers, I could prolly keep this blog sufficiently updated. :D
Oh well, sadly I’m not and now I finally have the time after nearly three weeks offshore when I’ve basically went through lots of drama series, dozens of movies, a couple of books and those things got pretty repetitive in a way. I’ve never been to any part of Africa or nearby it and the only thing I associate with it is prolly safari. You know? The wildlife we are always watching being featured on Discovery or National Geographic on the TV. Maybe also from reading lots of novel before, I was very fascinated about Africa, Cape Town and such for the mineral finds, namely diamonds – a girl’s best friend. ;) And recently before I left the country for here, the other info I had was the news of kidnaps and murders (which is definitely a damper on d mood).  As apprehensive as I was, plans were made and I am pretty much a confirmed candidate to go. So obediently I got my yellow fever, Hep A and Hep B jabs, got ready my malaria tablets and packed up my bags. The flight was pretty OK but from when you are on and off the planes for nearly 24 hours with a few hours of transit in between, it starts wearing you down.
My journey started from KL – Singapore – Doha – Johannesburg – Mozambique. Oh and did I mention Madagascar actually existed? LOL. I thought it’s a make-believe place in that movie and what do you know? It’s real! Haha. And while on board, I recently read somewhere that it has no extradition treaty with the US! @@
Anyway, even being so near to all these places, being stuck on the vessel is limiting me to imagining what could be out there. I could really experience the phrase ‘so near and yet so far’ when it comes to exploring this new place. And from my research before my trip, (yes, I researched cos before this Mozambique has never crossed my head) apparently this is a snorkelling slash diving paradise with its own special breed of sharks only available here. And with colleagues claiming they’ve seen dolphins chasing the ship, can you blame me for getting my hopes up in trying to spot some of these creatures namely the dolphins, not the sharks, thank you very much? Haha. Sadly I’ve never seen any so far but fingers crossed eh? Well, I’ve noted some jellyfish and fishes during the day at certain times sometimes, kinda reminded myself of the Life of Pi, which is prolly a testimony of me watching too much movies and having too good of an imagination. Honestly I hope the shipwreck thingie never happens. What with the sharks being a possibility in these waters, can’t say I am looking forward to taking a swim around here. Do you know that peeing or discharging bodily fluids in water actually attract their attention? And not just blood? Sheesh! And that’s for a radius of about 2kms! Okay, I digress. Anyway, I am still pretty jittery when there’s any loud grating sounds from the ship (even though now I know the thrusters or something made those sounds) or even vibrating motions at times.
Life on board is pretty boring. There’s pros and cons. You work a 12-hour shift but at least you get to eat and drink whenever you want even though there are specific meal times for main meals. The rocking motion of the sea could seem appealing at first I mean, I love the feel of floating on those floats in the pool but while the song “rockaby baby” plays in my head, when the seas get rough or the ship travels fast, the rocking would be best described as a short-rapid-emergency brakes-feeling which is non-stop and can induce vomiting (non-stop as well) :P However, these sea-sickness will wear off by the first week (the norm). And taking a dump when the sea is rough? LOL I must admit it is a very….ehem…liberating experience? :S The seas is pretty amazing though. Those deep, deep blue of the waves with the occasional dark-blue edged jellyfish are gorgeous. As relaxing as that would be, it is pretty boring when you can’t do anything more than look at the same thing over the next few weeks. I missed Malaysian food, with the roti-canai or dimsum for breakfast, good old Penang char kueh tiao for lunch, some chicken rice maybe? Good old kaya toast for tea breaks and nice chinese ‘choo-chao’ for dinner. Maybe I’m just picky but it’s just fusion westernised food all through out and believe me when I say the quality of the food wasn’t all that. It could be that cos this is a small ship and cater to about less than 50 employees but still…..and the cleaning crew is less than satisfactory here unlike the raves I’ve heard about of previous crew or projects or ships/barges/rigs. Oh well! At least I don’t spend a dime when I’m here. Haha!