Delicious, 1 Utama

WHOA. That's the only word fit to describe the following dishes. It's not even in a good way. If just by looking at them, would you realise they are the work of Delicious? 

The Aglio Oglio with Seafood looked nothing like how a normal Aglio Oglio should: clear pasta with flecks of chilli flakes and sometimes with sun dried tomatoes tossed in. Bits of garlic and black pepper corn would be expected too. The one below looked slightly tainted with tomato bits although it tasted alright.  There were just three rings of squid and two prawns in the whole plate. Not very appetising right? 

The Seafood Marinara looked to be half the size of the Aglio Oglio. It was bland with what tasted like ready-made tomato purée poured over it. Again, there were three squid rings and two prawns only in the whole fish. 

Maybe they are accustomed to lowering the quality now that they have buy 1 free 1 pasta on weekdays but our visit was on the weekend and without any promotion. Therefore, we were immensely disappointed by our visit. They used to be good but I guess things changed. 

DIY Herb Labels

I just love how those herbs are labelled in photos all over the Internet and after googling around, realised that I do not have the yoghurt cases or some printer or laminating machines. So I decided to just use what I could find around the house.

I used only normal paper, Scotch tape and unwanted plastic stirrers for these DIY labels. 

I first drew all the labels using coloured pens and cut them to sizes. I then wrap the Scotch tape around them before trimming off the unwanted edges. Den making use of the same roll of tape, I simply made some "double tape" from rolling them into tube-shapes and sticking behind my labels onto the plastic stirrers.

They were fast and easy!

Nadeje, 1 Utama

It's been years since I last went to Nadeje. Those days they were only available in Malacca but nowadays they have branches everywhere in KL. Finally last weekend Hubby and I went for a little tea break right before dinner. I ordered their Lychee Green Tea with wolfberries while Hubby had the Orange Yakult. Maybe its because we had the cake so both the drinks tasted a little bland or bitter. 

We both agreed that the Double Chocolate Mille Crepe was amazing though. It's a pity they ran out of the Strawberry Chocolate. Each bite was wonderful with bits of chocolate chip inside. The cream was light and delicious; definitely not cloying. Can't wait to have more next time ;)

I'm not sure whether I should label here as Halal or not as some of their cakes contain Alcohol so I guess technically they aren't but if you purchase the non-alcoholic ones, they should be Halal.
Heh!

Nadeje Cake Shop

Address: GK 101 Ground Floor, 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Lebuh Bandar Utama, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Phone:+60 3-7710 0302

My First Herb Garden

After wanting my own herb garden for so long, I finally got a start to it! Thanks to Hubby I got my first four pots of herbs! I was beyond excited and can't wait to expand them~

I planned to transfer them into a longer rectangular planter when they grow bigger and made my plans below:

*(L): likes lime (so can use egg shells)

Share Pot:
1) Oregano & Rosemary (L) & Sage – DAMP to DRY SOIL/FULL SUNLIGHT
2) Basil (L) & Coriander & Spring Onion & Dill (lao coriander) – DAMP SOIL/SHADY & WARM
3) Mint (CANNOT share)
4) Lemongrass in water will suffice

Hopefully I will get more of them soon!

During our purchase of the herbs, we found that Peppermint + Stavia leaves made an excellent match. I like lemon balm too so maybe those will be next, together with sage. I guess spring onion, lemon grass and coriander I will start from food scraps the next time I buy some for cooking. 

I've been saving my used coffee powder and the cuttings from the leaves etc to make my own organic compost. Heh!

Franco, Mid Valley

It's not our first time but I have been pestering Hubby to come again after I got their promotional voucher from Groupon. However, we were sadly disappointed and the service was terrible. Half the menu was also not available. It was pretty much a horrible experience for us. All the desserts were not available except the Cookies N Cream Parfait. No souffles, no pastries and no toasts! The Lobster Bisque was off the menu as well. We only got our mineral water after 30 minutes and we asked about it thrice; each time to be brushed off as it seemed the staff seemed to only want to serve their own tables and our server was no where to be found. I found this really annoying and calculative of them. I might be wrong but shouldn't the wait staff all work together? Anyway, here's my review:

The Black Squid Ink Rice was not bad albeit its small portion. The scrambled eggs at the side was fluffy and buttery with succulent prawns accompanying the dish. I think it was probably the highlights of the evening. Sadly, there's only four prawns inside. :S

The Spaghetti Yumena was a far cry from their standard. Usually they have some turkey ham, spinach and mushrooms in it but as you can see, all these were missing except the Frankfurters, brinjals and tomatoes. The sesame seeds that I have come to expect with this dish were missing as well. The pathetic poached egg in the middle was quite small and had most of the whites missing.

This was their Pescatora. I had this before and this was very different from the one I had. I think there were less than six clams and two prawns in total. There were no signs of the Green Mussels. I believed there were supposed to have some squids too? The tomato sauce was very bland and in minimal quantity.

We did not have any dessert since there was none but it was lucky because we found a gem in Madame Waffle!

I wouldn't recommend coming to the Mid Valley branch of Franco.

Madame Waffle, Mid Valley

Madame Waffle is my new favourite place for desserts! I was quite dissatisfied after a lousy dinner in Franco and was looking for a substitute since all their souffles and desserts were not available. Madame Waffle had promotional menu for groups and seemed to be quite reasonable provided all the items in the package is what you would want to have. We opted for ala-carte and not the value sets because the items we wanted were not in the package. 

We shared the Durian Crème Brûlée Waffle and the Blueberry Cream Cheese Waffle. Both were excellent with really fragrant waffles garnished with mountains of delicious toppings. I love the blueberry one better but its a close call. The Durian Crème Brûlée had a generous amount of durian cream? and bruleed (torched) a little so they formed crispy caramel layer on top. It was slightly burnt in my opinion and not very enjoyable but otherwise, this was a great dessert. The crunchy cornflakes scattered around it added a nice contrasting texture to the plate. The bits of strawberry and blueberry makes the plate look oh-so-pretty too.

The Blueberry Cream Cheese came with a generous serving of whipped cream cheese topped with blueberry jam and had a tart berry coulis to round it off. The blueberry jam complemented the cream cheese cream really well and the dish felt very refreshing despite having cream cheese which could be quite rich. It reminded me of a cheese cake but with waffle instead!

Good waffles can also be found at Caffe Benne but for more choices, Madame Waffle would still be my choice!

PS: If you like salted egg, they have Salted Egg Yolk Waffle too!

Caffè Benne, Jaya Mall

My first time in Caffè Benne was in Korea but shortly after that, the first Caffè Benne was opened in Sunway, followed by branches all over KL. The branch in Jaya Mall was a little filthy especially their tables and chairs but the food seemed alright. Service was relatively prompt and staff was quite friendly. 

I had the white chocolate latte which was quite creamy with hints of vanilla underlined by strong fragrant coffee. The mug was a generous portion too and I couldn't finish it all in one sitting. 

The strawberry Bing-Su is my favourite! Lots of fresh strawberries gave this refreshing dessert the tang it needed to carry off the sweet strawberry syrup and its sorbet. The delicious red bean paste dilutes some of the sweetness and brings together this dessert wonderfully. With the crunchy bites from the ice shavings, this cold bowl of goodness is a god-send on a hot day!

The beef pie, I am not a fan. I love my pies with short crusts and the chewy ones they use here is not my cup of tea. The fillings were a little starchy although the beef chunks were tender and flavorsome, it was not my favourite. Hubby loved it and cleaned it off his plate in record time though. :S

On the other hand, their waffles have always been YUM and I had the Tiramisu one that day. Yummy coffee ice cream on a big mound of whipped cream smothered by loads of cocoa powder on delicious waffles! Each bite of crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside waffle was saliva-inducing. For even more wonderful waffles, do check out my post on Madame Waffles~

Air Conditioning Installation & Purchases - Tips & Prices

We recently purchased a new air-condition and also had all the old Aircons removed and reinstalled in our new place. After lots of googling and dealing with some "bluffs" from our very own contractor (for the renovation of our house), I figured out a few things which would probably be useful if there has been any websites or blogs on them. Sheesh.

1) Check for a (aircon) contractor who does installation or servicing for the areas in your old house and new one. Therefore, you would not need to pay for the transportation fees since the areas are all under their usual spots. Also, getting two separate contractors would mean  less discounts and possible transportation fee charges. Ours was a little complicated as Shah Alam and Nilai were actually not too far apart but apparently simply by being in another state changes a lot of things for certain unscrupulous people.

Lesson: Get MULTIPLE quotes!!!!

2) Installation and Removal should cost you around less than RM200 (as of March 2016). We got those done per unit of 1HP for RM180. So let this be a guide and bargain as much as possible. Our contractor from the house renovation initially wanted to charge us RM150 or more for only the installation and do not cover the removal and transportation from our old house. Sheesh!

Lesson: Don't be shy about asking and bargaining.

3) BTU matters! This depends on your room and I have below a summary based on EnergyStars.gov's website.

Simply put, a usual 1HP air conditioner is about 7000-10000 BTU. A 1.5HP one would be about 10000-13000 BTU. If you are planning to keep a large area COOL (please not the usage of COOL and not COLD), a 1.5HP could only do so much, especially in a large living space. To be properly cold and comfortable, you would easily need a 2-2.5HP air conditioner. The prices of 1-1.5HP air conditioner of the same brand usually has a difference of only RM200-400 whereas from 1.5HP to 2HP would be a leap of anywhere between RM800-1000. This could be due to the size and the hose (if I am not mistaken) of the unit itself.

The cheapest and best so far, according to the Hubby would be Daikin. We got our 1.5HP inverter inclusive of installation for about RM1.6K and I found out from the same guy they have a 2HP one for about 2.5+K. 

4) Brand MATTERS! You can get different BTU for the same prices from various brands. The highest BTU would be best but you have to consider your BUDGET as well.

5) Energy saving units would mean saving up to 65% of the electrical usage (and your bill, of course) but what if their BTU is excessively low? Get your priority clear so you would not regret your purchases. Check for inverter units~

Suki-Ya Shabu Shabu, Pavillion KL

Shabu shabu is one of my favourite way to eat lots of meat! Thinly sliced meat and cooked quickly in a few swirls inside pipping hot broth, there is not a lot of ways that topped this type of cooking for meat in my opinion. The cooking itself is quite enjoyable and you can chit chat over every few bites while waiting for the meat to be done.

At SuKi-Ya, we get to choose from a selection of four different soup base and during our last trip, we decided on Miso Soup and their Sukiyaki Soup. I personally love their Sukiyaki one because the sweet soy broth when added with lots of meat *hint*, was simply wonderful. I could finish the whole pot of it! Since the meat are buffet-style, you get to have as much lamb and beef as you wanted to. There's chicken too but we decided to just leave it out this time. Do note that wastage might be charged at 20% of the total bill.

With their speedy service, I am quite happy with my visit here and would probably come again. Although drinks are not necessary seeing that this is a hot-pot area where precious stomach space should be kept for the soup, I guess if you needed drinks, their green tea would be the way to go. Cleansing our stomach and also refillable at RM2, its definitely worth it. :)

A lot of dipping sauce was available on top of some sushi and various vegetables. I like their chilli sauce the one on the far left below even though I can't take much heat. 

Visit them and see how you like them at Pavillion's top floor. ;)

Mr. Dakgalbi, Setia City Mall

Dakgalbi is a stir-fried dish in a big wok with chunks of chicken, cabbage, onions and rice cakes with spicy chilli paste sauce famous in Korea. I remembered having this with my Hubby during our Korea Trip last year. It was very warming and hearty especially during the winter months. I was not a big fan but since it was late after our furniture shopping at the expo in Setia City Convention Centre, we decided to give this shop a go.

Like its namesake, this shop aptly called Mr Dakgalbi only featured one item on its menu with a few varieties thrown in. The only other thing available would probably be its fried rice. We chose to have the Mr Dakgalbi (chicken), add on the cheese rice cakes and a Special Fried Rice to share. Since I was still recovering from a bout of diarrhea, we told the waiter to hold off the spicy paste.

The Special fried rice was amazingly fluffy with bits of prawns, chicken and seaweed thrown in. It was very flavoursome and we LOVED it! The portion was quite small though.

When the Chicken Mr Dakgalbi arrived, we were pretty disappointed. As you can probably see from the photo below, the portion was quite tiny. Chicken was well marinated and despite not having the spicy bean paste, it was quite delicious. I did not enjoy the Cheese Rice Cakes as they were very hard and seemed undercooked even though it was fried together with the chicken and the rest of the vegetables.

All in all, I would probably not be back even though the food was alright simply because of their tiny portions and not exactly cheap price.

Mantaray Bar and Restaurant @ Novotel Ningaloo Resort Hotel, Exmouth Australia

Breakfast at Novotel is not a buffet style. You will be pleasantly surprised by their ala-carte breakfast which include coffee or tea and fruit juices. Although choices were limited to about 8, I enjoyed the two I tried; namely their Eggs Benedict as well the Big Breakfast set.

Their Eggs Benedict come with two soft poached eggs dressed with creamy Hollandaise sauce. They are lovingly spread out on a generous slice of ham on top thick brioche. Two stalks of asparagus brightens the plate. I love their eggs and the yolks just oozed out once the knife cuts through them. Asparagus was slightly too hard for my taste but otherwise, this was a good dish.

The Big Breakfast was huge and I couldn't finish everything even though I was famished when I ordered. I had mine with scrambled eggs but you can get your eggs any way you like them. The whole shebang includes sausages, bacon, mushrooms, hash brown, roasted tomatoes, baked beans and bread. It's VERY filling so make sure you are hungry if you want this!

I usually wash down my breakfast with a cup of hot latte but they do offer tea as well.

If you are in the mood for a light lunch, their Snapper Salad is excellent! White, flaky fish with a bed of greens dressed in an amazing mango? sauce I finished every last bite. I especially love the nuts and seeds mixed in the salad!

Dinner was alright but we took ours in the open area. I have always hated cockroaches and the wooden bench we were sitting at for dinner was a breeding ground for them! Throughout our dinner, there were more than 3 even though some of my colleagues bravely killed a few. Ugh!!! And their sizes were bigger than the usual Malaysian ones!

I had the chocolate milkshake which was creamy and quite thick although it was on the too-sweet side.

The garlic bread was dressed with balsamic and would be excellent if the garlic were not burned. I liked the slight tang from the vinegar which contrasted with the buttery bread.

I had the burger which was quite disappointing although its size was very generous. The patty was a little undercooked and I remember thinking that it smelled like uncooked beef. Please don't get me wrong. I love rare steaks but this is a little too under for me.

Dining in Mantaray was pleasant enough except the last night when we sat outside. I would probably sit in the restaurant next time and their service was excellent. Despite a full restaurant, food arrived rather promptly.

Johnny Rockets, Sunway Pyramid

Thanks to Groupon's latest promotion in their vouchers, Hubby and I revisited Johnny Rockets. Our meal cost exactly under RM100 so we just managed to use up most of the value in the voucher purchased. Groupon had a RM65 for RM100 voucher promotion ongoing now so if you are interested, do take advantage of it. Vouchers can be used within ONE month after purchase and no booking or printouts necessary. Just use your mobile and show the waiter your code.

Back to the restaurant. I felt that the branch at Sunway was quite warm even though they tried to accommodate all the patrons by putting a stand "fan" next to each occupied table. However, the restaurant is relatively large and the spacious interior gives a lot of privacy as you don't have to hear conversations from the next table etc.

To start, we ordered a milkshake each at RM18.90 per glass. I had the durian Oreo whilst he had the strawberry banana. Both were quite thick and nyummik although his was slightly sweeter and with such a huge glass, it could get quite  cloying. My durian one was better but the durian flavour tasted quite artificial even though the waitress told me that the durian was from the fresh fruit. Hmm...

Hubby had the normal sized Houston which comes with fries and a side of salad. It was pretty good with Jalapeño peppers and a thick patty of beef. It's quite difficult to bite properly so you can probably imagine it's huge size. It's RM28.90 if I am not mistaken.

I ordered a small size Original Rockets which came with bacon and BBQ sauce. Somehow I was expecting a smaller burger or rather for his Houston to be larger because I actually ordered the small size before so I knew the small one wasn't exactly small. However, I felt that both burgers were the same size actually so I am thinking if we did not go on the voucher, I would be feeling rather cheated by now because the small set is just RM15.90. Granted, some burgers do not have their version of small size but mine do come with the regular sized set. Anyway, I exchanged my fries for sweet potato ones for RM2.90.

The waiters took their time making such cutesy sauces for us! Cute, eh?

Overall, dinner was pleasant and bill came up to a few dollars short of RM100!

Pisang Cheese, Nilai 3

It has been quite a while since I last saw anyone raving about Pisang Cheese (fried banana fritters with cheese). The first time I saw a post about it in Facebook, I must admit I felt really curious but as it was not available in Miri where I was that time, I soon forgot about it. That is until we saw that during one of our weekend trip to Nilai. We stopped at a "warung" (hawker stall) and ordered a serving (RM5) and a plate of keropok lekor to share. I was pleasantly surprised as they had a mixture of Pisang Tanduk and Pisang Abok in the plate garnished with lots of cheese and condensed milk. To tell you the truth, I never expected condensed milk to be part of it but it went well together.

Location: TBC but it is in front of GC lightings Nilai 3. Updates: Please refer the photo below for location. :)

What to eat in Nilai?

Since we will be moving to Nilai soon, I have been busy researching for good food in that area. Sadly, after a full afternoon, I can only come up with a summary of THREE! Thanks to some of the bloggers around. I will be updating these soon with my own photos and reviews once I actually try them out! So stay tuned for more updates! :)

What to eat in Seremban?

Thanks to some posts I saw being recommended online by JohorKaki.blogspot and a few other blogs, I made a summary of all the places to visit and hopefully to be updated after I have actually tried them out. This is on top of the famous Yee Kee Beef Noodles that we have already visited as mentioned in my previous post. So I can't wait to try some of these soon!

Stay tune for my updates!

Novotel Ningaloo Resort Hotel, Exmouth, Australia

Last February I went to Exmouth for work and stayed in the Novotel twice. It is a very small town in rural Australia where the main attraction is either for their port or the whale shark. The town can be explored within a few hours unless you participate in some of their famous dives. The hotel provides free shuttle to town every hour so just let the receptionist know your plans and they will arrange the transportation accordingly.

The first time around they were out of the usual standard rooms so I got a free upgrade to their Superior. It was quite nice as they have a cool bathtube right in front of my room and it was a pool-view room too. The only negative about this hotel would probably be their lack of escalators and lift as well as the distance between the lobby and their rooms. I had to lug my luggage up the two flights of staircase on both visits and it was not very pleasant. 

Mattress was comfortable although they seemed to be a combo of TWO single mattresses. Hmm..

The room was relatively clean although I found hairs and stuff in the corners of their bathroom. @@

Overall, I would say their standard room is pretty similar to the Superior or Deluxe aside from the size of the room and also the availability of the bathtub. They have free laundry services as the washing machines and dryer are located just outside most rooms but it is all self-service.

I would say, asking for a room nearest to the lobby or on a ground floor is a smart move if you are planning to stay here as you would save on the distance you have to lug your heavy luggage around. Wifi is also restricted to the first 30 minutes or 50mb whichever comes first but there is a free computer which can be used for free to surf the net.

Check out their exquisite mineral water bottle! I love the whale shark logo, do you?

Capricciosa Pasta & Pizza, Sunway Pyramid

This is my first visit, and I am still contemplating whether is it worth a second one. The lunch promotion was pretty value for money and the service was not bad, ambience was alright but the main reason was that I got runny stomach after my visit. Granted, hubby did not have any problem but I was a little wary. It might not be their fault but could it be my stomach does not agree with the cream in my pasta? 

Anyway, the whole restaurant was done up in shades of red, white and black. Very chic, if you asked me.

This was what drew our attention. The create your own lunch signboard was very big in front of their shop. Throw in free drinks and soup of the day and we were in!

The drinks were really HUGE and refillable! Perfect if you just want to hang out and chit chat with friends.

The mushroom soup was quite alright, a little on the watery side but easily rectified with the cheese powder. Hehe. Just like in Pizza Hut!

I had the carbonara with Cajun Chicken strip and the amount of chicken they put was very generous. 

He had the meaty sauce and even added on extra Cajun chicken, so you can imagine the portion size!~

If you want to get their free voucher worth RM10, just take 5 minutes of your time and write them a review on the feedback form available on all the tables!