Salt & Pepa, Miri

This is probably one of the worst experience I could have sampling cafes in Miri. Granted, I only tried their coffee and cakes but those alone were not very impressive; more towards disgusting.

The cafe actually looks alright; until when I was walking to place my order at the counter and saw a big cockroach running around. Granted, the server and waiter tried to kill it and was successful after a few strenuous moments.

The cockroach was roaming right in front of the counter's floor.

Undeterred, I placed my order for a chocolate cake and a lemon cream cheese frosting cake alongside a latte and mocha. The drinks were not bad but the cakes were simply disappointing.

The lemon butter cake was a little underdone and the cream cheese frosting were disgusting, reminding me of the bad smel of vomit. 😨😨😨

The chocolate cake was also underdone and the frosting was not made of good quality chocolate, lending a rather sugary texture which does not reflect any rich chocolate flavours we would associate with a chocolate cake.

I wouldn't recommend this cafe for their cakes at all but I guess it's all up to you. :)

Lot 2036, Block 9 MCLD Marina Square, 98000 Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia

Restoran Sek Yuan, Pudu

Tucked away in a corner of KL is this dated famous restaurant. Despite the changes in the city, this restaurant managed to retain much of its old-world charms. The only difference would probably be that they have expanded to include an air-conditioned wing in a shoplot right next to the original. Needless to say, we chose the air-conditioned one for our dinner. It was a very hot night OK? :P

If you are not looking for it, this restaurant could be easily missed. The shop's name was not exactly well-lit and it was tucked into a small dark alley. The lit-up small "name-plate" was really easily missed from the main road especially if you are not going at a low speed.

What did I say? Old-school charms. Check out their assorted memorabilia from different times in the past. I love their bamboo-themed bar *slash* counter.

This is the non-air-conditioned wing or outlet. It is actually right next to the air-conditioned one so if you would prefer the original setting, this would be the one you need to go into. :P

We started off with the usual nuts (not sure if it's complimentary). The broad nuts were nyum and crunchy, but I guess you could probably get any of these from the usual supermarket-packed ones.

LOL. Yes, I must take photo of every single thing I consumed. LOL. It's Chinese Tea in case you missed it. :P

The Pi-pa duck here was AMAZING! Crispy skinned duck with flavoursome tender meat, paired with sweet plum sauce. We couldn't get enough even though it's half a duck between the three of us!

The fried (fake) shark's fin is actually fried vermicelli with egg. I love this dish even though I still think my aunt made an even better one! Haha. It's not as salty as I would like but the fragrance from the "wok-hei". We didn't bother eating it much with the lettuce even though we were supposed to. 

The stir-fried vegetables was also pleasant but it was not as out-of-this-world as the rest.

Overall, I feel this restaurant deserves a visit; if just for the atmosphere alone.

Sek Yuen Restaurant 

No 313-1 & 315,

Jalan Pudu,

55100 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-92229457/03-92220903

Haya Don @ Wisma Cosway, KL

A pretty good economical Japanese-styled food. They mostly specialized in bowls of rice hence their Don in the name of the shop. I would say for RM9.90 a bowl, this is a value-buy. The ones below are the spicy chicken rice bowl which is their special for Tuesday if I remembered correctly. Each weekday has a different special and they are all priced at about RM9.90.

The spicy chicken rice was quite delicious. The bowl is packed full of rice and topped with spicy fried chicken which was quite crispy and had some spicy mayo drizzled over them.

I actually went back the following week with my colleagues and I felt that this shop could be a potential regular spot for lunch, especially if you are working in the area.

Haya Don

Lot 2.38, 2nd Floor, Wisma Cosway,

88, Jalan Raja Chulan,

50200 Kuala Lumpur.