1/2 day trip to Melaka

Went to Melaka for a makan-makan and jalan-jalan trip yesterday with the family.

We got into Jonker street at about 12.30 and were famished.

And to our horror, the famed Chung wah coffeeshop which serves one of the best Chicken Rice Balls in Melaka was soooooo crowded. That's us at the back of the queue (picture 1).

Overheard some Hong Kong tourists asking, ' Why is this shop soooo crowded? Is it the location or the food is that great?' While saying this, he was looking at the uncle chopping the chicken behind the glass (see picture 2), which obviously did not seem very appetizing and hygenic.

Check out my post from last year on this shop for more pictures http://iamsiaoyue.blogspot.com/2008/09/work-work-work-and-eat-eat-eat.html

I do think somehow that quality of food has deteriorated from then.

Taking a stroll down Jonker street under scorching sun is not exactly my idea of fun.

Found my favourite 'ting ting' sweets. 3 street smart kids selling them at RM3 a bag.

We went to Melaka for 3 reasons:- chicken rice balls, nyonya food and pork satay of which we only managed to accomplish 2 due to time constraint.

According to couzzie WF, this pork satay shop has moved 3 times during her last few visits and we had trouble locating it again. (Now, it's situated opposite some school)..ask around for directions!!

The workers hard at work, preparing the skewers.

Mouth watering pork satay with lard that you can't get enough of. But a bit pricey for the price of RM0.55 you're paying for these mini lil skewers. 5 of us had about 40 sticks.

Yeah, so that was it folks.

And....with this I end my last post for 2009 and a link to the world's best airline letter.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/the-worlds-best-airline-complaint-letter-20090130-7tgo.html (have a good laugh -it's hee-la-rious, I swear)

May 2010 be full of wealth, joy and happiness for everyone. Say goodbye to a sucky 2009.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE..and enjoy a beer on behalf of me tonight!

The Christmas Long Weekend

The Winter Solstice festival was also mom's birthday. We had the honour of having cousin WF over to make her special roasts (beef & lamb). You can't get better outside especially here in Malaysia.

Christmas Eve dinner at Noble House in KL with the family. (For posting this picture, I'm afriad the animal activists group will come for my head). Succulent and very crispy roast suckling pig on top of glutinous rice was one of the dishes served.

Countdown at WK's house. Jo and Cal having a bit of fun by the pool area.

Christmas day celebration with friends at WIP Bangsar. Yeah, playing Indian Poker. Very unrefined but great fun nevertheless. (Jack and Jerome)

Jack obviously had lots of fun cause the missus was not around.

Ended the long weekend with a dessert treat at MOF (Ministry of Food) Pavillion yesterday - same level as the food court.

The macha shake, a tad too sweet for my liking, but very rich in taste.

Oooh, I love this green tea ice cream that came topped with fruits, mochi, red bean and jelly.

I can't have a full dessert meal without any savoury dishes. Ordered the wasabi tuna and egg sandwich. No regrets. Generous with toppings, tasty and reasonably priced at RM7.00, accompanied by a lil salad at the sides.

Bill came up to about RM32 for the meal after a 10% discount using the Citibank credit card.

Yeah so folks. That was my Christmas. Special thanks for Cal for the lovely Christian Dior lip gloss, Yogi for the Body Shop lovelies and Joanna for the L'occitaine hand cream.

Let's get ready to usher in 2010 in a few days time! Wooohooooooo!

Merry Christmas!!

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Again remember, don't drink and drive!!!!

What's your secret Christmas wish???

p/s: finally got my Europe trip finalised! Soooooo excited! It will be my maiden trip to Amsterdam, Spain, Portugal and Morocco!!!!! Kev (ex BFF), I'll be sending you a postcard from each country to return the favour. Buzz me your address!!!!!

Hit Man Breaker of theye

OMG I love this dude.... haha he's just awesome !!!! A filipino aspiring to be a singer!

http://www.youtube.com/user/hitmanbreakeroftheye

http://nickdreamerhitmanbreakeroftheye.blogspot.com/

Just a preview of his many, many, many covers

Tiger Woods Condom Anyone?

Wanna get condoms as christmas pressies this season?
What other brand better than to get Tiger condoms.
Available at www.tigercondoms.com at only USD3.95 for 1.
HA HA HA H AH HA

When somethings are just not meant to be...

when you thought all was going well,
until things took a turn for the worse.
what do you do?
and you realize you're all alone and helpless,
with nobody to listen to your whines and whinges......

Hmmmmmm!

Seribu Rasa

10 great photos to show you why you should dine at Seribu Rasa in Jakarta apart from its excellent food. (Note b/h: Pics not taken by me as I forgot to bring my faithful LX 3 out for dinner 2 nights ago).

Note: Must try - their steamed fish.

猜不透 - 丁噹

Ahem...this song is dedicted to someone who still owes me a debt! muahahah

Miitem - Last foodie post in Jakarta

Trying a new font for my blog.

Lunch yesterday at Miitem in Plaza Indonesia will be the last foodie blog of my trip this round. Caught up with Daniel and his wife, a friend from Melbourne whom I've not seen for about 7 years!

So they tell me that this place is famous for its naturally coloured black noodle cooked in various styles. I have no idea where the black comes from!

Restuarant logo taken off travbuddy.com

The restaurant is a cozy little thing which serves excellent food (either that or I have really low standards for food).

For starters we had cheesy bread.

The flaky mushroom pizza was something really different with of course crunch, flaky crusts (like those pastry crusts). I loved it so much I had 3 slices on top of my noodles.

Then came our black noodles. Seriously, the taste well exceeded my expectations. We opted for the fried noodles. Guaranteed, no disappointment, rich in taste and plenty in ingredients.

To finish off our meal, we had the flaky fruit pizza, similiar to our mushroom pizza but topped with fruits and very rich in egg taste. Yummmmm...

Food: 8.5/10

Service: 6/10

Price: unavailable ...did not see the prices but would have been reasonable

Ambience: 7/10

Lara Djonggrang

I enjoyed a lunch out with my high scool mates and their other halves yesterday afternoon. Sass who married Fel, now lives in Jakarta and Jason (+Mary) who were recently posted to Jakarta. Was a great catching up session, seeing how everyone was getting on with their lives, gossiping about people you never liked or what other people are up to now.

Sass brought us to Lara Djonggrang, which serves authentic Indonesian cuisine.

The restaurant and its very unusual deco.

We left the ordering to the experts (Sass and her hubby) who fed us with....

Some deep fried fish cakes

something called Gurame fish if I remember clearly. Something I enjoyed very much!

..and of course the sambal kankung, the usual stuff you have in Indonesia, I reckon

..beef ribs

..and what's considered a complete Indonesian meal without sate. Mutton sate...

meal came up to abt Rp175,000 per pax. We had some other stuff like chicken and fried calamari, which I did not take any pics of.

Overall, a satisfying experience for a lazy Saturday afternoon catching up with some of you oldest friends.

Service: 6.5/10

Food: 7.5/10

Price: 7/10

Ambience: 6.5/10 (I thought some parts of the restaurant was pretty spooky with its rather 'unique' deco)

Han Yang Kagaya Restaurant

Things out of the norm do seem to cross my path whenever I am in Jakarta:- terrorist attacks, guns and last night was no exception. As I was happily dishing into my appetizers at the Korean restaurant (which BTW was fantastic), I heard a loud 'Thhummp' and all the waiters and waitresses rushing towards the stairs with wet tissues and serviettes.

We then found out that a really drunk (Korean) man had fallen and rolled down the stairs and hit on something, he started to bleed. When I managed to catch a glimpse of the man, had 2 ppl carry him out of the restaurant in his blood stained shirt, was that drunk, I think he was unaware of his fall!!!! He obviously looked oblivious to his surrounding.

And...back to my korean feast last night at the Han Yang Kagaya Restaurant. I had chosen Korean simply because there's already a pretty good Jap rest in my hotel and kinda sick of Indonesian food, so William (ex unimate, project mate, study mate at Monash) suggested Han Yang.

I read in a review that it's one of the best Korean BBQ restaurants in Jakarta and very generous with their FOC appetizers. They were right. We had salad, baby corn, clams with salad, tofu, fish cakes, spinach, kim chi (2 plates), steam eggs, marinated cucumbers, pan fried eggs with (something)....

My favourites, the kimchi and the clam with salad dish..

(I won't be able to remember all the Korean names as I left the ordering to William) We started off with our first main, the beef soup with glass noodles. Very rich in taste and generous with their portions.


Other than my regular Jap / Korean rest in Hartamas, I've not found any other place in KL which serves better Cow/ Ox tongue. This is the first time I'm having it in Jakarta and I just have 3 words for it. Just as awesome!!! :)

We had another beef and pork dish and that was all we had for dinner!

For the price we paid for dinner (RP605K ++ for 2 pax), they served us free drinks, appetizers and dessert. Not something you can and would eat on a daily basis but definitely worth the try if you're down in Jakarta, and if you're feeling pretty sick of Indon food.

Address: Jl Senopati No.43C, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta 12190, Indonesia
Tel: +62 21 5212522

Food: 8.5/10

Service: 7/10
Ambience: 6.5/10

Price: 6/10

p/s: 'AwfullyChocolate' is just beside this restaurant and they serve the best banana chocolate cake. (Better than Zang Toi's signature banana choco cake). Can't wait to try the 6 dark chocolate tartlets I got from there.