Pierre Herme Macarons!

I was strongly recommended to try this out in Tokyo and did not think much about it until I found a branch by accident at Isetan in Shinjuku!

Brother bought 6 of them for me because I did not get a chance to buy them before I left for KL and I just popped one of them into my mouth. Seriously, they're worth the almost RM100 bucks for the 6 pieces (I was told by mom thats how much they cost) - absolutely beautiful!!!!

NASI LEMAK LUNCH!!!!

His royal highness who loves nasi lemak would be sooo envious!

It's that time of the year after Raya...where our beloved Kakak from office makes us yummmmmmylicious nasi lemak...1 chicken wing, 1 drumstick, a lot of sambal sotong later, I'm stuffed and very satisfied.

Great way to end the Friday! Can't wait to meet my buddies tonight for a big feast!!

Meiji Copan Garlic Toast

This snack is soooo delicious you cant get enough of it. Found it at the little japanese snack place beside Madam Kuan in Mid Valley. They were doing a promotion RM9.90 for 3 packets (either garlic toast or chilli toast). I bought 1 while Jo got 2 with the chilli and reckons the chilli tastes way better, but to me, this garlic toast is already super addictive. Really have to get it if you're a fan of garlic toasts/ bread. YUMMMMMMMYYYYYY!!!!!

Anvien, Ho Chi Minh

Of my 10 dinners in HCM, dining at An Vien must have been one of my favourites as I had dinner twice here. Prices are considered high here but nevertheless worth every single cent paid. An average person would probably spend about RM50 having a decent meal here. Do try to bring more people along to be able to savour more of their very delicious dishes. Pictures below are of dishes we tried the 2 times we were there.

Located in a little alley, I believe, it's not hard to get the taxi to bring you there.

The restaruant settings were nice and elegant - totally in line with the top notch food they serve!

Deep fried fish cakes. Superb!!! Dont know why they don't serve it with any chili sauce on the side but nevertheless deep fried till crispy brown.

The crab meat glass noodle - probably one of the better ones I've tried. Not too salty, just the right amount of crab meat and served with lots of greens.

This has got to be one of my favourties - grilled pork and accompanied with crispy rice cakes.

This is apparently the right way to eat it - make a hole in the middle, stuff the tender pork in between and bite into it. Yum!

Also indulge yourself in these rice cakes - topped with something that tasted like shrimps (I can't remember exactly the viet name for it), but do look on the first page of the menu and look for the last dish!

As mentioned earlier, back in KL, the sugarcan prawns never come with greens and rice paper rolls. In Vietnam, i was informed, it's a norm.

The soft shell crabs were juicy, meaty and just fantastic. I'm not too big a fan of soft shell crabs, but they're nothing like some of the scrawny, over fried ones we get here!!

We only had dessert once - which was the coconut caramel (can't remember if it's exactly what it's called) - it's taste's very similiar to chendol, just that it comes in a pudding form and good enough, it was not served too sweet!


Overall conclusion: I love this place. Both times I was stuffed after dinner! And a must visit if you're in HCM - even if you're on a budget trip...

Address: 178 Hai Ba Trung, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Tel: 824-3777

Lemongrass, Ho Chi Minh

Rated 9 out of 221 restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City and recommended by a client, we decided to give Lemongrass a try on our second last night (out of 10) in HCMC.

Nicely decorated, a little Victorian, was my first impression of this place as we made our way to the first floor as G was already packed. There's a lady on the G floor that entertains you with music from a instrument that somewhat resembles an er-hu.

Just 2 of us, there was really not a lot we could order, so we settled mainly for dishes from their special menu. Noticed that most dishes in special dishes would have some lemongrass in them.

The deep fried prawn cake was fantastic and fried till golden brown. Crisp on the outside - juicy and spongy (according to my friend Wely, this is the best word to describe good fishballs) on the inside. Very very good!!!

We had the lemongrass minced crab next. In Malaysia, we just eat it straight but in Vietnam, it's standard we wrap it in rice paper rolls, basil, meehoon, vegetables amongst other greens.

We had the mussels with glass noodle next. Rather tasty and they were very generous with the mussels. We thought a bit too generous ...

And ended our meal with 'water spinach'.

The bill came up to about 400,000 VND which after calculation about RM60 ++ including tea. Again, if you're not game for the road side stalls and dont mind paying a bit more for better quality food in a nice ambience......Lemongrass is definitely worth trying

Address: 4 D Nguyen ThiepDong Khoi Area, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Phone No: (08) 822 0496

La Cantine, Ho Chi Minh

Thinking that HCM would have a strong French influence, of course we wanted to try some nice French food. To my surprise, not many people can actually give you a name of a decent French restaurant. Nevertheless, after asking around for almost a week, we stopped by La Cantine (On the 6) on Dong Khoi for lunch after Cu Chi tunnels on Saturday.

You could opt for either ala carte or the set menu. We opted for the cheapest set (USD 15++) on the 1st floor. Ground floor serves Vietnamese food mainly, we were told whilst 1st floor is Western/ French.

A post looking place with professional waiters/ waitresses, we sure hope the food would be as good as the place looks.

Bread and butter was served before the set. Boy, was it delicious. Fresh from the oven .

The starter was a choice between some vegetable (brocolli if I remember correctly) soup or Chicken Caesar Salad. The dressing was not too rich, greens were fresh and chicken portion just right.

Then we could choose between sea bass or beef. Although, we had ordered the beef bedium rare, it came out a tad too cooked, but nevertheless, the gravy was delicious. Beef however, was not as tender as we'd expected it to be.

Frofiterols for dessert. Best of the lunch! Topped with chocolate sauce and accompanied by ice cream - the perfect way to end a delightful Saturday lunch.

If you're not extremely particular about food, this is a good place to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon in HCM after a city tour or shopping around District 1.

Pho 2000

I've decided to put a post on Pho 2000 instead of Vietnam House as dinner last night turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Have had much better stuff in HCM these few days and once I get around to it, will be putting up more stuff...

Pho 2000 - a franchise rest, should be one of A's must eat things in HCM....so as soon as we checked into the hotel, we rested for a bit and headed out to take a look around Ben Thanh Market just about 1 km from our hotel. Pho 2000 situated beside this touristy market place was where we decided to have a late lunch. (BTW, Ben Thanh market - I was told you can actually bargain even if they put up displays of 'fixed price' - things there are not cheap)

Looks like a local joint but food is not dirt cheap there - reasonable though - I hope you can roughly gauge the prices from the menu picture I snapped. (USD1 approximately VND19,000). Sauteed Beef and Vermicelli -40,500 VND.

As we already had brunch on the plane, we opted for a not-that-heavy lunch, 2 of us, which consisted of fried prawn spring rolls (yups, can't run away from em in Vietnam), beef Pho and curry chicken with bread. Apart from Jakarta, I've never really seen Avocado juice anywhere else. HCM prob is the other place...

Overall, I thought food was pretty tasty, spring rolls - way better than the ones we get in KL. The curry chicken, however - probably I was not used to the taste, but I found it a wee bit too sweet. The pho - nothing to shout about but it's a good place to go if you want to get a quick inexpensive bite in a decent HCM restaurant.

XoXo - coming up will be pics from Cu Chi Tunnel and some awesome lunch....

The Fail Food Guide

Came across this site today..
Ha ha something refreshing...your guide to bad food!

http://thegutterfood.blogspot.com/

1-Altitude, Singapore

Yet again, I had the chance to go try out a spanking new place in Singapore, 1-Altitude on the rooftop of the UOB Building. Occupying the top 2 floors of UOB - I had some finger food and beer on the 61st floor (282). I have not managed to take any pictures because

1) again, I never expected to go off to some fancy looking bar after work in my awful work clothes and messy hair

2) kinda rude to snap away when you're out with people you arent that close with

All I can say about this place is that they have really tasty finger food and a wide selection of whiskey/alcohol....

Just took a quick look around Stella, one floor up, which is a fine-dining concept and finally to the top 1-Altitude. Just a view from the top I managed to snap. Really reminds me of the Lebua State Tower in Bangkok, but of course the view ain't as gorgeous.

Just did a google search on this place and a pretty good write up can be found at

http://www.lifestyleasia.com/features/world-s-highest-al-fresco-bar-and-more/article-id/5137

OTTO Ristorante, Singapore

Never took any pictures when I was here last night.

Never expected to go to somewhere like this too - so left my ever faithful LX3 in the hotel.

Awesome little place and check it out if you're in Singapore.

http://www.ottoristorante.com.sg/

They really have fantastic pizzas and super delicious cheese dips - and also guinness and erdingers on tap! Next time I'm in town, gonna head there for a decent meal and drinks.

Next stop Ho Chi Minh for work ...yeah baby! bring on those Pho!

Kazu @ Cuppage Plaza, Singapore

Met up with more Uni mates last Sunday for Japanese - Kazu Sumi-Yaki Restaurant in Cuppage Plaza for dinner. Was told there are 2 seatings due to the small layout of the resuarant and never ending crowd. We opted for the 7pm one.

This place came highly recommended by Jules and a few other friends...

Starter off with cabbages with some miso sauce (on the house) as appetizers.

The lady recommended us to try their Kodai - i think it's sea-bream sashimi. Very fresh and the portion, a wee bit too little comparing the size of the fish. SGD 38.

Garlic Rice - sort of a must have in most Japanese meals.

This must have been one of my favourites for the night. A whopping SGD35 for this HUGE oysters to be shared between the 3 of us. Raw oysters topped with a tangy like sauce. Very appetizing indeed! The oyster must have been about the size of my palm or even bigger!

We had 3 sticks of Enoki Wagyu - yum yum. The Wagyu was grilled just right - not too tough, not too raw and definitely not stingy on the enoki.

Almost everything tasted just about right in the place. Here's the bacon wrapped with oysters. Now, this is something I've barely seen in KL.

Then we had the standard stuff people normally order in Japanese grills, pork slices wrapped with Asparagus but nevertheless, yummylicious!

Something which I would strongly recommend if you are not put off by the thought of having a cow's tongue in your mouth! Crunchy, lightly salted and grilled exactly to my liking.

Remember our Kodai sashimi from earlier on. Now here's what they did with the bones. Deep fried it till golden brown and you can then savour the whole damn fish!

We saw many tables ordering this and being the gluttony us, we had to have it too! It's a sort of meat and vege minced into a ball. Nothing special or maybe by this time I was already stuffed to my throat!

This, I think it's called Kamo Nasu Tori - brinjal topped with minced meat & gravy. I like eggplants, especially those grilled ones with the miso sauce in Jap restaurants, so this definitely was something I enjoyed a lot as well.

Ta-dah and of course the highlight of the night, something Jules raved about from the start of the meal till the end, the Foie Gras. Slightly crisp on the outside and very very juicy once you bite into it. Just awesome stuff- but not something everyone would enjoy, especially if you can't stand the smell of duck/ goose.

Bill came up to about SGD180. I guess considering our foie gras and wagyu, it's not too bad.

Here are my ratings for Kazu at 5, Koek Rd #04-05 Cuppage Plaza (+65 6734 2492)

Food: 8/10

Service: 6.5/10

Ambience: 6/10

Price: 7/10

Will I go back there again..definitely ..need some change from my staple beer and wings at Ice Cold Beer yeah!