Sugar Bean

1901 Hot Dog

2009-07-17T06:05:00.002+08:00

This post is dated back to June 2008. Guess the price and menu might have changed now. This chain operates hot dog stalls in Malaysia. It is one of our favourite places to visit for hot dogs.

A photo of the kiosk.

A regular orange juice is priced at RM2.20 while a regular iced lemon tea is priced at RM2.30.

Priced at RM6.50 for a regular deal, the well-known New York Chicken is our all time favourite from 1901. The sausage was soft and nice, plus a simple combination of mayonnaise and pickles, it was good to the last bite.

The Texas Ted was quite good too. Priced at RM6.50 for the regular deal, the hot dog which was topped with cheese was very tasty, the cheese was rather mild but blended well with the sausage. A very good snack!

We learned from their website that they are now offering new hot dogs such as the Wild Wild West (sausage covered with BBQ baked bean), The Silenz of the Lamb (steamed lamb sausage with mustard and onions) and Sate Riang (chicken sate hot dog covered with peanut gravy). Besides, they also offer a variety of platters and burgers. 1901 hot dogs are also available for sale in GSC cinemas, so that if you’re looking for something else than popcorn, this would be a good choice!

Kiosk Information
LG2.31 & F1.K2,
Sunway Pyramid Shopping Centre,
No.3, Jalan PJS 11/15,
Bandar Sunway, 46150 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Malaysia.
Tel: 03-55121901

La Tasca

2009-07-15T07:02:00.002+08:00

After dinner, we traveled to the west central of Scotland by the underground services from Buchanan Street Station.

The photo above shows the Clyde Arc, crossing River Clyde. Attractions such as the Clyde Auditorium, Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC), IMAX cinema and the Glasgow Science Centre are located in this area.

Situated next to the IMAX cinema, the Glasgow Tower is currently the tallest building in Scotland, 127 metres high.

From the left, the BBC Pacific Quay, IMAX cinema and the Glasgow Tower can be seen in the photo.

The Tall Ship at the Glasgow Harbour.

Back to dinner, we had our dinner in La Tasca, a Spanish tapas restaurant and bar.

The interior of the restaurant was dim and comfortable, but unfortunately, not suitable for photo taking.

Our drinks were served in thin and tall drinking glasses, even taller than the fork! Can you see Christine behind the glasses? Haha!

Since La Tasca was well-known for their tapas, we ordered a chef’s selection of tapas which includes 8 different types of tapas. Tapas is the name of a wide variety of appetisers in Spanish cuisine. Priced at £26.95, the set menu is recommended for newcomers to tapas and serves 2 persons. Clockwise from top left is the Pollo con Salsa (chicken breast and sliced mushrooms served in rich sherry cream sauce), Patatas Bravas (fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce), Albóndigas a la Jardinera (Spanish style beef meatballs served in tomato sauce) and Berenjenas Gratinadas (fresh aubergine baked in tomato, garlic and wine sauce topped with cheese). Out of the four tapas above, my personal favourite would be the fried potatoes in spicy tomato sauce, it wasn’t spicy at all, but very appetising. Pollo con Salsa was good too, a subtle sense of alcohol can be tasted from the cream sauce and the chicken and mushrooms were soft and nice.

Again, clockwise and beginning from the top left is the Ensalada de la Casa (mixed leaves, avocado, cucumber, pine nuts and pimento peppers drizzled with house dressing), Gambas Gabardina (deep-fried king prawns served in roasted garlic mayonnaise and fresh lemon), Paella Valenciana (Paella with chicken and mixed seafood) and Alitas de Pollo (marinated chicken wings). The one which won the most votes was the Gambas Gabardina, the king prawns were large, fresh and juicy while the batter was nice and crunchy. Suffice for us to conclude that all tapas were good and delectable, something that we would definitely reorder in our future visits!

Next up was the Paella de Mariscos. Paella is a Spanish rice dish. In this restaurant Paella is served in the Spanish paella pan, recommended for sharing. When taking our order, the waitress informed us that it takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour for them to prepare to paella. A moment after we finished the tapas, our paella was served, good timing. Priced at £19.95, the large serving of seafood paella was topped with prawns, squids, mussels and white fish. It was heavenly delicious, the rice was soft and full of flavour, the seafood were fresh and juicy and every bite was sensational. Love it!

Since La Tasca is having 50% off all food everyday until the 31st of July 2009 (more information about the promotion can be found here) and Christine printed the voucher beforehand, we enjoyed the privilege of having a good dinner with everything halved price! Visit Christine’s blog for her previous post on La Tasca. And click here for the restaurant’s official website.

Our stay in Glasgow was fantastic, thank you Chris and Christine for spending time and effort and catering our needs at all time during our stay. Thank you so much for the short bread as well! And really, we would agree that Dean’s shortbread is even better than Walkers! Missing you both a lot!

Restaurant Information
39-43 Renfield Street,
GlasgowG2 1JS,
Scotland,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 01412045188

Rumours Kopitiam (讲士讲啡)

2009-07-13T07:24:00.003+08:00

The second day of our journey, we continue to visit attractions in Glasgow with Chris and Christine.

Here are some photos that we have taken throughout the journey and we would like to share it in our blog. Shown on the photo above, the Merchant City is one of the oldest quarters of Glasgow and the cultural heart of the city. The place is situated in the eastern quarter of Glasgow City Centre, takes about 5 minutes walk from Buchanan and Argyle Street.

Glasgow Green is the oldest park in the city. The Nelson’s monument can be seen from this photo.

After a stroll in the park, we arrived in one of Glasgow’s museums – the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens. Contrary to what we thought, it felt extremely warm and cozy in the winter gardens. There is a café inside the glasshouse where one could sit back and enjoy the colourful tropical plants. In the People’s Palace, one could have a chance to see the story of the people and the city of Glasgow from 1750 to the present.

We also visited the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Christine told us about the myth that the architect of the building jumped to his death from one of the towers because the main entrance was built back-to-front.

The interior of the museum.

The museum exhibits a variety of art collections and also collections of arms and armour in the world. One of the most interesting museums that we have visited in the UK, definitely worth a visit if you’re visiting Glasgow.

The University of Glasgow is within walking distance from the Kelvingrove Museum. There was where we visited the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, a free admission museum located on the main campus of the university.

The Wellington Church of Glasgow.

Back to food, we visited Rumours Kopitiam, a Malaysian café style restaurant for lunch. It was very thoughtful of Christine and Chris for bringing us to this restaurant, since we haven’t had Malaysian food for ages!

The interior was small but nice and cozy, plus a sense of belonging too.

The lunch time special offer was a great deal. For £6.90, we get to choose from a variety of starters and main courses. Beverage was also included, we were given choices of Chinese tea, English tea or English coffee. I had an English tea while ys had an English coffee.

As for starters, we had chicken satay (沙爹鸡) which was recommended by Chris. Served with their self-made peanut sauce, cucumbers and pineapples, the chicken satay was fantastic. The chicken was grilled to perfection, meaty and juicy while the peanut sauce, though not spicy, was aromatic and delicious. We wiped the peanut sauce bowl clean.

The Malaysian style pancake, or more commonly known as roti canai (马来煎饼) in Malaysia, was delicious too! Served with authentic curry sauce, the roti canai tasted nice and crispy. It has a heavier sense of butter which we enjoyed a lot.

Fried flat rice noodles aka char kway teow (马式干炒河粉) which Chris had.

The Singapore laksa vermicelli (辣沙汤米粉) that we had was good. The noodles were rich in ingredients such as fresh prawns, cockles and fish cakes. The soup was spicy and flavourful, with a hint of fragrant coconut milk. Satisfied our cravings for authentic Malaysian food! It was very good and addictive!

The nasi lemak (咖喱鸡椰汁饭) was superb. Served with curry chicken, sambal (hot chilli sauce), peanuts, fried anchovies, achar (pickled vegetables), half-boiled eggs, slices of cucumbers and tomato, the serving was huge and filling. The sambal which was spicy and sour boosted our appetites, the chicken was moist and tasty and the curry gravy provides a good accompaniment to the fragrant coconut rice. There is nothing else that we can ask for, the lunch was perfect! Glasgow citizens are so fortunate to have this restaurant in their area! For better photos and more information, check out Christine's post on Rumours Kopitiam.

After lunch, we were introduced to Irn-bru by the couple, a well-known carbonated soft drink produced in Scotland for more than a century. Taste wise, I find it very hard to describe. It was very unique and sweet, not something that I really enjoy but ys claimed that it was good. Nevertheless, it was good trying new things. Thanks again to Christine and Chris for introducing everything to us!

Restaurant Information
21 Bath Street,
G2 1HW Glasgow,
Scotland,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 01413530678

Shun Japanese Restaurant (旬家庭料理)

2009-07-10T06:44:00.001+08:00

A post dated back to April 2008. After an exhausting day in the Zoo Negara, we decided to head to Subang Jaya to look for some good Japanese food.

We drove around that area and spotted this restaurant which is located across Subang Jaya Medical Centre. We found a parking and went inside after taking a look at their menu.

The sushi counter of the restaurant.

This is the upper floor of the restaurant, it was empty when we went there. But when we left, it was packed with customers.

The table settings in Shun. The green tea was complimentary.

They were having a promotion that day. Customers could get 50% discount upon ordering salmon sashimi (サーモン刺身) or tempura moriawase (天ぷら盛り合わせ). We had salmon sashimi for RM15 after discount. The presentation was neat and pretty and the sashimi was fresh and delectable. The salmon slices were quite thick and we enjoyed every bite of it.

For our mains, we had a kimuchi nabe (キムチ鍋) for RM30. This kimchi based soup steamboat serves two. The ingredients look rather fresh but the amount served was quite moderate.

First, the waitress placed the vegetables into the boiling soup. Then she put the meat and the rest of the ingredients into the soup. She told us that this step was insisted by her Japanese boss, which we later learn that he is also the owner of Yuzu Japanese Restaurant in The Gardens.

Waiting for the ingredients to be cooked.

Finally, the food was ready and the waitress served them into two small bowls. The prawns and squids were large and fresh, they were really delicious. Compared to the spicy and sour Korean kimchi soup, the Japanese version tasted rather sweet and mild. It was quite different but we enjoy it, it was very flavourful and we enjoy the sweetness of it.

This would be a nice place to enjoy a drink after work as they offer a variety of Japanese liquors. But if you’re a non-smoker, bear in mind that it might be a little stuffy when others started to smoke because the restaurant was quite small. Nevertheless, the food was good and they also offer bento sets priced at about RM30. No harm to give it a try!

Restaurant Information
4 &4A, Jalan SS12/1B,
47500 Subang Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.
Tel : 03-56379185

The Junction Bar

2009-07-08T07:15:00.002+08:00

After about an hour flight from London Stansted Airport, we arrived in Glasgow Prestwick, welcomed by a bright and sunny weather.

A photo of the Ryanair Boeing 737 aircraft.

Prestwick Airport was rather quiet when we arrived. Without wasting time, we made our way to the bus station and took a bus to the Buchanan bus station.

We were greeted with warm welcomes from Christine and Chris when we arrived. Placed our luggage in their room and went out sightseeing in Glasgow. Our first stop was the Glasgow Cathedral, the photo was taken from the Cathedral Square.

This is the nave which marks the entrance of the cathedral. There was a person playing the organ when we arrived in the cathedral, love the sound of pipe organs, sounded very peaceful to me.

The Blacader’s Aisle is located in the lower church. It was said to occupy the site of cemetery consecrated at the beginning of the 5th century. We both agreed with what Christine and Chris told us earlier, it did felt kind of cold when visiting the lower church, creepy huh?

Nope, the spookiness has not end, our next stop was the Glasgow Necropolis. This Victorian cemetery adjacent to the Glasgow Cathedral is actually a garden and park open for public recreation.

The Glasgow City Chambers taken in George Square.

Finally, it’s time for dinner. We arrived at Junction Bar, a bar and restaurant recommended by Christine and Chris for good beers and food.

The bar was rather crowded when we arrived. The interior was warm and cozy, definitely a good place to warm you up during winter!

Chris said it’s a must to try the Guinness Stout in Glasgow, and we have to cover our upper lips with froth from the beer! The beer was nice and smooth, we’ve never thought that Guinness Stout would taste this good, and fun too!

Junction Bar offers 2 main meals at £7.99 from 3pm onwards everyday. The 8 options available are sausage and mash, fish and chips, haggis, neeps and tatties, chilli con carne, macaroni cheese, steak pie, vegetable lasagne and beef lasagne. Christine had a steak pie where chunks of prime steaks marinated with Belhaven beer were topped with puff pastry. The steak pie was served with peas and chips.

Chris had a chilli con carne where spicy beef chilli con carne was served with long grain rice, tortilla chips and sour cream.

The sausage and mash which ys and I ordered was quite delicious. Two local butcher’s jumbo pork and leek sausages were served on a mountain of mash and smothered with onion gravy. The sausage has a strong and heavy taste compared to sausages that we had back in Malaysia, we enjoyed every bite of it. The mashed potatoes were smooth and sweet when eaten with the onion gravy.

We heard about haggis from Christine during their stay in Cardiff. Without much hesitation we had this haggis, neeps and tatties. The Chieftain haggis was served with mashed potatoes, bashed neeps, oatcakes and homemade whisky sauce. Haggis is actually a Scottish dish consisting of a mixture of intestines of lambs boiled in the stomach of the lamb. Sounds a little intimidating at first but after we took the first bite, it tasted good, very unique in fact, tasted like minced meat heavily seasoned with hints of spices. We were quite surprise to find no traces of gamey taste. Looked it up in the dictionary and found that neeps is actually a type of Swedish turnip usually used as an accompaniment with haggis. Tasted rather similar to mashed pumpkins. We also didn’t realise that tatties are actually potatoes until we googled it out.

We had a scrumptious dinner and it was very pleasant and filling. Learned a lot from the trip too. A great thank you to Christine and Chris. For more information about the bar, do visit Christine’s blog.

Restaurant Information
14-16, West George Street,
Glasgow G2 1DA,
Scotland,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 01413536082

Giraffe Juice and Coffee Bar

2009-07-06T06:41:00.005+08:00

Like I said in one of our previous post, summer is meant to travel. So here we are, in London Stansted Airport waiting for our flight to Glasgow.

We were lucky to bought air tickets from Ryanair at £1 per person, plus the airport tax and other charges, the total for two air tickets only cost £16. It was our first time travelling by Ryanair, it was quite funny reading their tagline which says “Bye Bye EasyJet”. Quite true though, Ryanair is growing bigger and stronger, other airlines might be at stake.

While waiting for our flight, we decided to grab a bite. The Giraffe Juice Bar is the nearest café located to our departure gate. Since we didn’t have much time to spare, we decided to buy a sandwich from the café. The food display shows a variety of pastries, cakes, muffins and sandwiches offered by the Giraffe. Other than these, the bar also features a variety of fresh juices, milkshakes, hot drinks, fruit bars, light snacks, hot soups, yoghurts and smoothies.

This was what caught our attention – the stacked deli sandwich.

Priced at £3.85, the sandwich tasted very good. Though a little expensive, the sandwich was generously filled with thick cheddar, chicken and ham slices, pickled gherkins, onion slices and lettuce. The bread was spreaded with a thin layer of mustard. The ingredients were fresh and good, we enjoyed it a lot.

After a light lunch, we boarded the plane to Glasgow. Stay tune for our upcoming posts on our one week trip to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester and Leeds!

Café Information
Satellite 3, Terminal Building,
Airside, Stansted Airport,
Bassingbourne Road,
CM2 8QW London,
United Kingdom.

Restaurant Shin (레스토랑신)

2009-07-04T06:28:00.002+08:00

This is a post dated back to June 2008. We were shopping around in Bukit Bintang area. When dinner time, we decided to visit the top floor of Sungei Wang since there are quite a lot of eateries located on that floor.

Since we were craving for Korean food, we decided to visit the only restaurant which serves Korean cuisine. The restaurant is located on the sixth floor, where Green Box Karaoke, Gasoline and Sushi Station are located in.

The restaurant was small but clean and it has an open concept kitchen.

It is decorated with many posters with Korean artists and countless colourful notes written by the customers.

We were served with a bowl of soup and three types of side dishes shortly after placing our orders.

I ordered a cheese kimbab (치즈김밥) without hesitation as this is one of my favourite food in Korean cuisine. Priced at RM10.50, this Korean style sushi roll with cheese, egg, pickled radish, spinach and carrot sprinkled with sesame seeds tasted simple, healthy and crunchy. It would have been perfect had they added more cheese to it.

We ordered a kimchi jigage (김치찌개) as we usually will when we dine in Korean restaurant. Priced at RM13.90, the kimchi stew with pork tasted quite good and appetising, spicy and slightly sour.

Overall, the food was quite good in this restaurant. The staffs were nice and friendly too. But if you’re craving for good Korean food, it is still advisable that you explore Korean restaurants in Desa Sri Hartamas area since there are more choices and more side dishes served in those restaurants.

Restaurant Information
6F-6(A-C), Sungei Wang Plaza,
SWP Box No. 009,
Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Tel: 03 - 2145 6717

Prezzo

2009-07-02T06:17:00.004+08:00

After a hearty and filling lunch at Happy Gathering, we continue to bring kw to visit Cardiff. Since our friend was interested to visit Cardiff Castle, we all went in for a visit.

Even though we have been staying in Cardiff for quite some time, we have not enter the Castle before, the reason being that the admission fees were a little pricey. The essential ticket was priced at £8.95 for adults and £7.50 for students while the premium tour ticket was priced at £11.95 for adults and £9.95 for students. The photo above is the Clock Tower of Cardiff Castle.

The Norman Keep was set upon an artificial hill built by the Norman invaders during about 1081. The building was not roofed and we can view sceneries of Cardiff from the top.

A photo taken from the Norman Keep.

The House is located next to the Clock Tower. The residential block was between 1423 and 1439 by Richard Beauchamp, the Earl of Warwick.

The interior of The House. The banqueting hall is the largest room in the castle and it is the oldest part of the building. All the surface decoration, ceiling and floors are Victorian.

The library was located in the oldest part of The House and it still contains the original William Burges bookcases and tables.

This is the small dining room which was used as a dining room for members of the Bute family when there were few or no guests. Overall, we think that the trip to Cardiff Castle was educational and quite worth the price paid. More information about the Castle can be found here.

For dinner, we visited Prezzo for Italian cuisine. The reason for our visit was because we had a voucher offering 2 for 1 on main meals, which means we would get a free main meal by getting one main meal. We have not heard about studentbeans.com until Christine told us about it, thanks a lot for the information!

The interior of the restaurant was nice, warm and cozy, lively with lots of people dining in during dinner time. The traditional stone oven can be seen in this photo.

Since there were 3 of us, we ordered 3 main courses to share. Kw ordered a risotto mediterraneo for £9.75. In this classic Italian rice dish, tiger prawns and rice were cooked in creamy saffron sauce. The sauce was light and creamy, the prawns were fresh and crunchy too. However, we find the rice a little too hard to our liking.

Ys chose a vesuvio pizza topped with double pepperoni sausage, red chili, mozzarella and tomato. Priced at £8.75, we find this freshly baked pizza in traditional oven really good. We love taste of the crispy thin base of the pizza which is slightly burnt. The cheese was tasty and not too overwhelming, simply delicious!

The il carltoni calzone stuffed with pepperoni sausage, seasoned chicken, pancetta bacon, roasted peppers, pomodoro sauce and cheese tasted fantastic too! Priced at £9.25, this folded pizza which was also baked in their traditional oven was served with pomodoro sauce and side salad. The bread was dense and nice, the fillings were juicy and cheesy and the sour pomodoro sauce enhanced the taste of it. Every bite was sensational. A highly recommended order!

Since we still have rooms in our stomachs to spare, we decided to have a dessert to share. We had a sticky toffee pudding for £4.50. The traditional sponge pudding was served with hot butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice-cream. Though the sponge pudding was sweet, the vanilla ice-cream toned down the sweetness of it. The meeting of the warmth of the pudding and the iciness of the ice-cream was delicious, love it.

We had a scrumptious dinner in Prezzo. Though there were limited number of staffs in the restaurant, service was good and speedy. For more information, do click on their official website here. We would definitely be going back for more delicious stone-baked food!

Restaurant Information
106 St Mary Street
Cardiff CF10 1DX,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 02920227785

Happy Gathering (好相逢)

2009-06-30T08:24:00.002+08:00

Two days after Chris and Christine’s visit to Cardiff, our friend, kw, came all the way from Leeds to visit us in Cardiff. So here we go again, this time being more skilled and experienced in guiding friends around Cardiff.

A souvenir shop which is located across the Cardiff Castle.

Since our friend was craving for Chinese food, we decided to visit Happy Gathering as many friends have recommended this restaurant to us. We read from their website that the restaurant was voted as Britain’s number one Chinese restaurant in year 2007 by The Times. The restaurant is located in Cowbridge Road, it takes about 15 minutes walk from the Cardiff Castle.

A photo of a statue taken at the entrance of the restaurant.

The interior of the restaurant was clean, pleasant and comfortable. A piano can be seen from the left corner of the photo. The restaurant has 250 seating capacity, as seen from their website.

Our turnip cake (XO酱萝卜糕) arrived shortly we placed our order. Priced at £2.50, we find this fried carrot cake rather delicious. The outer layer is nice and crispy and it was pillow soft on the inside. The turnip cake would have been perfect if it is less oily.

We hardly have dim sum without having pork dumplings (鱼子蒸烧卖). Priced at £2.50, we find this shaomai rather delicious, it was large and generously filled with sweet and juicy pork meat. A highly recommended dish!

Priced at £3, the har gao aka prawn dumplings (相逢虾饺皇) were as good as the pork dumplings. The fillings were dense and rich in fresh and crunchy prawns, it was juicy and succulent. The skin a little too thick to our liking but nevertheless tasted delicious overall.

The rice noodle roll filled with pork (蜜汁叉烧肠粉) was quite good too. Priced at £3.30, the Hong Kong style chee cheong fun was generously stuffed with delicious char siu. Having the same problem as the har gao, we found the skin of the rice noodle roll a tad too thick.

We also had steamed glutinous rice in lotus leaf wrap (糯米鸡). It tasted rather decent, filled with Chinese sausage, chicken, pork and etc. But then again, it was on the oily side.

Kw had a braised beef noodles (牛腩汤面) for £6.50. We were quite surprise to see the serving of this noodle this large. Though kw had a great appetite, he couldn’t manage to finish it. Large chunks of beef slices were served and our friend claimed that the main course tasted nice and authentic.

The serving of the char siu rice (叉烧饭) which ys had was also enormous. The roasted pork was moist and flavourful and it went well with the rice. Priced at £6.50, we think that it was a good order.

The fried yee mee noodles (干烧伊面) which was priced at £6.50 was value for money. The large serving of noodles was soft and full of flavour and the shredded mushrooms complemented the noodles very well. We were too full to finish the noodles and the proprietor of the restaurant was really nice and friendly and gave us a box to pack the leftovers home for supper.

Overall, food was very good in the restaurant. It is hard to find authentic Chinese restaurants in the UK and we’re really grateful that we have found one in Cardiff. Service was extremely good and the staffs were nice and polite. We would definitely go back for more!

Restaurant Information
233 Cowbridge Road East
Cardiff CF11 9AL,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 02920397531

Restoran Chongqing Chicken Hot Pot (重庆鸡公煲)

2009-06-28T06:00:00.000+08:00

This post is dated back to November 2007 when there were lots of restaurants mushrooming in Kuchai Lama area. We decided to give this place a try after knowing that Ho Chak introduced this restaurant.

Chongqing Chicken Hot Pot is a chain restaurant founded in China. It has many outlets all over China and new branches are also found in the Philippines, Singapore, Canada, Hong Kong and Malaysia. As far as we know, there are 3 branches located in Malaysia – Kuchai Lama, Kepong and Johor.

The interior of the restaurant was nice and simple. But bear in mind that it could be a little warm during the day as I have experienced it with Ai Wei quite some time ago.

There are several types of meat to choose for the hot pot, namely chicken, pork, beef, fish and prawns. Small hot pots are priced at RM18.80, medium at RM25.80 and large at RM34.80. You can also tailor the level of spiciness to your own preference. We had a small chicken hot pot (鸡公煲) with medium level of spiciness. Unlike normal hot pots, this restaurant serves hot pot without soup and little gravy. Served piping hot, the chicken was rather spicy, soft and springy, it was garnished with celery, onions, parsley and carrots. It was very nice when eaten with plain white rice.

Next, we had an extremely spicy pork ribs hot pot (恐龙骨煲). Dried chilies are visible in the pot and the pork ribs were spicy, it was delicious! Meat wise, we would prefer chicken to pork because of the softness and the bounciness of the chicken meat. As for the level of spiciness, the spicier the better!

The staff poured the soup into the hot pot when we’re almost done eating the meat and vegetables. The flaming soup was very spicy and flavourful, especially after cooking the ingredients for a long time. Other than that, customers are free to choose additional ingredients such as fish balls, bean curd and other vegetables to add into their hot pot. Prices ranged from RM1 to RM4.

Overall, it was a delightful meal, it suits people like us who craved for spicy food at all times. Remember to bring along a box of tissue with you when you decided to challenge the fiery meal! For more information, please visit the Chinese official website here.

Restaurant Information
21, Jalan Kuchai Maju 8,
Off Jalan Kuchai Lama,
Taman Entrepreneurs Park,
58200 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Tel: 03-79806008

Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK)

2009-06-26T06:00:00.001+08:00

Since it was the last day before the voucher for GBK expires, we made a decision to visit this restaurant for lunch. Again, the voucher was printed out from Studentbeans and we are grateful to learn this from Christine, really saved us a great deal!

There are two GBK outlets located in Cardiff, one in Cardiff Bay and another in Cardiff Library. The newly opened central library is located in Mill Lane, near the Marriott Hotel. We have visited the library once. It was a quiet and tranquil place where one can study, borrow a variety of different books, CDs, DVDs, Welsh language items etc.

GBK is located in Cardiff Library, right beside Wagamama, a Japanese noodle bar.

The interior of the restaurant was rather modern and interesting, with sandals and surfboards attached to the wall.

A container containing ketchup which mimics a real tomato.

The view from the restaurant.

In GBK, customers have to order their food from the counter and pay before the foods are served. Our burgers were served shortly after we placed our order. Priced at £7.35, the chicken satay burger was delicious. Fresh breast of chicken, satay sauce, mayonnaise and relish formed a great combination. The satay sauce, though slightly different from the Malaysian version, was rich and creamy, with a loads of crunchy peanuts and a tinge of spiciness. The chicken breast was tender and juicy and we also enjoy the slightly burnt edge of the bread. However, we would prefer the cranberry relish to be less sweet.

The Greek lamb burger was just as good as the chicken satay burger. In fact, ys claimed that the Greek lamb was tastier. Priced at £7.75, the burger was made by fresh lamb, houmous, cucumber raita, fresh chilli sauce and salad. The burger was rather photogenic, as described by the Metro, GBK is “a Rolls Royce of a Burger”. The combination of houmous, cucumber raita and chilli sauce form a spicy, sweet and sour taste which boosted our appetites. If you’re one who worries about the gamy flavour of the lamb, fear not because the delicious sauce overpowered the lamb, leaving only the juiciness and tenderness of the lamb to be tasted.

With the voucher we only paid £7.75 in total, purchasing 2 burgers at the price of 1. It was not a heavy meal but if you would like to have something else, GBK also offers chips and a variety of salads. For beef lovers, this might be the right place for you as GBK is known for its burgers from Aberdeen-Angus Scotch beef. If you’re looking for something different, they also serve buffalo, organic wild boar and organic pork burgers. Check out more from their website here.

Restaurant Information
Unit 2, Library Building,
Mill Lane,
Cardiff, CF10 2EZ,
United Kingdom.
Te: 02920668379

Chiquito – The Original Mexican Grill & Bar

2009-06-24T06:00:00.002+08:00

We were excited to welcome the arrival of Chris and Christine to Cardiff for a 2 days visit. We were thinking hard of where to visit in Cardiff. Though we’ve read through most visitors’ information on Cardiff, we felt as though Cardiff has not much to offer. Sorry if we did bored you guys, but really, it was fun having you guys around. We enjoyed your company a lot, so much laughter and enjoyment, we would be missing you guys a lot after you guys returned to KL.

Here are a few photos taken in Cardiff Bay when sightseeing around Cardiff. We took a boat trip which lasted for approximately 40 minutes in Cardiff Bay. The Flag of Wales, represented by the Red Dragon is flying proudly on the boat. The Pierhead Building can also be seen from the boat.

The waterfront where we boarded the yellow waterbus.

The Logos Hope ship in Cardiff Bay.

For dinner, we dined in Chiquito since all of us haven’t tried Mexican food before. Chiquito is located in the Old Brewery Quarter, quite near to the Cardiff Central Bus Station, where other eateries such as La Tasca and Hard Rock Café are located in.

The interior was quite cozy and warm with lively Mexican music playing in the restaurant. There were quite limited number of staff working and so it took some time to get seated.

Chris and Christine ordered Mexican Paella at £10.95. Vegetables and rice were topped with calamari, chicken, chorizo, prawns, green lipped mussels and a wedge of lime.

They also had a San Miguel Beer Battered Cod at £9.95. The cod fillet in a San Miguel beer batter was served on a bed of seasoned fries.

We had a Tequila red snapper at £12.95. The dish was served with Mexican style rice with spicy roasted vegetables topped with baked red snapper fillet with Cuervo Tequila sauce. The rice was nice and flavourful, slightly spicy and suitable for those who enjoy mildly spicy food. The red snapper fillet was large and fresh but it was a little bland.

We also had a chicken fajitas famosas at £11.95. The chicken was served on a sizzling platter with smoky onions and peppers.

Cheese, salsa, sour cream, guacamole and lettuce were also served.

The flour tortillas were used to wrap all the ingredients above. The combination of the chicken with cheese and sauces were good, I especially enjoy the wrap with loads of sour cream and salsa, it was very appetising. The flour tortillas tasted good too, anything with bread is always good to us.

It was a pleasant dinner, the reason being that there’s great company for the night. Thanks for Chris and Christine for visiting, and thanks for the invitation to Glasgow. At the time you're reading this post (this is a automatic scheduled post), we're probably traveling in Glasgow! For more information about this restaurant, please check out their website here.

Restaurant Information
The Old Brewery Quarter,
Cardiff City Centre,
CF10 1FG, Cardiff,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 02920387465

Sam Sam Korean Cuisine (삼삼)

2009-06-22T06:00:00.001+08:00

This post is dated back to May 2008. We were craving for Korean food when shopping in Pavilion. For a moment we were thinking of visiting Da On (나온) located on the sixth floor but gave up this thought since we were broke after shopping. Money is always a limited resource.

So we explored Food Republic on the ground floor and happily found that there is a stall offering Korean food.

As usual, Food Republic is filled with loads of people. Though it was crowded, we find the place rather clean, bright and well-maintained.

We had a dol sot bibim bap (돌솥비빔밥) at RM13.90. The hot stone rice was served with two types of side dishes and a bowl of soup. The hot stone rice tasted nice flavourful. We enjoy biting into the crispy layer of rice which touches the hot bowl. The sauce was quite good too, neither too sweet nor salty. However, it would be tastier if they added more sauce to it. Besides, the portion of the side dishes served were too small.

We also had a kimchi jigae (김치찌개) for RM12. Though not superb, it was good. They put in lots of glass noodles, which we enjoyed a lot. The glass noodles soaked up the sour and spicy kimchi soup, somewhat resembles eating kimchi noodles.

After lunch, we went for a movie in the Pavilion cinema. That was when Kung Fu Panda was on show. Anyway, it was a pleasant lunch. Would be looking forward to explore other eateries in the Food Republic since there is so much to choose from.

Restaurant Information
Food Republic, Apex Excellent,
Lot 1.41.00, Level 1,
Pavilion, 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.

Masa Japanese Restaurant (正)

2009-06-20T05:55:00.001+08:00

Our trip to Bristol continues in this post. For dinner, we had Japanese food, our all time favourite cuisine.

Before going into food, there are a few photos taken when sight-seeing around Bristol which we would like to share here. We were at Park Street, walking up the hill towards the City Museum and Art Gallery. The University of Bristol – Wills Memorial Building can be seen at the top of the hill.

The building on the left is where we were heading, the City Museum and Art Gallery.

The interior of the museum.

The centre in Bristol where the Ferry Station and City Sightseeing bus stop is located nearby.

The Ferry Station in Narrow Quay is where one could sit back and enjoy their food and drinks from their café while sunbathing under the excellent weather.

The Cabot Tower can be seen from the Brandon Hill Park.

A group of people were skateboarding near College Green.

Back to food, we were so excited having Japanese food since there are only a limited number of Japanese restaurants in the UK compared to Malaysia. Masa is located on Baldwin Street, across Obento Japanese restaurant.

The interior was nice and comfortable. Business was flourishing, quite a number of Asians were dining in the restaurant.

We had a tempura teishoku (天ぷら定食) for £11. The set includes a selection of mixed tempura with 8 pieces of maki roll served with Japanese steamed rice, miso soup and pickles. The tempuras were nicely deep-fried and the batter was nice and crispy while the prawns were juicy and crunchy. We were surprise to find the maki roll deep-fried as well. The maki roll was good too, but it was slightly oily.

The goma sake udon (胡麻鮭うどん) was rather delicious. Priced at £7.50, we found this order quite worth the price as the serving of salmon fish was rather generous and the bowl of noodles were large. Out of our expectation, the salmon fish was served separately from the udon. (It was written in the menu that it will be served on top of the noodles.) Nevertheless the grilled fillet of salmon garnished with mixed sesame seeds tasted naturally sweet and delicious.

The pork and chicken soup with udon noodles was served piping hot and it tasted sweet and awesomely flavourful. This is evidenced from the fact that ys finished the soup to its very last drop.

Priced at £2, we find this white daifuku (白大福) was rather tasty. The glutinous rice cake was stuffed with sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans, we enjoy the sweetness of the red bean paste. But we might not have order it if we knew that we could buy this from shops.

Overall, it was a pleasant dinner in a restaurant serving authentic Japanese food. We read from their leaflets saying that there will be karaoke rooms opening soon, and it’ll be priced at £100 for 10-15 persons if we're not mistaken. Service was really good as the waiters and waitresses were really nice and friendly. We also found out that their proprietors are Malaysians, it’s a small world after all. Do check out their official website here for more information.

Restaurant Information
42-46 Baldwin Street,
Bristol BS1 1PN,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 01179300600

Coal Grill and Bar

2009-06-18T06:18:00.003+08:00

Summer holiday is meant to travel. We were blessed with sunny and good weather when we traveled to Bristol for a one day trip. Bristol is a city located on the south west of England, approximately 2 hours by train from London. From Cardiff, the train journey only takes about an hour.

So here we are, arriving in Bristol Temple Meads Station in the morning.

This is the Castle Park where we had a stroll. The weather was so lovely, so many people were sunbathing in the park.

This is the Bristol Bridge which crosses River Frome.

The Cabot Circus is the main shopping mall in Bristol. It was newly opened during last September. We love the glass-panelled roof which allows natural sunlight to shine into the complex.

After much contemplation we finally decided to dine in Coal Grill and Bar, a chain restaurant based in Wimbledon which offers char-grilled cuisine.

The restaurant is located on the top floor of Cabot Circus, adjacent to the cinema. We love the atmosphere, a nice place to relax and lay back to enjoy our meal.

Their two course lunch menu was priced at £6.95. It was quite a good deal and we ordered two sets of it. Being a soup lover, ys just can’t resist ordering the roasted cherry tomato and basil soup as his starter. The soup was thick and filling compared to other tomato soups, it was nice and flavourful. The bread accompanying the soup was fantastic, the crust was nice and crispy and the bread was so soft and fluffy. It was a good starter.

I opted for the nachos with chipotle salsa, sour cream and jalapeño peppers. This was excellent, the best dish we’ve tried in this restaurant. The tortilla chips were served warm topped with melted cheese and it was crispy when eaten, the salsa sauce was nice and appetising while the jalapeño peppers, though not too spicy, added a tinge of excitement to the entire dish. It was intensely delicious.

For our mains, we had a pitta bread filled with char-grilled chicken and rocket and chips. This tasted really good as well, the bread was nice and crusty while the char-grilled chicken was well-grilled with coal and it provides a nice contrast with the vegetables.

However, the penne pasta with mushrooms, spicy tomato sauce and melting cheese was a little disappointing. Despite generous serving of mushrooms, tomato and cheese, the pasta tasted bland and the sauce was a little watery, as evidenced from the photo. Perhaps it is better to order their char-grilled dishes instead of pastas.

Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience. Service was excellent and the environment was good. Wouldn’t mind visiting this restaurant again when we are craving for char-grilled food. For more information about this restaurant, please find out from their official website.

Restaurant Information
Cabot Circus, Glass House,
Bristol BS1 3BD,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 01179544624

Sushi Zanmai (寿司三昧) 2nd post

2009-06-16T06:14:00.005+08:00

A one year backdated post. This post is a combination of our visits to Sushi Zanmai. We’ve fell in love with this place ever since our first visit and have been their frequent customers ever since.

At that time, when we knew that there was a new outlet in The Gardens, we happily visited it.

We had a Coral Roll (コーラルロール) for RM12.80. We chose this because the presentation of it appeals to us when we saw it from the menu. However, you can never tell a book from its cover. We find this smoked salmon topped with salmon roe sushi rather average.

We had a Mini California Maki (ミニカリフォルニア巻) priced at RM4.80, we find this quite decent. After all, the combination of avocado, crabmeat, omelette and smelt roe can never go wrong.

Priced at RM4.80, the tobiko sushi (とびこ寿司) was rather delicious, the flying fish roe was fresh and we enjoy cracking every tiny bit of it. On the right, the inari tuna salad (いなりツナサラダ), priced at RM3.80, was equally good. Generally we enjoy any sushi with inari, love the sweetness of it.

From the left, we had chuka chinmi (中華珍味), tsubu kimuchi (ツブキムチ) and chuka iidako (中華イイダコ). All three types of sushi are priced at RM3.80. Chuka chinmi tasted quite good, the seasoned scallop wings sushi was quite springy and slightly sweet and spicy. It was our first time trying out tsubu kimuchi, the top shell seasoned with kimuchi tasted rather average. The top shell was alright but the kimuchi tasted rather weird. Chuka iidako was decent, seasoned octopus is one of our favourite orders in Japanese restaurants.

It was our first time ordering Shiitake Kushiyaki (しいたけ串焼) in Sushi Zanmai. Priced at RM4.80, we find this grilled shiitake mushrooms a little below our expectation. It was a little bland. Though it wasn't well-grilled, the mushroom itself tasted good.

Their salmon don (サーモン丼) is one of our favourite orders in Zanmai. You can have a choice of small or large portion, priced at RM10.80 and RM19.80 respectively. The salmon sashimi served were fresh and generous, it went really well with the sushi rice.

Yosenabe (寄せ鍋), priced at RM15.80, is a recommended order if you’re looking for something to warm your tummy. The seafood and vegetables are cooked in a hot pot. The soup was sweet and flavourful and the seafood served was fresh.

We enjoy their curry rice (カレーライス) too. The small portion is priced at RM8.80 while the larger one is priced at RM15.80. Though not spicy, the curry was aromatic and flavourful. The chicken was moist and soft. If you’re looking for mild and fragrant curry rice, this would be right for you.

Sansai udon (山菜うどん) is also one of our favourite orders. The price for the udon is the same as the curry rice. Even though the soup was flavourful, to tailor it to our taste buds, we would usually add in loads of shichimi powder (七味) too make it spicier.

We’ve also tried their Macha & Macha Parfait (抹茶&抹茶パフェ). Priced at RM12, this green tea ice-cream with green tea jelly and red bean was a nice dessert to end the meal. The red bean was rather sweet, but if blended with the green tea ice-cream, it tasted just right, a good dessert to end the meal.

Our opinion remain the same on Sushi Zanmai, we think that this is the best kaiten belt Japanese restaurant in Klang Valley so far. Food, location and environment are good and prices are reasonable. Would revisit again and again and again…

Restaurant Information
T-217 Third Floor, The Gardens,
Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Tel: 03-22811160

H K Diner (荷李活)

2009-06-14T02:39:00.010+08:00

This post is dated back to last Christmas when we went to London for a trip. We arrived on 26th of December early in the morning and our friends gave us a call, telling us to go to Selfridges department store near Bond Street Underground to meet up. Designer brands were at half price discounts on boxing day, it is understandable that Selfridges is overcrowded. Later at night, we heard from the BBC news that the first person who queues in front of Selfridges started waiting at about 4am, withstanding the cold weather for branded products.

The same goes for Harrods which is located near Knightsbridge Underground.

Gucci was having half price discount, the queue was extremely long.

As for Louis Vuitton, there was no discount that day but their business flourishes as other brands. It was quite hard to tell at that moment whether Britain is really having an economy downfall.

Anyway, to get away from the crowd, we decided to visit the Harrods food hall instead. So here we are, in a food paradise.

The fruits look so fresh and pretty that we thought they were fake.

A variety of cheeses offered by Harrods.

Harrods offers a wide variety of food, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Dutch, German, Russian, you name it, they have it. The way the arrange food counters are arranged are fascinating, the sight of it would make our stomach growl wildly.

Chinese food by Harrods, it looks tempting, but of course, extremely expensive.

Took a shot of the lobster salad which appealed to us.

Can’t afford to spend too much for food in Harrods. So here we are, in China Town looking for a Chinese restaurant with great food at reasonable price. We passed by this restaurant and I suggested that we would have our lunch here. This was where I used to dine in during my short stay in London. I’ve been here quite a few times and the food never let me down.

Priced at £3.30, this grape bubble tea (香槟葡萄珍珠茶) was obviously expensive if converted to Ringgit Malaysia but we went on to order it since we missed it so much. It tasted great, nothing much to shout about.

Ys had a curry beef rice (咖喱牛腩饭) for £5.50. According to him, it tasted great, the curry was not too spicy but very aromatic. The portion served was really large and the beef was moist, smooth and tender. A reasonable price for good food.

As for me, I had stir-fried pork, eggplant and vegetables with chilli sauce (鱼香茄子饭) for £6.00. The taste did not change since I’ve been there about two years ago, it remained delicious, they are still serving authentic Chinese food as before. It was rather spicy, exactly how I want it to be.

Service was rather moderate somehow. But it didn’t matter much to us. The environment was clean and most of all, the food was delicious and the price for main meals was reasonable. However, drinks were a little expensive. The location was strategic and it opens at midday until 4am, it might be a good place for food after a drink at the pub. For more tourist spots photos in London, please refer to our previous post here.

Restaurant Information
22 Wardour Street,
Soho,
London W1D 3HD,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 02074349455

Coconut Flower Seafoods Restaurant (椰花园海鲜餐馆)

2009-06-11T20:06:00.007+08:00

This post is dated back to May 2008 when we were wondering what to have for dinner during a Friday night. I couldn’t remember exactly why but we made an impromptu decision to visit this restaurant in Klang since ys has been there and told me that the food was good.

After about an hour drive from KL, we finally arrived at Coconut Flower with two growling stomachs.

The main entrance to the restaurant.

We arrived rather late at about 8.30pm. The restaurant was already packed with many customers, but yet many are still looking for a table. After a tough time finding an empty table, we finally settled down at a rather quiet area.

Perhaps they didn’t hire enough staff, or customers were simply outnumbered on that day, we waited for more than 15 minutes for the waitress to take our order, and so waited quite long for our food to arrive. Anyway, both carrot milk and watermelon juice were decent and they were priced at RM2.80 each.

Finally our long-anticipated sweet and sour crab (酸甜螃蟹) has arrived. Priced at RM28, we find this quite delicious, the crab meat was fresh and juicy and the sweet and sour taste boosted our appetites.

We find their mini buns (馒头) extremely good! It complemented the sweet and sour crab really well. The bun was crusty on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside. It was really tasty and we had 3 plates of them!

Since we came all the way for good seafood, we couldn’t afford to miss this kam heong kepah (甘香甲巴), a type of fresh clams. Kepah is larger and heavier compared to the normal clams. Priced at RM10, the shellfish was aromatic and nicely stir-fried. The spiciness of the curry leaves and the chilli padi satisfied our desire for spicy stuff.

Priced at RM8, the stir-fried vegetable (清炒菜胆) was ok, but a little oily. White rice was priced at RM1 per plate. Other recommend orders as read from other food blogs would be their la la mee hoon, deep dried calamari, salad prawns and their specialty bean curd.

It is enjoyable to have dinner out of KL once in a while, and this place is definitely good for fresh seafood. Our complaints are that service was below average, the waitress seems a little impatient while taking our orders and other staffs hardly catered our needs. Would definitely hope that they’ll improve their service, if not they’ll be driving customers away.

Restaurant Information
702, Jalan Udang Galah,
Kampong Teluk Gong,
42000 Port Klang, Selangor,
Malaysia.
Tel: 03-31341218

The Hole in the Wall Restaurant

2009-06-10T02:02:00.007+08:00

In our previous post on Bath, we have introduced Sally Lunn’s bun. This time around, we’ll bring you to modern British food in the Hole in the Wall restaurant.

Before lunch, we were sight-seeing around Bath to capture some photos. From afar, you can see Pulteney Bridge which crosses River Avon.

A panoramic view of the Royal Crescent.

Jane Austen is Bath’s most famous resident. The Jane Austen Centre offers a snapshot of her life during Regency times and explores how the city affected her life and writing.

A performer was playing music on his violin in front of the Roman Bath.

The entrance of the restaurant which does look a little like a hole in the wall.

We read about this restaurant from the internet on the day before our visit to Bath, heard about their two course award winning lunches and decided to pay them a visit. The restaurant has been established for 60 years, one of the oldest restaurants in Bath.

The ambience is perfect for a quiet lunch or dinner. It was dim and comfortable, somewhere to sit back and relax to have a good meal.

After placing our orders, we were served with bread and butter to satisfy our starving tummies.

We ordered a two course lunch and a three course lunch, both priced at £9.95 and £13.95 each. For the starters, we have opted for their homemade slow-roasted tomato and basil soup. We love this. It tasted fantastic, very flavourful and sour with subtle aroma of basil leaves.

We also had a chicken liver and brandy parfait with apple chutney and Melba toast as our starter. The thick chicken liver tasted quite good, the texture was smooth, rich and creamy. It was tastier when eaten with the apple chutney, which was tangy and sweet. The Melba toast was good too, simple, nice and crispy.

As for our mains, we had a pan fried loin of pork steak on mashed potatoes with green peppercorn and garlic sauce. We enjoyed this as well, the meat was on the dry side, but the peppercorn and garlic sauce complemented the pork steak very well, adding to it a sense of smoothness and creaminess. Occasionally biting into the green peppercorns gave us a tinge of excitement. The mashed potatoes tasted light and creamy, it was good.

Instead of choosing salmon and prawns as we would usually do, we felt adventurous to try out something new to us – roasted beetroot and goats cheese risotto with parmigiano reggiano and sour cream. The risotto was rich, creamy and cheesy. Even so, it wasn’t overwhelmingly strong and delicious to the last bite.

We ended our meal with local cheeses with home-made chutney and Bath Olivers. We were served with 2 types of cheese, Stilton and Cheddar cheese. Both cheeses went really well with the biscuits. But unfortunately, we were too full to finish our dessert due to the heavy starters and mains.

Service was good, people are generally very friendly in Bath, which is why we like Bath a lot. It might be pricey to dine in this restaurant in the evening, to avoid burning a hole in your pocket, it is advisable to visit the restaurant in the afternoon for its 2 course lunch. For more information, please visit their website here. We had a great experience in Bath, do visit Bath if you happen to visit the UK.

Restaurant Information
16 George Street,
Bath BA1 2EN,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 01225425242

Sally Lunn’s Restaurant

2009-06-08T05:36:00.003+08:00

We welcome the arrival of summer holiday by visiting Bath for a one day trip. Bath is a city located in the south west of England, about 2 and a half hours away from London by train and about an hour away from Cardiff by train.

This is the west front of Bath Abbey, which is an Anglican parish church founded in the 7th century and rebuilt in the 12th and 16th century, one of the most recognised architectures in Bath. We love the carefree lifestyle of the city, it was Tuesday when we visited, but we couldn’t really tell if it’s weekday or weekend. Reminded me of Stratford-upon-Avon, where I used to stayed for a year.

The south side of the Bath Abbey. The tourist information centre is located nearby, where we obtained maps and information from.

Ever wonder why is Bath known as Bath? This is because Bath is gifted with natural mineral spring and it has been a spa town for 2000 years. This is the Roman Bath. The Romans were the first to realise the value of the hot mineral water and built their religious spa of Aquae Sulis around the springs.

The Stall Street has many to offer, arts and paintings, food etc.

A man was playing Celtic and Bluegrass music on his 5-string banjo. The music was fantastic, it contributed to the cheery and relaxed atmosphere of Bath.

Tummies rumbling and it’s time for food. We read from the leaflet which says that “You cannot visit Bath without experiencing the taste of the World Famous Sally Lunn Bath Bun”. This caught our attention. Without second thoughts, we popped into Sally Lunn’s for its infamous Bath bun.

Before having our afternoon tea, we visited the museum which is located inside the building. We learned that Sally Lunn is a young French refugee who arrived in England more than 300 years ago. She baked a rich, round and generous bread which is now known as the Sally Lunn Bun. This is the original kitchen with its faggot oven, Georgian range and old baking utensils.

The restaurant was cozy and comfortable with dim lightings.

We had an iced fruit tea at £2.08 to quench our thirst. It was nice and sour.

What is an afternoon tea without some tea? We had a Sally Lunn Cream Tea at £5.68 which includes half a Sally Lunn Bun and their House tea.

The tea was nice and fragrant without any need to add in sugar. A warm cup of tea definitely complemented well with the bun.

Here comes the Sally Lunn Bun which we have anticipated. The toasted and buttered bun was served with Tiptree Strawberry Jam and local clotted cream. The bun was served warm, it was mildly sweet and very aromatic. Coupled with the strawberry jam and local clotted cream, it was fantastic.

We also had another Sally Lunn Bun served with traditional thick cut orange Marmalade at £3.08. The Marmalade tasted authentic, we love the sense of bitterness in it, and occasionally biting on the thinly sliced orange. Both strawberry and Marmalade weren’t overly sweet, the original taste of the fruits were exceptionally good.

It was a pleasant afternoon tea. In our humble opinion, this restaurant is certainly worth a visit. Service was very good and the prices justify the quality of the food. For more information, please visit their website here.

Restaurant Information
4 North Parade Passage,
Bath BA1 1NX,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 01225461634

Station Kopitiam

2009-06-06T01:43:00.007+08:00

This is a post dated back to July 2008. Endah Parade is one of the places which we used to visit since it is quite near my place. We noticed this restaurant after a renovation has taken place in the entrance to the Carrefour supermarket. Since we haven’t tried it before, we decided to have a go.

The menu was appealing, offering more than 50 dishes from with photos and neatly labeled, ranging from Malaysian to Western food. Quite a number of dishes captured our attention, namely Thai sizzling chicken, belacan mee goreng, black pepper chicken, petai prawns with rice, Tomyam seafood with rice, spicy fried glass noodles and the list goes on…

We were a little early for dinner, which explains the emptiness of the restaurant. The environment was good, spacious and clean.

Ys had a Sotong Lala Set which was served with a fish ball soup, ice lemon tea and fruits. Since they were having an opening promotion at that time, the price was reduced from RM13.80 to RM9.50.

We actually thought that it was a good deal, until we noticed that the portion served was relatively small and there were hardly any squid served. Taste wise, it was fine, rather fragrant with the spiciness of the chili to enhance the taste of the clams.

The fish ball soup was rather bland. And fish ball soup without fish balls but with small and almost unseen fish dices seems a little pathetic.

I craved for fish and chips that day. Without further doubts I ordered fish and chips which was priced at RM11.90. For an addition of RM1, you can have a bowl of fried rice with the fish and chips. The portion served was large, but the colour of the fish was a little intimidating to me, it looks a tad too orange I guess. Tasted quite average, not superb but not too bad either.

The food was rather average to us, perhaps it was due to the fact that they were newly open at that time. But we’ve actually read positive feedbacks about Station Kopitiam in Berjaya Times Square. Hopefully they have improved since then, with the wide range of varieties which they offer coupled with the reasonable price, it would be great if the quality of food is guaranteed.

Restaurant Information
Lot F2.11, Ground Floor,
Carrefour Shopping Centre,
Endah Parade, Sri Petaling,
57000 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.

Albany Fish Bar

2009-06-03T06:34:00.007+08:00

There is no way that we have not posted on fish and chips since we are in the UK. So here it is, a post on Albany Fish Bar.

The shop is strategically located on Albany Road, on the same row as Benny’s Chicken and across Tesco Metro.

We did our weekly grocery shopping in Tesco Metro and Albany Fish Bar caught our attention as there’re many customers queuing up every time we pass by the shop. It triggered our curiosity and we decided to try it out.

There are many battered and crumbled food on display. They have a lot to offer, jumbo sausage, fish cake, saveloy, pineapple fritter, samosas, popadums, chicken, burger and curry. So you’re not into fish, you have many other alternatives. We were eyeing on the large piece of cod on the right side of the photo since we stepped in the place.

The staff was preparing our fish and chips in a box.

The fish and chips in a box cost £4.39. It consisted of a large cod, chips and a choice of mushy peas, gravy or curry. We opted for gravy, which we thought is a good choice. Though it was a tad salty, the gravy was flavourful and nicely complemented the fish. As for the fish and chips, they turned soggy as it took us about 30 minutes walk to reach home. Even so the fish still tasted quite good, it was fresh and as evidenced from the photo, the fish was really large and good for sharing. We suppose it would be better if it was less oily.

The chicken and mushroom pie, priced at £1.40, was rather delicious. The outer layer of the pie was nice and crunchy while the filling was tasty and flavourful with large chunks of chicken and generous mushroom slices.

Albany Fish Bar is opened from 11am to 2pm and 5pm to 12am on weekdays, all day on Saturday and 5pm to 12am on Sunday. Not a bad place to order take out if you’re hungry during late hour.

Information
18 Albany Road,
Cardiff CF24 3RQ,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 02920482022

Tenkaichi Sushi & Noodle Bar (テンカイチ)

2009-06-01T05:17:00.010+08:00

Finally, a post on a Japanese restaurant in Cardiff. After hearing many compliments about this restaurant from our friends, we decided to give it a try.

We arrived at the restaurant rather late at about 9pm in the evening, and the sky is still bright.

The seats were rather similar to that of Sushi Groove. It was clean and comfortable.

We had a Red Ninja cocktail at £3.95. This cocktail is prepared with sake, Malibu, pineapple juice, cranberry and blackcurrant juice. At first sip, I didn’t really like the taste of it. But it felt rather good and refreshing after I continue drinking it. The sense of coconut is rather strong, if you’re someone who enjoy Malibu rum, this cocktail would be right for you.

We also had an Asahi Super Dry Beer at £2.70 in a bottle. If you ask me, I would say Asahi is one of the beers which we enjoy at all times. The fresh crisp karakuchi taste was really good, it felt like ages since we last had Japanese beer. It was really enjoyable.

Here’s our portion of mixed sashimi (刺身盛り合わせ) at £13.90. The presentation was rather average. But the serving of sashimi was considerably generous as the tuna and salmon sashimi were thickly sliced. The salmon sashimi was fresh and delicious, the same goes for the rest. We especially love the hokkigai (ホッキ貝) aka surf clam sashimi, too bad it was buried beneath the squid sashimi (イカ刺身) so it cannot be seen from the photo. Only the tuna slightly fell out of expectation. Overall, it was good.

The seafood kushi katsu (海鮮串カツ) priced at £4.40 was good stuff too. Marinated scallops, oysters and prawns were deep fried in bread crumbs. It was served warm, fresh, crispy and juicy when eaten. The Worcestershire sauce, which was slightly sour, boosted the taste of the kushi katsu. The seafoods were large and fresh. It was definitely worth the price.

The ten don (天丼), priced at £7.20, was served almost at the same time as the skewers and the sashimi, so at the time we indulged in it, it turned a little soggy. The batter was slightly thick, but other than that, the ten don was good. The prawns were large and fresh and the amount of rice served was enormous!

The spicy chicken ramen priced at £6.90 did not let us down either. It was served piping hot, and to our surprise, it was rather spicy compared to other food labeled “spicy” served in the UK. The chili soup base was flavourful and the slices of char-grilled chicken served were generous. The serving was huge, the bowl was larger than my palm. We love this.

It was a delightful meal. We will be happy to revisit this restaurant in the near future. And we would recommend this restaurant to people in Cardiff looking for authentic Japanese food. The price was proportionate to the generous serving, definitely worth every penny paid. Service was good and serving of food was speedy. The restaurant is open for long hours, from 12pm to 12am during Friday and Saturday. Do check out their website here for more information.

Restaurant Information
236, City Road Roath,
Cardiff CF24 3JJ,
United Kingdom.
Tel : 02920481888

The Loaf

2009-05-30T11:20:00.006+08:00

Another 1 year old post, sorry for posting everything this late. I need to make this reminder to readers that the prices and menus might be different now. Anyway, this Japanese style bakery is owned by Tun Dr. Mahathir, Malaysia's former prime minister. The first bakery and bistro is located in Langkawi, which we wish to visit in the future.

The third floor of The Loaf is a bakery while the upper floor is a fine dining restaurant.

The Loaf offers different types of breads, sandwiches and cheesecakes. Many times when we passed by The Loaf, it is filled with customers choosing and buying breads.

They also offer marble cookies.

We were attracted by their Uhu! hu! cheesecakes and went on to purchase a box which contains 6 cheesecake priced at RM25 in total. A single cheesecake would cost RM5 so we thought of getting a box instead. We learned that the cheesecakes were made without artificial preservatives and only natural ingredients were used. The paper box packaging is lovely and it can be recycled.

We shall name the cheesecakes clockwise beginning from the upper left corner with the harmonious green tea, the glitzy strawberries, luxurious chocolate, blueberry treasures, inspiring fluffy and passionate red bean. The Uhu! hu! cheesecakes tasted really soft and fluffy, the cheese was light and creamy, all flavours are equally delicious in their own unique way! The harmonious green tea is one of our favourites, the green tea aroma was rather strong and it tasted slightly bitter. Green tea lovers would definitely enjoy this. Glitzy strawberries and luxurious chocolate were good too, nothing would go wrong with these two flavours. We enjoyed the blueberry treasures too, the blueberries were sour and appetising and the taste blended well with the light and fluffy cheesecake. The inspiring fluffy was cute and delicious, a smiley face cheesecake can definitely cheer up the day! The passionate red bean was good but a little sweet compared to the rest of the cheesecakes. Other than these flavours, the durian obsession also received much compliments, I’ve tried it once and it tasted really good, definitely something not to miss out!

We would definitely go back for more cheesecakes. We might also try their cookies, sandwiches and breads next time. For more information, please visit their website here.

Café Information
Lot 3.13.00 and 4.12.02 Pavilion,
168, Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Tel: 03-21453036

Koryo-won (고려원)

2009-05-27T05:23:00.017+08:00

Another backdated post taken in Malaysia before we left for the UK. We were thinking of having Korean food in KLCC when we were shopping around there. If we are not mistaken, Koryo-won is the only Korean restaurant in KLCC.

A photo of KLCC when we finished shopping for the day.

A place to be if you're looking for fine Korean dining restaurant.

The exterior of the restaurant.

The restaurant is clean, well-designed, modern and equipped with good ventilation.

It was nicely decorated with Korean dolls.

For our drinks, we had a watermelon juice at RM12 and a mineral water for RM5. Yes, we do agree that food and drinks in this restaurant are pricey. For most Korean restaurants in Sri Hartamas, they usually serve drinking water for free.

Our side dishes (반찬) arrived shortly after we placed our order. They served 6 different types of side dishes. To be frank, we weren’t too impressed by their side dishes. The taste was rather average.

For our mains, we had a dol sot bibim bap (돌솥비빔밥) priced at RM28. This hot stone fragrant rice was topped with fresh seasonal vegetables, marinated sweet chicken, egg, chilli paste and sesame oil. It tasted quite delicious, the rice touching the bowl was crispy and tasty. It was neither too sweet nor spicy, just right for us. It was also served with a bowl of miyeok guk (미역국), a type of Korean seaweed soup which is usually eaten by the Koreans on their birthday.

The next main dish would be our all time favourite - kimchi jigae (김치찌개). Priced at RM25, this spicy kimchi soup was served with side dishes and rice. This, too, tasted rather good, the soup was sourish and boosted our appetites. Even though it was rather expensive, the ingredients served were proportionate to the price.

Other than the common food found in most Korean restaurants, Koryo-won offers grilled Wagyu beef marinated with their special BBQ recipe. Superior wagyu beef (M9) is priced at RM360 while premium wagyu beef (M7) is priced at RM260. Wagyu shabu-shabu is priced at RM160 with a minimum order of 2 persons. Do check it out if you’re looking for a fine dining Korean restaurant.

Restaurant Information
Lot 418-419, Ramlee Mall
Suria KLCC,
Kuala Lumpur City Centre,
50088 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Tel: 03-21666189