Porridge

Perhaps this is what appears in our mind when we talk about porridge.

A very plain, bland taste which is suit for a patient and a very conventional type of porridge. Some people don't like porridge because it makes them think about sickness.

This one perhaps a slightly better compared to previous one. Eh, why today keep on talking about porridge? This is because...

Tada... New special type of porridge to introduce!!!

Tom Yam Porridge!!! Sorry the photo was a bit dark. Photo was taken by using handphone. So, please bear with the quality of the photo.

Ya, Tom Yam porridge, totally different experience with normal bland taste porridge. The Tom Yam flavour was just as strong as what we took for Tom Yam noodle. But the texture was slightly thicker than Tom Yam soup, which was not so watery. Overall, the porridge was nice and special. For Tom Yam lover, you should try this.

I forget to snap a photo on the shop but this shop was located in Jalan Raja Uda, Penang. It was just beside the primary school. If you plan to give it a try, you must be reached at 7pm when the stall was just opened or else you have to spare a lot of time just for waiting.

So? Let's try it.

Hatyai Trip - Food Version

Hatyai, a place meant shopping and eating for me. Shopping is most of the girls' favourite and a place with a lot of cheap stuffs will surely drive girls crazy. This statement no longer true to girls only because I found that the statement is suit for the guys in this generation too after my trip in Hatyai last week, let me switch it to food and I'l talk about the rest in the next post.

1) The first lunch that we had is definately worth to eat - Sky Buffet at Lee Garden 33th floor. It cost us only around RM15 but we had all of this below.

Aiks, the photo seems reflected our greediness, but good food is always hard for us to resist.

2) Then, along the road side in the city around, you might found this

Extremely big prawn. Too bad we were too full to try this.

3) The smell was great for this, but it costs around RM10 per piece.

4) Our lunch that we had the next day was the famous 猪脚饭(pork leg rice?) If you never try this before, you must try it.

The pork leg was not those oily type with inches of fats but the fats amount was just nice and the gravy was match to eat together with rice. Perfect match Look for this shop which opposite the market.

5) Lastly, a snack that I want to introduce is this biscuit like snack. I found it in Lee Garden.

Look nice right? hehe..

Of course, despite from the good food, advice should be given to the not-so-good food. So, w\ho are they?

1) The champion will be... the dim sum

The size definately will be the champion where this was the smallest 'lo mai gai' that I had ever seen. Oh ya, the spoon beside was a tea spoon, not table spoon. Besides so the size, the taste was definitely... weird. Very dry and it mixed with herb and make it even more weird.

Let me show you the 'cha siew pao'.

Again, it was tea spoon beside the cha siew pao. This round, it was very special whereby you can't taste the taste of meat in it. Perhaps you can just able to bite some... fats. 3) The hor fun.

Except for the portion of the food, It was not taste too bad. However, the bad thing was We can't really taste the actual taste of the food. It was just too bland.

Last but not least, since this post talked about food, let me ended the post with some special food.

Try this if you dare. Food with high protein. Good for health.

Christmas Celebration - Pulau Aman

It was Christmas again every year many people scratching their head to think the kegiatan for christmas. Last time, when I were young (although now still not very old), we used to celebrate Christmas by buying the spray and sprayed all people around us no matter we knew them or not.

Now, this Christmas, I went to a special place - Pulau Aman. A place near to Batu Kawan, Penang. Why I knew about this place? Just because of one email forwarded by one of my friends. In the email it stated that great Mee Udang (noodle with prawn) was served in Pulau Aman.

Therefore, we drove from butterworth to Batu Kawan in the afternoon to search for this little island. There are sign boards of 'Pulau Aman' Jetty along the road so we able to reached there smoothly.

Here we reached the jetty.

It cost us RM6.00 for this type of boat to Pulau Aman, which was just around 5-10 minutes with a slow boat speed.

This is Pulau Aman.Before we proceed with our main objective, we surfed around the island to look for other activities. We found that there were lot of la la in this island and many people were hardworking harvesting la la.
Perhaps they were just too bored since not much activies can be done over here although an attractive board was put up with a lot of activities.

Well, the island was almost explored by us within 15 minutes time including photo taking session

Therefore, we proceed with Mee Udang. We were a bit shocked when the waiter told us all food was finished except for mee goreng and mee udang. We start understand the reason for those people hardworking to collect la la. They just wanted to have more variety of food.

This was how it looked like.

The photo was a bit exaggerated (the reason we came here due to great photograph technique). The food looked nice, but in actual, the prawn was so-so fresh and the mee was tasted so-so only. Again, this plate of mee udang cost us RM6.00. So in order to eat Mee Udang in Pulau Aman, It total cost us RM13 (including drinks).

For those who want to recommend a food through sending email, please think twice and taste properly before send out so that we can help our purse

So, are you going Pulau Aman?

Bbq

Happy 2010!!! Finally a new year come. So, what have you done on 1 Jan 10? Transformed into a pig and slept whole day at home? Did marathon shopping in shopping mall?

I was having BBQ and apartment stay on this special 010110! (sound like computer language). Ya, BBQ, what so special? For us, especially chinese, when we talk about BBQ, most of us will think about a lot of chicken wings marinated with soy sauce, Oyster sauce, Lea & Perrins and others seasoning. Besides, we might have some sausages, fish ball, corn and perhaps potato. That is our typical chinese style of BBQ. You might asked, what's wrong with it? Or else how should we BBQ?

Ya, out of my expectation, our BBQ style was not belonged to the category that I mentioned. Let me show you a totally different BBQ style that we had.

Firstly, sausages and fish balls were still in our food list like this. It looked like we are preparing for lok lok stall.

Chicken, a must prepare food for BBQ. But, we had different flavour for chicken. They were no longer prepared by using soy sauce and oyster sauce. I am not sure how they marinated this but i guess they put some curry powder and also some seasoning.

Then, prawn with garlic, butter, kunyit and other unrevealed ingredients.

sotong with the same marinated style with prawn.

Fish double tumbs up for this special ikan bakar topped with home made paste. The fish was just nice to eat without overcook / undercook whereby all moisture was still contained in the fish.

We even had rojak as one of our food!!! Jealous for our unusual style of BBQ? Thanks to our dear malay colleagues who put lot of effort on this BBQ and made it a great success.

Some of you might wondering why all pictures shown was the food still in raw condition or in the progress of cooking. Well, the food was too nice until we finished up all once it was served. Photo was totally forgot to took before we eat. :P I know la, I am still not a good blogger yet. But food is too good to resist and wait to be eaten.

Oh ya, a small tip learnt from this BBQ, put aluminium foil on top of the metal grill first before put the food on top. It looks clean and the food will not get burned easily. Try it during your BBQ.

Coffee Lane

Honestly, I'm not a coffee lover. I never know what is the difference between a RM10 Starbucks coffee and the RM1 coffee in a kopitiam . For me, as long as the coffee is not too bitter/ too sweet, they are still acceptable (provided milk is added).

Until the day I met one of my friend, Terry, a super coffee lover, I learnt that coffee making needs a lot of knowledge and passion. All the while coffee just means coffee powder + milk for me. This friend of mine, he learned the proper ways to brew coffee, he learned about different types of coffee beans, he learned different kind of equipments for coffee brewing. He followed by investing in his dream and make it became true by opening a coffee shop named Coffee Lane.

His shop was well decorated by using 70's -80's century style.

Luckily the furniture was not same age with the decoration style.

During the opening of his shop, he showed us the coffee making by using a small cute pot.

The pot was just too small for him to hold. That's why he looked a bit puzzled.

The way to use a Aladdin pot for coffee making (sorry I can't remember the actual name).

Terry said we should rub the pot at this moment so that genie will appear and make our wish become true. -_-''

And, the most impressive method - syphon coffee. This is a very unique style (at least for me) of brewing coffee. It is just like conducting a test in chemical lab. According to my friend, this is the way to make a pure coffee. Firstly, you need to boil water by using conical flask- like equipment. Then put fresh crushed coffee powder into the funnel above the flask. The water will slowly goes up to the funnel above at certain temperature due to some scientific theory. Then, it'll mix with the powder and it will go back to the bottom at the end. Well, I'm not good in describing, but if you have the chance to witness the live show, you will say it is just like a magic show.
A good coffee doesn't need any milk and sugar to enhance it's flavour. It will be just nice to be tasted by itself. This time I really feel the difference of the coffee because the true coffee is not too bitter. After you drink it, you will feel your mouth watery but not thirsty. Don't believe? Try it.

Name: Coffee Lane
Add: 10B King Street 10200 Penang, Malaysia
Tel: 04-2610625 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            04-2610625      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Egg And Toast

My favourite breakfast is a very simply breakfast - half boiled egg + toast. Sound simple right? But, it is not easy to get a delicious half boil egg because I have very high expectation on it. Some people may boil the egg overtime and % of cook became over. Some even boil the egg until the egg yolk become slightly harden. So, I think it is not easy to boil the egg to the ngam ngam (just nice) condition.

Besides, the toast need to bake slightly and apply with nice butter (not margerin). Then, they become a perfect match. Well, you might said I'm over complicated a simple breakfast, but I really tried a few not nice half boil egg + toast.

 I personally like the half boil egg selling in this place.

Most of the penang people should feel it is very familiar. Ya, it is none other than the most famous half boil egg in Penang near airport. This small little wooden house selling the best half boil egg. I always go there for breakfast if I go to Penang in the morning. It is very easy to find as it is just located on the left hand side of road when you are on the way to Penang Airport.

Of course, we need to pay for good food. This nice breakfast is quite costly for a half boil egg + toast. My bf and I able to eat more than RM10 just for this.

Anyway, it is still worth for me cause I like it.

Day 12 Queenstown - Food Version

After our great bungy jumping,  we must celebrate for our victory Celebrate we conquered our fear, celebrate we finally did it. Wahaha ( I know many people also did bungy jump before, but let me show off a bit ok??) Therefore, we, as a typical chinese, our celebration must be related to food. Yeah, we love good food. Let's go!!!!

For those who had been in Queenstown, you must heard of this famous burger. This shop sells the best burger in New Zealand. No matter you search from tourist guide like Lonely Planet, or you ask a local kiwis, they will strongly recommend you this- The Freg Burger!! Our celebration meal of course must be New Zealand Best

At the moment I wrote this, I wish I can fly to Queenstown and eat the Freg burger again!!!

This shop was packed with customers when we were there. This scenario was considered normal if the shop served delight food. But, the crazy part of the shop was a bunch of people will always queuing for the food regardless what the time was!! OMG, People in Queenstown were really going insane because of the Freg Burger.

After waiting for some moment, finally we got our burger. Yeah

Let me show you how big the burger was. The burger was as big as my face!! Crazy right?? For those who have a big stomach, this burger definitely worth for you.

Ok, it's time for me to recommend the burger that I ordered.

Name of the shop: Freg Burger


1) Southern Swine - Prime New Zealand beef, American streaky bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, aioli & tomato relish. Wao, this was lezat
Cost: $12.00


2) Apart from the beef burger, they served scrumptious lamb burger as well-
 Little Lamby - Prime New Zealand lamb, mint jelly, lettuce, tomato, red onion, aioli & tomato relish
Cost: $11.30

If you come to Queenstown, remember try this burger. This is the MUST EAT food in Queenstown.

OK, after the lengthy promotion of the burger, let me introduce another nice food in Queenstown  - Winnies.

 Another restaurant that recommended by local. This restaurant famous with its own make pizza. The choices of pizza were not much. We were allowed to order 2 flavours in 1 pizza with the condition you ordered the big pizza.

 Of course, we must try more flavours if we can The pizza was topped with sour cream when it served. Yeah I love sour cream.

Montonara. 

I love this flavour and most customers love this too The pizza consisted fillet of chicken, sundried tomatoes, brie & Spring onions, drizzled with sweet chili sauce topped with pistachio sour cream. The taste was unique and the combination of the ingredient was perfect. The only imperfect part was the pizza base was a bit too soft. Anyhow, the pizza was still delicious.

 This side of the pizza was Tri Factor. (Prime steak cuts, bacon, mushrooms, caramelised onions and BBQ sauce) I think the BBQ sauce was too strong and it actually cover the taste of the ingredient.

Name of Restaurant: Winnies
Cost: -
Small     : $18..95 (Pizza for one)
Medium : $27.95 (8 slices)
Large     : $34.95 (10 slices)

Secret Garden In Ipoh

Since I come back to Ipoh, there are a few friends around me keep on talking about 'Secret Garden'. What is that so special about this restaurant?

Finally, I had a chance to walk in this restaurant and try the food. Please bear with the photo quality as I took the photos with my stupid phone and that was the best quality I can captured with my lousy technique.

There is large wording welcoming all the guests while entering the car park.

Yes, the big bungalow is the restaurant. This seems like the latest ekspresi dominan for new big restaurant in Ipoh!

The side view.

This is the internal environment.

 OKOK, food remains the main character in restaurant. Here comes the food that we had on that day.

Wild Grill Special - Grill Beef, Chicken, Lamb, cocktail sausages, Pita Bread, Garlic Bread, Mix Bell Pepper, Home Made Dip RM42.90


This definitely special created for greedy people like me who want to try different type of meat at the same time!

Chicken Parmigianina - Baked with Parmesan, Mozzarella Cheese, Tomato Salsa, Sauteed Spaghetti RM33.90
This portion of the food doesn't look big but it definitely make you full after 2 balls of chicken Parmigianina stuffed your stomach.

 

Fisherman's Platter - Breaded Fish Fillet, Salmon Coupacein, Grill Mussle, Prawn, Squid, Kikoman Wasabi, Mesclun Salad Rm39.90
Yes, platter again but with seafood theme for seafood lover. The serving is slightly similar with Japanese food.

 This is a nice one. The scrumptious sauce can even attracted my father who is a non spaghetti lover. However, I forget to jot down the name......................................
Search this out when you are in the restaurant and tell me. :P

Name               : The Secret Garden

Address            : 42, Jalan Cheah Cheng Lim, 30250 Ipoh, Perak. Google Map

Operation Time : Monday to Friday 12.00pm- 1.00am

                          Saturday              12.00pm- 2.00am

                          Sunday                 12.00pm- 1.00am
Website           : http://www.thesecretgardenhotel.com/