Outing with Best buddies

We finally managed to meet up with Ai Lin during the Hari Raya holidays. It seemed like ages back since I last met up with her. It was good to see her - and the tiga sekawan met up and chit-chatted -  just like the good ol' days.

We had lunch in Sizzling Stone Grill in Jusco AEON. Had a great time bonding and catching up. It was the first time we are going out with Renee and Ai Lin as a couple - and we had a great time together. Renee especially seemed to know alot about pregnancy-related symptoms - I was impressed! He asked me questions about my pregnancy symptoms - I never knew a man would be interested to be equipped with such knowledge. He is definitely more than prepared to be a dad soon - HINT HINT to Ai Lin, hehe.

Tiga sekawan at the Sizzling Stone Grill restaurant

After lunch, we walked around the shopping complex and as a finale had some coffee and cake at Coffee Beans. I know with our busy schedules (except for me; hehe, I have been having just too much free time on my hand this year), it's hard to find a common time for all of us to meet up. So this outing was something to be tressured :)

Atlantic 1 Cafe

 I used to love the pineapple rice served at the Atlantic 1 cafe. It's situated next to the Shell station in Jalan Portugis (Jalan Kubu), Melaka. I used to go there for lunch when I was teaching in Ranger College back in 2003. After so many years, I had been having this craving for a good pineapple rice. So, we went there for dinner and it was packed with tourists.

A framed newspaper article of Jonker Street in 1890 at the Atlantic Cafe, Melaka

 Pictures taken using our new compact camera - LUMIX Panasonic DMC-ZR3.

After waiting for quite some time, I finally got to savor the pineapple rice which I had been craving for so long. But, I was a little dissapointed with the quality now - I remember it had much more ingredients and tasted much better back in 2003. Probably that's the price of over-commercialization - the quality of the food is compromised.

Delicious Classic Chocolate Cake with vanilla ice-cream

This is the best-ever chocolate cake! The warm-moist-cake-with-melting-chocolate-ganache with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the top is simply irresistible! It's so rich, it might be a good idea to share it - although it's so tempting to have the cake to yourself. This cake was recommended by my friend Gaya's husband, Aaron when we met up for dinner at Delicious, Bangsar a few months back. When I took the first bite, I fell instantly in love with the cake - the best part about the cake is that it is served warm with the ganache melting on its sides - mmmmmmm!

Wa Zen Japanese Restaurant @ Melaka Raya

I am a big fan of Japanese food. But ever since I got pregnant, I had to stop consuming raw seafood. Nonetheless, I still dine at Japanese restaurants and order mainly sushi dishes without any raw seafood on it and edamami. I love the simplicity in Japanese food.

Chin Lay and I have been regular customers in Sushi King for the past few years. As a change, Chin Lay brought me to this cosy Japanese restaurant in Melaka Raya. The ambiance is warm and cozy with its warm lighting - it's perfect for romantic dinners. You have to make booking in advance due to the limited seats in the restaurant. The food is superb and authentic - a big difference to what we are used to having in Sushi King. The pricing is very reasonable as well. The only thing that turned me off about this place was the strong fishy smell that greeted us upon entering the restaurant. It took me a while to recover from the strong smell - it must have been aggravated by my pregnancy hormones. Eventually, I got used to the smell and enjoyed the dishes we ordered.

We ordered the unagi set which comes with a bowl of rice, two slices of unagi, chawanmushi and few slices of watermelon. We also ordered edamami (my favorite) and potato salad (YUM!).

Unagi set

For dessert, we had green tea ice cream with red bean paste. It was very good.

 

 Green tea ice cream dessert

I would strongly recommend this place to all Japanese food lovers. 

Wa Zen Japanese Restaurant
38, Jalan Melaka Raya 15,
Taman Melaka Raya, 75000 Melaka.
Tel: 06-2823882

Sassorosso Italian Restaurant

Tucked away from the city's hustle-bustle, this place leaves a  warm and contented feeling for those who come to dine- making them return the next time. We chose to dine at the alfresco area surrounded with a beautiful garden and with a view of KLCC. We loved the quaint and romantic ambience.

Sassorosso is situated in a quaint neighborhood along Jalan Yap Kwan Seng; with a great view of KLCC; extensive menu; and superb service. And the food is absolutely delectable. So far, this is one of our best dining experience. We ordered fresh and succulent oysters, pan-fried scallops, and wild mushroom soup with rosemary crouton for starters. And for the main course, we shared a wood -fired Italian pizza - Siciliana (with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, eggplant, ricotta and parmesan cheese) - delicious!

It's a perfect place to go to celebrate wedding aniverssaries or during Valentine's Day - this place is highly recommended for romantic dinners if you wish to have some quiet time with your partner. 

Just Thai - Thai Noodle House @ One Utama

We loved the interior decorations and the ambiance in this Thai restaurant - it's very cosy and classic with some potraits of Thai people on the walls. We ordered the set meal for 2 person consisting of the following menu:

• Royal money bags served with plum sauce; Rating: 4/5
• Spicy glass noodle salad with seafood; Rating: 5/5
• Tom yam seafood soup; Rating: 4/5
• Stir fried fish fillet with garlic; Rating: 4/5
• Stir fried mixed vegetables with oyster sauce; Rating: 3/5
• Water chestnut with coconut milk; Rating: 5/5

 And this set menu costs only RM 49 - enough portion for 3 people actually - it was too much food for us both. I'd definitely go back there for their glass noodle salad - it's power-pack!

Rain Nudle House @ Pavilion

I haven’t been blogging on dining out and restaurants for a long time. But I had to blog about this particular place – for I had the best Thai mango-glutinous-rice dessert here. I didn’t manage to take photos of the dishes we ordered at Rain Nudle house. Nevertheless, pictures will not do it justice.

My favorite dish is the glass noodle salad with seafood – bursting with intense flavor – and spicy! The papaya salad was delicious as well. My favorite of the favorites is the mango-glutinous-rice dessert – with its warm-thick-rich-coconut-cream accompanied with sweet-aromatic-Thai-mango and springy-glutinous-rice sprinkled with sesame seeds – just awesome!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day - for me, it's just another day to remember to show appreciation to my mother. My mom mean the world to me. At times, we talk for hours and hours. At times, we don't see eye to eye on certain things. Most of the times, she never failed to inspire me. My mom is a hardworking woman who never likes to sit still doing nothing - throughout the years, I remember her venturing into various small-scaled businesses to fill her time and to bring in extra cash - video store, baby-sitting, tuition classes, catering, food-stall, and now she is venturing into tailoring. I admire her for her spirit and diligence - and remind myself to emulate her diligence. My mom have always taught me the art of patience, empathy, understanding, forgiveness, and accepting anyone just the way they are and to give without expecting anything in return. Sometimes, I think that she is gullible and naive - but over time, I realised that it's her giving-without-expecting nature - a divine trait. I owe her for a great extent to who I have become today - for without her, I wouldn't have grown into a better human being, learning and growing along the way.

For Mother's day celebration, I brought my family out for a nice dinner at King's Hotel Thai Food restaurant. We enjoyed the warm ambience and the live band - I love the clean-white deco of the restaurant - everything looks spick and span. The food was not great - the best dish was the Thai green curry. I didn't really enjoy the pineapple rice I ordered. The highlight was of course the dessert - ice cream with fried banana - it was superb! Towards the end of the evening, we managed to squeeze some space in our tummy to make room for the smooth-melt-in-your-mouth cakes from Coffee Bean. Yum!

Classic cheesecake and blueberry cheesecake

Chocolate cake and sugee cake

Vanilla ice-cream with fried banana

Tom Yam Goong

Thai Green Curry

Pineapple rice

Balok Beach - the feasting

Ate alot - slept alot - a totally lazy holiday by the beach. The durian we bought back from the night market wasn't that good though. The best was the nasi kerabu, and the grilled stingray - enjoyed all the other local fares as well - satar, etc. We definitely ate our heart out - holiday is an excuse to eat whatever you want ;)

Crab Fare

Last night, I missed my bus back to Melaka because I was lured into 'crab-trap' by Alfred and Aaron - and since it has been a darn long time since I last indulged in crab, I was game for it. Aaron recommended a shop near Ampang for its famous salted egg crab - according to him, that's the best he've tasted. Unfortunately for us, they didn't have crab on that day. And off we went to another shop - it wasn't that good, though.

We then retreated to the apartment where John was waiting for us, and ended up watching Russell Peters - a Canadian Anglo-Indian comedian whose jokes can be described as crude, raw, racist, and offensive - depending on how you choose to look at it. For me, in the name of humour, it was worth a watch - we definitely laughed our heart out (Warning: suitable for 18 and above) - one of the audiences brought his young son to the program - I was like "What is that guy thinking? - I wonder how his kid is going to 'store' all these 'information' in his growing 'database' - kids nowadays are darn smart - never underestimate them!).

All in all, it was a great weekend with great company :)

Dinner

Last Saturday, I attended a colleague’s wedding dinner – after much contemplation, I decided to wear a saree – after arriving at the hotel, I realized that I might be over-dressed, haha. Had great fun – most of all, since we were seated in the same table with all the ‘same-headed’ colleagues – shared jokes and the office ‘happenings’ – laughed my heart out that night. The food was not bad – although I remember feeling stuffed after the 6th course meal.

Weekend Outing

Last Saturday, Chin Lay and I went for a Korean dining experience in Mahkota Parade. We prefer the dishes here compared to the one we had in the Korean House as posted in my earlier blog entry. The dishes here are more palatable to our taste bud. But in a way, I kinda liked the food in the Korean House as well since it was more of an authentic Korean dining experience.

Bi Bim Bab (Rice with kimchi and chicken)

It was nice walking around the mall during Xmas season - it's just so exciting seeing all the decorations and basking in the Yuletide mood. We were checking out for some presents as well.

Chin Lay and I

Later, we watched Bolt. We really enjoyed the movie - it gives off a mixture of emotions - at first, the scenes of the dog turning into a SuperDog was surreal; then, it was heart-warming to see the loyalty of the dog towards its owner. In some scenes, we were laughing our heart out; and in some it moved us to tears. A good show for kids and for everyone :)

Korean Gastronomical Delight

Last week after watching Madagascar 2, we dined at Korean House restaurant at Bukit Baru, Malacca - it is situated opposite the Man-made Waterfall. We enjoyed the ambience - although parking was a little problem. The service was superb - with lots of attention - a great place to dine.

We both ordered Bi Bim Bab (Mix vegetables rice with chicken) - and it was accompanied with 11 side dishes for us to indulge. I missed the Korean experience I had when I was in Seoul last June for a conference - it was priceless. According to Chin Lay, the Korean dishes in Mahkota Parade is more palatable to our tastebud.

Road Trip to Kuantan

On Friday, Chin Lay and I went for a roadtrip to Raub and Kuantan to visit my students who are going for practical training. We left Malacca at about 8 a.m. - drive to Raub took approximately 3-and-a-half-hours - scenic views along the way - beautiful.

After visiting a student, we had our lunch at Raub's famous fish head curry - it was darn good - so good that I am salivating with just the thought of it. The gravy was so thick and flavorsome - and the fish head was so tasty.

Big serving - definitely for more than 2 person

After that, we continued the drive to Kuantan - which took about 2-and-a-half hours from Raub town. Visited a student at OSK securities - friendly bunch of people there.

For dinner, we went to MFK (Midnite Food Court) - which was recommended by the student's supervisor at OSK - the food was not up to our expectations though.

The next morning, we started the journey at about 10 a.m. towards K.L. - to visit Mages for lunch; and attend a friend's wedding later that evening in Klang; and go for supper later and stay at Ai Lin's place. Tired but fun!

Penang trip - Part 2 - The Food!

Besides to attend my friend's wedding dinner, we also went to Penang to feast in its culinary delights, of course! We made a list of must-try Penang food and made a vow to ourselves to work-out all the excess pounds that we gained in Penang. Since time was the biggest contraint (besides the limited capacity of our stomachs, of course), we shared all the dishes we ordered. We indeed ate alot within the span of 1-and-a-half day.

Cendol

Prawn Mee (called as Hokkien Mee only in Penang) - damn good!

Penang Asam Laksa (I totally enjoyed it!)

Lor Bak

Yam Cake (it was the best Yam cake I've tried)

Penang Char Kuey Teow (Comments: so so for me)

Banana and jackfruit fritters (the best!)

The setting in the traditional coffeeshop

Sunday-licious

Sunday-licious = pampering ourselves with food. Yesterday kinda ate too much :P Brought my family for brunch at one of the famous laksa place; the laksa is so good; the gravy is thick, creamy and concentrated; with plump juicy prawn and the soft beehoon soaked with all the intense flavors. One of the best laksa in Melaka - Yung Lai Siang restaurant - it's located opposite the Putra hospital - at the junction - next to Saranava's Restaurant. Our Sunday late morning was boosted with a bowl of piping hot and concentrated laksa ;) One of our treats for Sunday. My family don't normally eat out; but when we do we enjoy it to the max :) For dinner, we went to a mamak restaurant near Bukit China - Resturant Tasik Utama - the food is not that impressive, I must say. I still prefer the roti canai pisang in Saravana's Restaurant in Bukit Beruang.

And as usual I was looking forward to start my Monday with a dose of enthusiasm – will full energy to complete all my deadlines for the week to come.

TGIF

Had a busy week... but don't really know what I did, lol.. time just flies. Finished all my classes for the semester, YAY! Now I can focus on my research and my other stuffs :) until the marking starts...ooo

Yesterday had a great night... went with Chin Lay to catch a movie; we watched 'Definitely, Maybe'; I absolutely loved the movie; not too corny; a well-narrated story; we enjoyed it from the beginning till the end; the best part was the guessing game of who is the mother of the little girl; and the little touch of humour along the way.

Then we had our dinner at "Jom Laksa" at the ground floor of Malacca Mall. I had the best bowl of Tom Yam Laksa; the ingredients used were of good quality and fresh; and the gravy is thick and packed with flavor. Chin Lay had Asam Laksa which was good as well. Looking forward for the weekend; Alfred and I probably will go sample some new dishes; fooooood, here I come!

Perfect Sunday evening

A perfect Sunday evening - an-after-rain-evening-sun, sitting by the garden listening to the chirpings of birds, a gentle warm-after-rain breeze and the smell of the wet grass; accompanied with a bowl of pipping hot congee with red hot sambal sardin - PERFECT!

Weekend

Alfred came down on Friday afternoon and we went to Gunung Ledang for a mini-picnic; i call it mini picnic coz we had limited food; just because it was only the two of us. He prepared tuna sandwich and we bought goreng pisang on the way there; and of course Dunkin Donuts! It was nice to be sitting near the waterfall listening to the rush of water hitting the hard stones; totally relaxing. It was also a good workout climbing up and then down.

On the way back, bought some durian; it was fresh from the orchard and it was good. Later at night, we went for a fantastic dinner at Taro Restaurant near the Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall. The ambience is perfect accompanied by the live band and the cool breeze; it was a great dining experience; totally romantic. I loved the cutlery sets that they have; unique and simple. I also totally enjoyed the live band sung by the guys from the Portuguese Settlement. We ordered fresh cream of mushroom soup and pumpkin soup as starters and it was so good. For the main course, we ordered salmon and for dessert we had a pulut dessert filled with green tea flavored paste drizzled with gula melaka. Although the food is not so much to shout about, but the ambience and the fantastic live band made it an unforgettable dining experience; should go there on weekends. I'd certainly dine here the next time :)

Details on Taro Restaurant:
Restoran Taro D’ Melting Pot
Lot A3, Dataran Pahlawan,
Jalan Merdeka, Bandar Hilir,
75000 Melaka.
Tel: 06- 283 2633

On Saturday, we had our lunch at a shop known for its famous Nasi Briyani Dam (briyani rice cooked together with pieces of chicken); it was good especially the pickles. Had a great time.

Sushi and Sashimi

Yeaps, that is one of my favorite dish. I can gorge myself to the variety of sushi and sashimi till I am stuffed. My all-time favorite sushi is the one topped with the fresh/smoked salmon; and also the salmon sashimi. I know some people can't digest the fact of savouring raw seafood, especially those that supposedly 'stinks'; but I guess I have acquired the taste for these raw cuisines just recently; I've tried octopus though, but not to my likings.

I also love the more 'palatable' sushis, like with the one topped with corn mayo, egg-mayo, potato salad (I am a potato freak as well). The potato inari is perfect, it has all my favorite items in it, which is the potato salad, fish roe, and cucumber enveloped with sweet beancurd. Edamame (green soybeans - which looks like a juicier version of kacang botol) is perfect for snacks. I dislike tempura dishes - health freak? - maybe...

Just imagining dipping all these items in wasabi and shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) sauce just makes me salivate, yumm!