Choconana at Chatujak Market Bangkok

This is a favorite of my family when we are at the Chatujak market in Bangkok. 

The sign says that the products are patented worldwide. I am unsure whether it's true or just to scare people off. 

The banana is frozen before your choice of toppings are added. Alternatively there are also ice cream of various flavor including durian. 

A yummy treat on a hot hot day. 

Until the next time, cheers. 

Melaka weekend food, food and food

Whenever we are in Melaka, apart from our family matters, the next most important is food!!! So, this article is about the various places that we normally go. The first is actually a small coffee shop along Lorong Bukit China. This place is very near to where my my dad's family used to live.

The shop is at the bend.

It does not have any name.

The shop has only a few stalls but the food is simple and good.

The lady doing the noodles.

The stall selling the wan tan noodles is done the southern way. You can have it without the black soya sauce and add your own chilli sauce as much as you like. Some how the taste is "shiok".

With the black sauce...also good.

Without the black sauce but lots of chilli sauce...yummy.

Another stall sells "curry rice" Chinese style. Simple and satisfying.

Yummy curry rice with pork bone curry and sambal.

They also sell the crispy fried fish cake, fish ball, prawn cake, etc. In Singapore, they call this "ngoh heng". You eat this with the "lobak" kind of sauce and chilli sauce.

Fish cake, fish ball and prawn cakes.

We went there during lunch and some of the stalls were already closed. You can also get mee siam, curry laksa, packed nasi lemak and pan mee.

This is not a "to die" for place but the food is good and cheap and it hits the spot.

All gone....satisfied.

For breakfast, the children wanted chicken rice ball. We normally go to 3 places only depending on the time of the day (due to the crowd). This time we went to the Ee Ji Ban shop in Melaka Raya. The food here is not that great but OK. The good thing, it is not crowded in the morning and easy to park.

Large sign to attract tourists.

Lady boss taking orders.

Signage at the side.

Front counter. They have other dishes too.

We were hungry and again forgot to take pictures until almost finished.

The rice ball is getting smaller and smaller.

Traditional steamed chicken.

I felt that the prices of the chicken rice ball is getting too expensive. At RM 0.30 per ball the size of a "guli" or large marble is too high. Basically, this dish now only caters to the tourists for the novelty of the rice ball.

Not too satisfied, we "ta pau" some noodles to be shared. This noodles come form Second Sister Noodle Shop which is located in front of the Henry Gurney School.

The sell fishball noodles with pork and some yong tau fu. The noodles are simple but nice. The fishballs are fresh and tasty. Again simple and hits the spot.

Yummy noodles.

Good fish cakes.

Remembered to take before all gone.

One other important thing to eat is of course Nonya kuih. I practically give up buying this in KL as it is never done right. My mom went to Heeren street to get this (next to Jonker Street).

Colorful Nonya kuih.

Fantastic apam balik with durian.

I must say the kuih form this shop is really good and cheap too. They also sell Nonya chang. Well so much for this short trip balik kampung.

Until the next time, cheers.

Bangkok's cheap and delicious food

While on my monthly trip to Bangkok in early August, we went for dinner to a Thai style steakhouse. Somehow this is very popular. This particular one is called Sante Fe and located in the Esplanade Mall on Ratchadaphisek Road, not far from my office.

On arrival at around 6.30pm, the place was already full and there was a waiting line. Normally, I hate to wait in a line for dinner but this time I did because they wanted to eat western instead of Thai or other cuisine.

The name and logo of the restaurant

Another look at the restaurant

People queuing at the front

In the end, we had to wait for about 20 minutes which was not too bad. However, what is surprising is that the food was served quite fast. It came about 10 to 15 minutes after ordering. This may be due to the fact that most people ordered about the same items.

While western food is popular, the main meat will still be pork rather than beef as a number of Thais do not eat beef.

The food was not bad and the portions are reasonable. What is most surprising was that the prices range between Baht 78 for the sausage and pork chop dish and Baht 199 for the BBQ pork ribs. Considering the restaurant is located in a mall in the middle of Bangkok, this is considered real value for money. (US$1 is approximately Baht 30). Have a look at the pictures of the dishes.

A creamy soup that came as a set

A sausage with pork chop

A chicken gordon blue with pork chop

A large pork steak

BBQ ribs

Mixed pork chops

In addition, I also had this bowl of noodle soup with 2 pieces of chicken thigh for Baht 35 (slightly more than US$1). This however is in Samutsakorn, a province just out of Bangkok. Apart from the low price, it was good too.

The varied, delicious and the prices for food in Bangkok never cease to surprise and amaze me. No wonder I enjoy going there so much.

Until the next time, cheers.

HANOI FOOD PART 2

There is a very popular restaurant in Hanoi (and also in Ho Chi Minh City) called "Ngon" or delicious in Vietnamese. The deco is well done and they normally use a renovated villa. They have food station and serve mainly street food as well as popular Vietnamese dishes.

This place is always crowded and popular both with the locals and foreigners. From the photos posted, please do not think we ate so much food at one sitting. In fact, we like it so much (I have been a few times to the restaurant in Ho Chin Minh) that we went there for lunch and dinner in a day.

Some photos of the restaurant during lunch.






A photo of one of the food station....

One interesting dish that I tried was fried sparrow.... see the size which is about 2 inches long only. There is no real meat but the taste is quite nice.

During lunch, my Vietnamese guest ordered some prawn fritters, not really Vietnamese but it was really good as the prawns were fresh. The seafood fried rice shown here was also very good.

The following dish was a noodle with pig trotters. This was one dish we did not like. On the right is a "sarsrapilla shake"......in Malaysia it is "ciku" fruit and it's really sweet. The ciku fruits in Vietnam are really large and sweet. Don't miss eating fruits when you are here.

This is another traditional Vietnamese dish called "bun cha"...marinated grilled meat in soup and eaten with vermencelli. Yum.....

During dinner, as it was quite chilly, we had steamboat (hotpot). The soup was tasty and it was good, not too heavy for dinner.

We had a lot of other stuff but I did not take photos in time as we were hungry....

The best part of Ngon is the prices are really reasonable...for 4 to 5 persons, the bill should not exceed USD 35 and that is including drinks and beers.

For lunch another day, we went to a Chinese restaurant near St Joseph Cathedral. it was an upmarket restaurant in Hanoi by the look of it. We were not sure what to eat and ordered some steamed chicken, stir fried vegetables, soup, tofu and fish head with vermencilli. The fish head was good and the taste of the vermencelli was really good. They probably cooked this with pork bacon to have such a nice taste.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped to get some fruits. My wife wanted to eat "milk fruit". She tasted this in Cambodia a long time ago. I was sceptical as it did not look at all great. But, looks can certainly fool you....the taste was really like sweet milk, no wonder it is called that.

I fell in love with the fruit...it was not cheap...about USD 4 per kg. We had 2 milk fruit and a custard apple (very large) and cost us about USD6...not cheap by Vietnamese standards. But. it was so worth it.....now I know what fruits to have in Vietnam the next time.

Until the next time, cheers.

Oh my Penang! Food, food and food!!!!

I was recently in Penang for some work and stayed overnight. I have not been to Penang for the last 5 years as the last trip was not good due to the horrendous traffic as it was the National Day holidays.

However, this time round, it did not feel that bad. In fact, I was looking forward to the trip as Penang conjours to me nostalgic memories where it is laid back, holiday island and most importantly fantastic hawker food.

I was not wrong. A business friend whose family was from here brought us to his childhood places to eat. We had a good time going place to place to eat for dinner, breakfast and lunch.

As the portions were small and as we were also sharing the food, we could order a number of dishes. Another Singaporean business friend who has never been to Penang before. Before the end of the day, this will not be his last trip. He was hooked on the food.

Oh dear, we had Char Keoy Teow (3 times), Penang Assam Laksa, Pork Satay, Lobak, ABC, Hokkien Mee (Prawn Mee), Apam (in various types), Chee Cheong Fun (with shrimp paste), Stewed Pork Leg, etc, etc, etc.

As we drove, we even "ta pau" food to eat on the way as well as to bring home.

The weather was just perfect, it was not hot and it was windy....just perfect for eating and talking.

Wow, now planning for the next trip with the family. Maybe for a weekend. Now I know of a few more places to eat in Penang. I was so busy eating that I forgot to take any pictures.

Until the next time, cheers.

A LEISURELY SUNDAY BRUNCH AT HAKKA REPUBLIC

A friend of mine invited us for Sunday brunch at Hakka Republic recently. It is a western bistro located in Menara Hap Seng (formerly MUI Plaza) on Jalan P Ramlee. My kids asked me why it had a Chinese name but only serve western food. I looked up their website and the only thing Chinese about them is the the deco (theme) and name. It was quite nicely decorated and the building was also renovated recently when it changed owners.

Nice view out to the 2nd floor garden

The spread was not too wide but sufficient to satisfy one if one is not to picky about the choices. They had quite a few traditional English food such as beef wellington, yorkshire pudding, rack of lamb ribs and roast leg of lamb. The soup, which was wild muhroom soup was just nice and my daughther just loved it. They also make egg dishes a la carte and had eggs benedict.

The carvery section with the roast free range chicken, rack of lamb and leg of lamb

Darn it, got to stop forgeting to take picture BEFORE I start to eat. My plate of rack of lamb, beef wellington and yorkshire pudding.

Again, the half eaten egg benedict. Sorry, still new at this thing.


The salad and appetiser section.


The boys had a field day with the beef wellington and both of them had seconds, not counting the other stuff. The buffett had also the salads and appetisers which was also good. For dessert, they had creme brulee which my kids loved, bread pudding (the vanilla sauce should have been sweeter) and a few other types of cakes and fruits.

The dessert section.


Their signature drink, oolong tea with rose was just nice and a nice compliment to the food.

Overall, it was a leisurely brunch as it was not crowded and contented on a Sunday. afternoon if one wanted not a too heavy lunch or to pig out. The buffette is priced at RM68++ excluding the Oolong tea which was RM9++ additional with unlimited refill.

Until then, cheers.