Sunday, July 06, 2008

Sabah : Gunung Alab Resort

We made an overnight trip to my father's hometown in Tambunan when we were in Sabah last month.

One of the highlight on this drive for me is taking a break at one of the simple cafe on the highest point on this Kota Kinabalu-Tambunan road.

I was told that Gunung Emas, the first and oldest cafe which has been operating on this area for more than 15 years (I believe) is still popular - although I think they no longer serve "exotic" dishes like they used to in their early days.

But some folks prefer the relatively newer (about 10 years old I think) Gunung Alab Resort, which is a few km drive from Gunung Emas Cafe, as it is somewhat better in terms of cleanliness.

We made a lunch stop here on our way to and from Tambunan and I am happy to say that I found one dish I enjoyed here.

SOTO!


I tried both their Soto Ayam (Chicken noodle soup - Malay style) and Soto Daging (Beef noodle soup) and I liked them both. With big portion and plenty of meat - at only RM4, it's definitely worth the try if you are around this area.
Posted by JeWeLLe at 13:01:14 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Friday, April 04, 2008

Banana Fritters

I have a very Asian palate when it comes to tea time.

Although I do enjoy the idea of scones, brownies and such pastries to go with hot coffee, I would take banana fritters or goreng pisang any time over them.

Back in Sabah, we have our dinner late at usually after 7 pm. That is why, we would always have some heavy tea and my mother would sometimes fry local cakes and everyone would usually be munching on these snacks as we chat or watch whatever is on TV around 4 pm.

But the thing about being in a Chinese family is that our dinner time is early. So in Brunei, we very rarely have heavy tea except perhaps some biscuits or fruits.

So one afternoon, as we made our way to the beach, we dropped by a local store for some ice creams. When I noticed that the next door snack stalls were frying some goreng pisang, I immediately bought some. But the girls have taken their father's taste and I ended up eating this bag all by myself.

By the way, after I read some forwarded emails about hawkers who allegedly coated their goreng pisang with melted plastics, I'm not sure about buying anymore soon.
Posted by JeWeLLe at 16:20:31 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday, March 17, 2008

Empire Hotel's Room Service

The thing about attending a dinner function where you are served is that you are limited to the amount that the waiter puts on your plate.

It's much easier for men to demand second or third helpings but for us female, unless you want to appear uncouth or greedy, you have to expect to be left hungry as if there is one thing I noticed about fine dining is that the quantity is pathetic.

So, come prepared.

And that what was we, the fans of NON-fine dining, did before we went for our Saturday night function.

From the privacy of our room, we ordered the Empire Hotel's beef burger and we were thoroughly satisfied with it.

We were impressed that although our room was on the other side of the hotel, our order arrived reasonably fast and come to think of it, we should have ordered the steaks!

At $22 (inc charges), it is recommended.
Posted by JeWeLLe at 16:42:57 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday, March 13, 2008

RMS Diner

Because we are more familiar with the Chinese restaurant next door, we never thought of visiting the RMS Diner until a few weekends ago.

And the only reason was because they were having an irresistible offer of 50% their steaks and burgers.

Because the inner restaurant was relatively very small, it was full and so we had to sit outside - which was fine as fortunately there were no smokers around.

The menu selections were standard.

Our dish looked very presentable and I enjoyed the garlic bread from my husband's Caesar Salad. My lamb was good but Eu enjoyed it more and she probably ate it more than me as she kept asking for bites.


Her spaghetti was yummy too but she did not quite fancy it and she did not touch the fried chicken nuggets at all.

Qi, as you may have guessed only consented to the fries and even those were only for her to chew NOT swallow (I fed her packed lunch from home).

Because of the 50% off for both my lamb and the burger, our lunch was reasonable at $30+.

Not a bad place for a change.

Posted by JeWeLLe at 23:16:43 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Monday, February 25, 2008

Kaizen Sushi (Seria)

I first heard the news of the opening of a Japanese eatery in Seria town from the most unlikely source - my parents in law who gave me vague information that it will be a "branch of some restaurant in Bandar Seri Begawan".

The other men in my household were excited - nevermind which restaurant it will be as long as it's Japanese - as the nearest one is at least 30 mins drive away.

While I, not being a sushi fan, was busy speculating on which restaurant it will be and guessed that it could be another Excapade or perhaps Sushi Tei or maybe Misato or even Kaizen - the only 4 Japanese places that I'm familiar with.

That was until we got a confirmation from someone who was involved in the project that it will indeed be a Kaizen Sushi.

So last weekend, since it first opened its door last month, we took the whole family and my youngest brother, who was in town on route his way to Miri, for dinner.

One thing about Japanese place that I don't like is the menu can be confusing - all the food looks the same and the selections are so many, I had to forced myself to focus on the pictures and quickly pick before I lost interest.


Salmon sashimi, some sushi, cuttlefish, prawn, egg eel and salmon salad

My husband ordered the vegetable tempura as he knew that I liked the one that I had in Bandar's Kaizen but for some reason, the one that arrived was nothing like the type that I wanted. We also had the sushi party set, salmon salad, seaweed soup and fried rice.


Sushi party set

I also ordered a plate of Japanese dumpling called Gyoza - which tasted as good as the "Wo Tek" (Chinese fried dumplings) that we sometimes have for supper in Keningau and KK after whatever night activities we had then.

For some reasons, I find that the Kaizen's gyoza are more to my taste than the Excapade's and I will definitely order this again next visit.

And even though there were only 5 adults and 3 kids, the food finished so fast that I didn't even managed to try some of them!

My in laws verdict was that they prefer the other place when it comes to taste and that could be due to Kaizen's no-use-of-MSG policy (as I was told). But my husband and I actually like this place and I found a couple of things that I enjoy here and next time I'd have to try their curry range too.

In case you're wondering about the price, it is slightly pricier than Excapade but definitely no outrageous RM400 for a 4 persons lunch here.

And Sis Caneeliea, why don't you come over so you can try this and compare it with Umai :-)

Posted by JeWeLLe at 15:27:46 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Saturday, January 05, 2008

KK : Olde Station KopiTiam

*During my Christmas 2007 trip home to Sabah*

One of my favorite destination for shopping in KK is the City Mall which is along the Kolombong-Penampang highway, which means that it's out of downtown KK.

But don't think that makes it jam-free. I was told that during certain times of the day, it is better to go through the city rather than use this highway! However this area is usually alright on mid day and being less than 5km from my house, of course I had to visit it for some shopping expeditions...

So a few clothing items later, we hit one of the eatery here.

My sister didn't recommend the City Mall Food Court and judging from the smell that was coming out of the place as we walked by, I think they have slight ventilation issues and you know what that means to your clothes.

Instead we went to another one of those chain-restaurant called the Olde Station KopiTiam, located on the ground floor.


When it comes to eating outside without the kids, it means only one thing : Spicy Food!

And once I spotted the word "curry mee" of course, I couldn't pay attention to whatever else they have in their menu! So curry mee was what I had while sis Caneeliea had the "nasi lemak" - which she said was super spicy.


They looked and tasted good : Caneeliea

When we were there the place was busy but we I waited until everyone left I took these pictures.

One funny thing I noticed about this place was that they adopted the customer greeting style you'd usually get at Japanese restaurants and it was a boisterous "Hello!" and "Bye!" by all the staffs to any incoming and leaving customers.

Posted by JeWeLLe at 13:30:14 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Anjappar Restaurant

Anjappar is one of the "new" Indian restaurant in downtown Kota Kinabalu which I only managed to check out yesterday.

This restaurant is located on the ground floor of Kompleks Asia City, more popularly known as KAC and you can't miss the tusk like structure that decorated the front entrance.


When we arrived, the place was quite empty save for 2 tables but it started to fill up towards the end. I quite like the simple decor and that pitcher of water on every table is something which every restaurant should have.


Once we overheard one of the patron giving direction to the restaurant to a person over a phone asking him to look for the "Japalan Restaurant". Anjappar = Japalan? I hope his friend did not take his instruction literally.

Anjappar (and not Japalan) Restaurant specialises in Chettinad cuisines which originated from Chettinad, a region in Tamil Nadu state which basically meant, it's South Indian dishes.


But to me, when it comes to Indian food, I don't care if they are Northern Indian or Southern Indian, as long as they have the Aloo Gobi Masala (RM5).



Anjappar's Aloo Gobi looked and tasted just how I like it and it was a pleasure to indulge in this dish again.

Besides this, we ordered from their set meal menu. I had the Chettinad Non-Vegetarian meal (RM9) which comes with a bowl of very scrumptious chicken curry, cabbages, ladies finger and many small bowls of gravies, yoghurt and rasam.


Because my sister asked for their Banana Leaf Set meal (RM6), at first we weren't sure if this was her dish or mine as underneath the tray was a banana leaf. When we asked our waiter (who was a local), he confused us further by saying that that tray was both the banana leaf meal AND my non-vegetarian meal - at least that was how we understood him then.
Us : We ordered one banana leaf meal (spoken in Malay)
Clueless Waiter : Itulah.. ("That's the one")
Us : And we also ordered one non-vegetarian meal (spoken in Malay)
Clueless Waiter : Itulah.. ("That's the one")
Us : Huh??
We even showed him the names on the menu and he still maintained that that tray was both the meals - until the manager or someone came over and sorted things out.

Turns out that our clueless waiter - friendly though he was - did not order the banana leaf meal.

When my sister's banana leaf meal finally arrived, the Indian manager or something told her that she's supposed to take all the bowls out and pour the contents on the leaf, which she did.

But when told to eat by hand, my sister with her manicured fingernails, declined.

I didn't need to be told to use my hand because - although I too hate the smell that will linger on my fingers - there is just something that makes Indian food so much more delicious when eaten by hand, don't you think?

Anyhow, clueless waiter or not, I love the food as you can see from the picture, we enjoyed the food and I look forward to trying out their other dishes next time.
Posted by JeWeLLe at 11:25:33 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Temburong

Because we here held up at the border and again at the Limbang-Temburong ferry point, we had to stop for lunch at Temburong town.

This is not our usual stop point so looking for a place to eat in this quiet town was a bit of an "adventure".

When my husband used to work in Bandar many years ago and had to go to Temburong for some of his projects, there was an Indian place which he used to frequent which when we started driving from Brunei-Sabah, became our regular pitstop too.

However, this place was no longer there but we did discover a better place and Eu promptly gave her stamp of approval the moment we stepped inside.

"I LOVE this place because it has air-con!"

Trust her to attract everyone's attention and being a small restaurant, I just know that even the kitchen staffs heard her.


After everyone has left

For such a small town, it looked like this restaurant has a steady flow of customers because they also offer buffet lunch for $5, which we didn't take.

Instead, we had fried mee, tuna sandwiches and nasi lemak.


Despite being 80% full, Eu and Qi continued to dominate the place with all sorts of exclamations and questions that I sometimes wondered if we are letting them be too "chatty"?

Anyway, this is the only air-conditioned restaurant on the old Temburong block and if you found yourself having to stop by Temburong, this place is recommended.

Posted by JeWeLLe at 23:34:34 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Monday, November 19, 2007

FoodZone

Of all the malls in Bandar Seri Begawan, my favorite is Yayasan only because the best book store - for my kind of book needs - is there.

The only problem with Yayasan was that we didn't like the food court and the Indian and fast-food restaurants are a no-go when we're with the kids.

However, we found the perfect eatery for us last weekend, inside Yayasan no less! This place used to be where the Delifrance and now it is FoodZone.


My husband's tom yam mee hoon was super-spicy and my chicken curry was really scrumptious. And Eu had no complaints about her fried noodle.

We were actually very impressed.

The staffs were friendly and helpful - of course, how could they not pay attention to us when the kids kept flirting with them. While making a lot of noise.

In fact, I don't even have to worry about taking pictures of places as I now have an assistant photographer. This shot was taken by Eu - I only had to edit a man on one side who was not on his most flattering angle. The waitresses were more than pleased to pose for her.


© Eu Tan

No issue about going to Yayasan for lunch for us anymore - except perhaps the fact that it's becoming too crowded with non-shoppers-and-heavy-smokers. But that's just me.

Posted by JeWeLLe at 22:48:56 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Monday, September 17, 2007

Kaizen Sushi

Last weekend, we decided to try the Kaizen Sushi Restaurant in Kiarong.

Both of us have never been here before as to hubby, there is only one place on earth when it comes to Japanese food!

Despite it being a fasting month, the place was busy. There were a few tables occupied but I think we kind of broke the elegant silence the moment we came in with our two very exuberant girls -hopefully we didn't annoy any of the other patrons too much!

The menu was very thick and I barely had time to really look as I was feeding Qi her lunch and at the same time, trying to quell their excitement with the train. Perhaps even the kitchen staffs could hear Eu when she loudly exclaimed "I wonder what's in the mysterious red box!". Many, many times.

See that red box? Eu was absolutely fascinated by it.

After flipping through the menu scores of time, hubby ordered these :

10 pieces for $10+. Hubby found a cheaper salmon sashimi of equal quality!

As we were looking for a parking, we passed the back of the restaurant and saw that a kitchen staff was descaling a huge fish, salmon according to hubby. So the salmon sashimi that we had was fresh of the fish. Hubby claimed he could taste the freshness - I couldn't taste anything too different but if the expert said that it's good, I believe him.

Eu's Staple
Chicken Teppanyaki

As hubby is into salad these days, Kaizen received an extra thumbs up when hubby found that they offered this :

I don't know about you, but it doesn't look that appetizing to me at all. So this is how it looks like when the salad and the salmon slices were all mixed up :

Looks better?

I supposed the look can be deceiving because according to hubby, it's palatable - except he'd want to try it without the salad cream next time. Needless to say, I didn't try as it's not my kind of thing at all.

I decided to try out their noodle and tempura dish set :


The noodle and tempura set cost about $10+.

Hubby was impressed with the selections, quality and prices and I think as far as Bandar is concerned, it's no longer an Excapade Restaurant territory for him.

As for me, my noodle was suprisingly very good. I've never had a soba noodle before and I'm not sure if Excapade have this type.

But the best part of my set meal was definitely the tempura. I never knew tempura could taste so good! Bittergourd, brinjal and another vegetable I couldn't identified tasted so divine that I polished the whole vegetable tempura myself. Eu had the prawn and she said they're delicious too. At least now I know what I can look forward to whenever I find myself dragged to a Japanese restaurant.

As for the ambiance, I like it. It's cosy and the staffs were efficient. As I said, it was nicely quiet with not even any annoying non-Japanese songs in the background.

Until we arrived.

Eu, as usual, managed to distract the staffs with her "I LOVE salmon!" or "Here comes the mysterious red box again!", all ending with exclamation marks. No gentle speech for her. Qi, as usual, flirted with anyone who passed by her chair and I was just happy that she didn't burst into her boisterous "Go Diego Go!" song which has been her anthem for the past few weeks!

I wondered if the table next to us left because the kids were being too happy!

But I'm happy to concur with you, Sushi Fan. I think Kaizen is definitely another Japanese Restaurant I wouldn't mind coming to - if I really have to.

Posted by JeWeLLe at 12:34:10 | Permanent Link | Comments (5) |
1 2 3