Beach Corner Seafood - Cheap & Good food at Batu Feringgi, Penang.

The next time you're holidaying in Batu Feringgi, Penang, and are looking for good and reasonably cheap food without having to drive all the way to town (or you know ... if a rockslide blocked off the road), head to Beach Corner Seafood!


Our family dinner started off with these popiah. Nice mixture of vege and meat with a crispy deep-fried skin.


Definitely also try the Belacan Chicken. The belacan gives the skin of the chicken a great flavor.


The chef's are Hainanese, so here is the Hainan Vegetable.


Their Fu Yong Dan is ... a bit interesting. It isn't an omelette but more like scrambled eggs. So-So only lah


Must try is the Assam Fish. The Assam was delicious, with just the right mixture of sour and sweet. Two thumbs up.


Lemon Chicken was way too sweet. Give this one a miss.


Tofu chicken in claypot was pretty good, but nothing fancy.


Beach Corner seafood is located at the same stretch as Tarbush, Eden Seafood Village and The Ship. You shouldn't be able to miss the signboard once you're there.


Expect to pay no more than MYR20 per person - you get a lot of food (and great tasting, too) for your money. Recommended.

Seoul Korea - Korean BBQ at Taman Danau Desa

I love Korean BBQ, and when my mum suggested a place (fairly) nearby in Taman Danau Desa, I immediately said yes even though I was nursing a bit of a sore throat. Fast forward - and the darling and I reach the restaurant. Like many other Korean BBQ joints it's on the second floor:


Even at 8.45pm on a weekday the restaurant is full. After queue'ing up for a table and waiting for the rest of the family to arrive, and after placing our orders, the waiters distribute over 10 different side dishes. Of particular yummy notes are the kimchi, the tofu wrapped in egg, and the steamed egg, but the rest of the dishes are pretty good too.


We order two different kinds of pork (apologies to my Muslim friends). Here's the pork sizzling on the bbq:


And here's a shot of the 'finished' product - plain BBQ pork:


And the special chili-marinated BBQ pork. I love the chili one better, but the taste is a bit salty and strong and could be a bit overpowering for some.


I don't remember what the exact name of this dish is - if memory serves correctly, it was Boiled Pork with herbs. Delicious as well.


Sadly I didn't pay and so I don't know the exact breakdown, but the dinner cost slightly under MYR200 for 9 people, so it's very value for money. Seoul Korea is in Taman Danau Desa - drive around the shoplots and if you see a Korean restaurant above a Mamak and beside a Cosway - that's the one.

Singapore Road Trip - Random Food Musings

Took a family trip down to Singapore last week - main purpose was really just Universal Studios and shopping, but Singapore also has lots of food that you can't get up North. Going to be picture spam!

Our first stop was Ion Orchard, where we came across 4 Fingers Bonchon Crispy Chicken - with a sign outside proudly proclaiming themselves as the best Chicken in Singapore. SGD9.95 for 6 wings, fries and a drink - we chose mixed flavors. Decently good, but not spectacular.


Gindako's Takoyaki was awesome, however. SGD 5.20 for 6 delicious balls of goodness.


We then try the Special Black Pig Katsudon (SGD 17.90) at Ginza Bairin. Wonderfully delicious. I must admit I don't know what a black pig is, and the pork cutlet wasn't particularly different, but the batter and the sauce it came in was heavenly.


Next day, we find ourselves in the Food Republic in VivoCity just before heading off to USS. You Char Guai and tau cheong sui is a uniquely Singaporean concept that I don't ... really ... appreciate much :)


Another weird combination: Spaghetti with Chicken Chop.


Beef Noodle - Dry! Delicious.


Food in Universal Studios was understandably forgettable, but we did find a superbly delicious Sleeping Beauty Cupcake (SGD 3.80). Loved the decoration - loved the taste even more.


Back to VivoCity for dinner - this is Tempura Shishamo (SGD 5.80 for 4). Great combination, all Japanese outlets should serve this.


Later at night we go to yumcha at the Coffee Connoisseur over at Clarke Quay.


There's a one-for-one pasta offer, so we go for Seafood Aglio Olio (SGD 18.80) and Penne Mama Mia. Both pastas were surprisingly good!


We also have Nachos (SGD 8.50). For drinks, mum has a Calming Spirit (Chamomile Tea blend, SGD 8.30).


Other drinks on order: Mint-Choc Frappe (SGD 7.90), Chocolate of Wealth (SGD 7.90), Caramello Twist (SGD 7.40), Hazelnutella Milkshake (SGD 7.90) and Oreo Mocha Frappe (SGD 7.90).


Was overall a supremely satisfying trip, especially for the stomach. Need to tighten belt for a bit until the wallet stops complaining though :)

Jojo Little Kitchen "ban mien" - Seri Kembangan

Wisma Cheong Hin in Seri Kembangan (next to South City Plaza) houses a number of surprisingly good eateries. One of my favorites is Jojo Little Kitchen.


This cafe/coffee-shop specializes in ban mien. The interior is clean and bright, and I like the old kopitiam-style decoration.


From front to back, these are the Chrysanthemum Tea with Samsou (a ginseng-like root), Lo Hon Guo, and Chrysanthemum Tea with Wintermelon (more yummy than it sounds).


The char yuk ban mien (deep fried pork ban mien) ...


... and Jojo's specialty pork ban mien. Love this cos of the flavourful pork broth - the brown bits you see floating around in the soup are chee you char (fried pork oil ... lol).


Unfortunately I forgot to take down the prices, or keep the receipt, so I don't know the exact price, other than that it was very very reasonable (drinks MYR2 or MYR3, noodles MYR5-MYR6 a bowl). And because it seems to be hip to post google maps, here's a map of where Wisma Cheong Hin is.

Prego at the Westin KL (revisited)

Saturday night dinner at Prego, our favorite Italian restaurant. Full review was in our previous visit, so this one is gonna be short and sweet.

When you go, ask for a table on the second floor overlooking the kitchen. There's just something special and addictive about watching the chefs whip up all the different dishes.


I decide on the Braised Lamb Shank in Saffron Risotto (MYR64.00). The meat is tender and well cooked, and the texture and taste of the Risotto complements it perfectly.


The darling has the Lasagne al Forno (Wood-fired oven-baked pasta, beef ragout and parmesan, MYR43.00). I thought it was decently good, but not particularly outstanding or delicious.


If you haven't yet visited Prego, it's highly recommended - and the prices are reasonable though, as long as you avoid the restaurant scam of charging you MYR24 for a bottle of still or sparkling water.

Bintang Seafood Palace - K-Club in Taman Melawati

The good thing about eating Chinese-style dinners in a group is that there's lots of different dishes to eat and take pictures of. But when I'm not the one ordering, I have no idea what the names of any of the dishes are. Or the price, ha ha.

Anyway the family made a trip to K-Club in Taman Melawati for a dinner & get together in Bintang Seafood Palace. Place is bright and cheery (pretty much all Chinese places are though), and quite tastefully decorated too.


We start off with Shark Fin soup. After the awesome shark fin I've tasted in Hong Kong, the shark fin in this bowl tastes suspiciously jelly-like. Wouldn't be surprised if it was fake shark fin.


Next on the menu is Peking Duck. I find it rather mediocre - the skin isn't crispy enough.


Steamed Emerald Fish - quite unique in that it comes steamed in a huge claypot, and not on a aluminium/metal serving plate. I have no idea what an Emerald Fish is. Overall this dish was quite nice.


Tofu. Close to, but not quite mah-boh-style. OK-lah


Some sort of vegetable. Yes I don't know what vege this is. Was also just OK.


Deep fried spring chicken. Again, decently done but nothing particularly special or creative.


The last dish can probably be classified as a "leftover." These are noodles and a soup made out of the duck meat from the Peking Duck dish. "Nothing special" seems to be a recurring theme thus far.


So overall, a decidedly average outing. Sorry, no price range available because I forgot to ask for the bill. If you live around the area this might be a decent place to go, but there are tons of better places to fill your stomach at.

Bintang Seafood Palace
K-Club (formerly known as Century Club)
Jalan Melawati 3, Taman Melawati,
53100 Kuala Lumpur

Villa Danieli - Fine Italian at Sheraton Imperial KL

To ward off the mid-week blues, the darling and I head to Sheraton Imperial to explore the much-talked-about Villa Danieli. Lots of good reviews out there on how good the food is, so we just had to try it for ourselves!

First impressions are awesome - this place is wonderfully decorated. Feels a notch above Prego and Favola in the 'classy' ladder - the entire restaurant is cozy and romantic. Even have live entertainment!


Shot of the darling sitting at the table, waiting for our food.


Central dining area - check out the murals near the ceiling! Perfect place decoration and ambience-wise to impress a date :)


Surprisingly, we don't get an assortment of bread as I expected, but instead a single loaf. No complaints though, the crust was nice and crispy white bread itself wonderfully soft and fluffy.


Being very careful not to over-stuff on the bread, we start off with the Crispy Calamari with tartare sauce and spicy tomato sauce (MYR35.00). I'll skip the Italian name because I don't think anybody reading this would actually understand any Italian ^_^. But anyway the batter is light and fluffy and yet crispy on the outside, but a tad bit mushy on the inside. Not bad, but I've had better elsewhere.


We decide to do pasta, starting off with Tagliolini with prawns and asparagus in rich shellfish bisque (MYR50.00). We're rather unimpressed by the dish. The prawns are big and oh-so-fresh, but the overall taste of the sauce it's in was a rather big miss.


The Ravioli 'Malfatti style' stuffed with prawns and potatoes with crab sauce (MYR50.00) makes up for the disappointment, being an absolutely delicious mix of chewy pasta and a gorgeous filling in a superb sauce. But (and it's a big But) the portion size is, in my opinion, ridiculously small. Even small-sized mouths will polish off this entire dish in 6 mouthfuls.


On to dessert! The Traditional Tiramisu (MYR28.00) is good, but not spectacular.


Our Melting Heart Chocolate Cake with Orange Sauce and Candy Orange Skin ($24.00) gets higher marks for creativity. I think orange goes perfect with chocolate, so this dessert was delicious! The melting chocolate in the middle was nicely bitter, which was more than compensated for by the sweetness of the candy orange skin.


Overall, the darling and I go home unimpressed. At MYR107 for 2 pax after taxes (and 50% SP discount), it wasn't exactly a cheap dinner, and the quality of the food was above average at best.

Worse still was the service - on a weeknight with barely a third of the restaurant occupied, we had to wait about 5 minutes at the entrance before a server even noticed us and brought us to our table - a theme recurring throughout the night as we had fairly long waits between courses, meals, getting the bill, etc.

5 big stars for the superb ambience, only 3 stars for the food.