Dear Diary # 5

I was quite busy for the past few months and my weekends always full of errand, that's why I preferred to get myself some rest time than facing the laptop. I think it's fine for me to continue the Dear-Diary post to sum up some of my activities in the past few months.

Attended my friend, Vernique's wedding that held at Kuala Lumpur, she is the first one to get married in our gang, and we have 2 more friends getting married by this year but I can't attend the one that hold on December as it crash with my date to Bangkok (finger cross that no more bomb attack over there). It's good to see my friends found their Mr. Right and stay sweet forever.

Even though Vernique got us a place to stay while we were in KL to attend her wedding, me and BenDan thought it will be better to stay at outside to prevent girls in the house feel discomfiture. I realized some of my friends who brought boyfriend together did the same thing as well. So we spent our 2 nights stay at Le Apple Boutique Hotel KLCC which I'm going to blog the details soon, I would recommend this hotel to you as it's only walking distance to most of the mall in town like Avenue K, Suria KLCC, Pavilion and others. 

Sushi Mentai has finally open their branch in Penang and this gone viral among the Penangites; even after a month it open, people still queuing to get their seats for the cheap sushi. We were happen couldn't think of where to have lunch, so why not try our luck over here; we still queued but at least we went there earlier and we got our seats in half hour time. 

Do you ever have a feeling that you couldn't find any restaurant to dine-in in a shopping mall? I always have this problem and I have tried most of the restaurants available in the mall, I intended to have same food at the same old restaurant. So we went to Sushi Tei that time and we really had hard time scanning the menu to look for what to eat after cracking our head what restaurant we wanted to go. Variety are not much (I become quite picky when it comes to Japanese food) on the menu but I would strongly recommend this Ishiyaki Soba (Beef/Chicken) to all of you, this is the only time where I choose soba than udon. 

I have tried the dak galbi at Chun Cheon and Uncle Jang, both with their own plus point and weaknesses. So it was a cloudy day as I can remembered, BenDan wanted to have dak galbi for lunch and I suggested to go Chun Cheon since he never been there before. We like the banchan provided by Chun Cheon (at least more variety than the one in Uncle Jang) but we still prefer the dak galbi in Uncle Jang. 

In case you don't know, just to tell you that my sister is pregnant now and her appetite become so good. She yearn for Korean food after since she get pregnant (extremely that type) and she get mad with me whenever I go to Korean restaurant without her. So I brought her to Daorae as a compensate on her birthday and we had great time there. 

We went to another new Korean restaurant, Ssambap at Krystal Point with friends to celebrate BenDan's birthday, like what commented by people, the service ain't that good but luckily not too bad. Something special on their barbecue is they provided the steamed egg which is not available in other Korean restaurants, the food is okay but not surprising and I'm going to blog the details soon. 

The South East Asia's first ever outdoor Transformers exhibition is happening right now in Penang until September 2015, so those who haven't been there yet, hurry up as it going to come to an end soon. Sometimes I'll feel that me and BenDan didn't date for weeks (in fact we meet each other like almost everyday) so I dated him to go have some fruits nearby the food court at Esplanade. We had a stroll to the Transformer exhibition there to took some photos after the eating session. Thumb up for the environment there, it was great!

BenDan's birthday is on the month of August and I threw him a birthday surprise to have a staycation in Eastern & Oriental Hotel, we didn't go anywhere else but to spend all of our times in the hotel and utilize their services. It's a good staycation and we thought to have next time over there too although the price is not very cute. I feel that our stay worth every penny I paid, after-all it's good to stay in the five star hotel and keep us away from the hustle and bustle lifestyle.

The most important event in our company has ended beautifully and successfully, as usual I'm one of the committee for the annual dinner and BenDan join our team this year! To be frank, I don't really like to be part of the committee as we didn't get to enjoy a thing that night, but I like to work with those colleagues that in the same team as me, we made a good team I would say and made the night ended well. So we had the photobooth that night which is something new to our annual dinner, but I only get to take photos with committees but not others, spotted me in the photo?

One more house charm added and it reflects what I have in my life, you get what I mean? Laugh. So this post pretty sum up what I had up to for the past few months, till then.

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Cleaning in progress.

非常道地的合艾猪肉粥

嗨，我又回来了，打算把合艾的行程都统统分享完，反正就剩那几篇而已。在合艾找吃对我这个吃货来说根本不是个问题，当然也要感谢网路的发达让我们事半功倍咯。其实如果你们对食物没那么挑，我想从旅店出来看到能吃的都可以是你们的早午晚餐（好不好吃是其次），再不然就是在旅店解决了早餐也行（当然也要看旅店本身有这项服务没）。在合艾最受游客欢迎的莫过于好运点心肉骨茶了，人真的多到我看了都会崩溃，个人觉得它的食物还好而已，没好吃到再让我去拜访。上网找了很久，终于让我找到了非常道地的早餐，而且都是道地的人都会去的。

那是一间咖啡店，我也不懂店名是什么；你就跟tuk tuk司机说你要去Ambassador Hotel，而那间咖啡店就在旅店的对面，最靠近街头那一间就对了。人不是很多，都是道地的居民，我们第一次去的时候根本不能跟老板他们沟通，只好比手划脚的对这照片说我们要的是什么，今年我们去的时候我们已经会简单的福建话了，超棒的！我想开始有很多游客都到哪吃东西吧。那边除了有比较出名的猪肉粥，还有别档的食物，但我们都选择了粥。如果我没猜错的话，那肉粥档的营业时间是泰钟6点到1点。

我们点了两份不一样的粥，一份是皮蛋粥，一份是猪肉粥，也包括了一份炸油条。皮蛋粥里头也有些猪肉粒，比较特别的是猪肉粥还加了一颗生蛋黄；对我来说加生蛋黄还蛮特别的，因为我没吃过，本来还担心味道会怪怪的，但出乎意料的好吃啊！因为粥是烧的，在你搅拌蛋黄和粥时，那蛋黄慢慢的也熟了一半，吃起来就很有家的感觉。他的猪肉粒应该是有腌过，完全没有那些腥味，蛮好吃的。具体的价格我忘记了，我想我们俩在那吃的不超过150泰铢吧，很便宜啦。

我们点的冰奶茶是在我们吃到一半的时候才送来的，我们觉得很奇怪为什么点了饮料这么久老板都没送来，问了他，他就一直回我们泰语；过后才弄懂原来老板说的是：冰还没送来，要我们等一会。在我们等的当儿，雨开始下了，而且没有停的迹象，早餐后，我们在哪等了半小时，雨也没停。我们只好拿着小雨伞截tuk tuk去Big C逛街，过后的一整天都一直下雨，我们都只好在室内，有点小遗憾的说。

合艾总行程请阅读：

合艾3天2夜自由行 . Hat Yai 3D2N Itinerary

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好热的天气啊！

Curry House CoCo Ichibanya . Queensbay Mall

It's quite hard for me to look for a dine-in restaurant in Queensbay Mall, I always tend to have my meal in the same old restaurant that tickle my tastebuds a lot. Nowadays I also seldom tryout new restaurants that blooming in the mall as I'm not in the mood I guess. Until one of my colleague share with us that there is a newly opened curry house at Queenstreet, and it's Japanese curry. I remember I once passed by the restaurant, but I didn't bother to have a look at it; I just recall this when my colleague told me the existence of CoCo Ichibanya. I went there to have a try right after the talk, and went again two weeks later after my first try.

It was full house on the first time we went, the friendly receptionist (yes they do have one standing right in front of the restaurant to manage the crowd) gave us a piece of paper with number on it, she will let you know whenever there are empty seats in the restaurant, according to the number of course. The restaurant ain't big and the seating are limited per table, so if you come here with a big group, I think you guys need to split into two groups. 

While waiting to be seated, menus are provided so that you can have a thought what to order later on. There is a guide for you on how to order their curry rice, with the flexibility, you can select the quantity of rice, level of spiciness and also the additional curry sauce according to your like. They do serve plain curry with rice (RM15), so that you can topped up with your choice of toppings.

The radish pickle is the must have complement for curry rice, I found it quite tasty together with the curry sauce, BenDan don't really like it tho. If you feel that the spiciness of your choice is not up to your expectation, a bottle of chili powder is available for you to top up. Their service is so good that I can't help myself not to filled in the questionnaire and give them a 5 star rate.

Seafood Omelette Curry | RM26

Pork Cutlet Omelette Curry | RM26

These are what we ordered on the first visit. We chose the spiciness Level 1 and I feel that it's more than enough, after-all the Japanese curry should taste with a little bit of sweetness. I think the chef just sprinkle the same chili powder that you can find on your table to spice up the curry, this is why I somehow feel quite thirsty after the meal. Oh yeah, we didn't order any drinks as warm/cold water is free of charge and refillable. I tried Japanese curry before, but this is way more heavenly than the one I tried, the curry sauce given is in generous amount but we manage to finish it all. The seafood (prawns, clams and squids) given are fresh and the pork cutlet is in hefty portion. The price is slightly at the high side but it's worth with the satisfying portion.

Scrambled Egg Curry | RM 18 topped with Shrimp Cutlet | RM6

Scrambled Egg Curry | RM18 topped with Salmon Creme Croquette | RM6

And these are what we ordered on the second visit. We wanted the plain omelette curry rice and topped with dish of our choice, too bad they only served scramble egg curry (which the runny omelette egg does not wrap on the rice). The curry sauce is lesser with only half plate full, which is not enough for me (topped up is available but I feel that RM6 to top up the sauce is quite pricey, the same price can buy me another topping!). The shrimp cutlet is good, you can get the shrimp taste but I feel that it's too similar with the pork cutlet. I personally like the salmon creme croquette more, the creme in the croquette mixed well with the curry taste. I chose the same spiciness Level 1 this time while BenDan had his original flavor, the Level 1 seems to be more spicy compare to the one I had one first time, the consistency of spiciness is needed. I think I'll just have the original flavor next time, yeah I'll go back for more!

If you spent more than RM50 in single receipt, Coco Ichibanya is giving out free made in Thailand Matcha Latte; this promotion is only valid until month of July. This Matcha Latte taste good if you have it in cold, you will find the taste quite weird if you didn't drink it in cold. The Matcha Latte is also available in their beverage menu, you still can have it here if the promotion ended.

Location

Lot 3F-22, Queensbay Mall, 100 Persiaran Bayan Indah, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang.

Business Hours

10.30am - 10pm (Daily)

Contact Number

Not available

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Moolah, Moolah please grow up faster. Tee-hee.

Of random lunch at Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant

The day before me and BenDan went to have lunch at Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant, we were talking about this newly open restaurant with colleagues and I never thought that we will be here that soon after the talk. My first try Dak Galbi is at Chun Cheon and I thought I wouldn't try it again, not to say that it's not nice but the big portion and the sweaty environment make me back off. Then, this BenDan suddenly thought to try new food (yeah, he didn't follow our sister outing that day) and the first choice is Dak Galbi! Since I went to Chun Cheon before, so we decided to go Uncle Jang (evil smile on my face, laugh).

We didn't made any reservation on the day we went, too sudden. The interior doesn't give me the kind of whoa feeling, quite simple and the ventilation is not pretty good. They even bring some giant fans like those available in hawker stall to place in the restaurant, purpose is of course to cool down the environment but the fans do not help much. I sat next to the fan, so it keep blowing on my hair until I just tied my hair up; BenDan didn't sat nearby the fan felt pretty hot throughout the eating session. Apron is provided to prevent the sauce from spurting on your clothes, you can take it off once the staff done the cooking.

Like what commented by the others, they have limited choices in the menu; you got the wrong place if you think to have other main dishes here (they do have 5-6 a la carte dish). Free cold drink is available upon your order. The only banchan (side dishes that normally served when you are in Korean restaurant) that provided by Uncle Jang is kimchi, the taste is superb by the way.

Kimchi Jeon | RM12

The only side dish we ordered as we scared that we can't finish the Dak Galbi. Don't judge a book by its cover, same over here, the kimchi pancake doesn't look great but it actually taste quite good tho. Too bad they didn't provide any sauce to dip with.

Dak Galbi | RM21/pax, minimum order of 2 pax

The Dak Galbi consists of chicken cube, cabbage, sweet potato and rice cake. It looks rather small portion compare to the one in Chun Cheon, but it is more than enough for two of us, we can't find any chicken cube when they first serve it, then we just realized that they are underneath the cabbage. We add-on ramen (RM6), egg (RM1) and cheese (RM8) to enhance the taste of Dak Galbi. I once thought Dak Galbi is just a normal dish that I wouldn't fall for it but this prove me wrong, we both like the taste and I personally feel that this is way better than the one in Chun Cheon, mainly because of the sauce I guess. After the meal, we straight away decide that we are going to visit Uncle Jang again within 2 months. Laugh.

Location

C-01-10, Vantage Desiran Tanjung, Jalan Desiran Tanjung, 10470 Penang.

Business Hours

12pm - 3pm, 6pm - 10pm (Monday to Friday); 12pm-10pm (Saturday and Sunday)

Contact

010-2567210

Facebook

Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant

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Glad that I attended the gathering with my primary schoolmates after 15 years I graduated. 

把燕窝当糖水的夜晚

终于又要继续PO我的合艾之旅啦，有点抱歉的是我拖了这样久还是没能把它完成（大概有半年了吧，呵呵）。续在水上市场找吃后，我和笨蛋决定回到旅店休息一下，感觉自己不敌年轻时候的我（其实还是很年轻的说），对我们来说旅行时应该要有适当的休息才能让自己玩得更尽兴，旅行就是要放轻松看世界，而不是累垮了身子啊。看完了一部卡通片（好吧，我们是老小孩）又往Lee Garden那出发去。

因为上一次跟家人的合艾之旅没吃到燕窝，所以这次就带着必吃的心情来到东方燕窝，誓死都要像土豪似的拿燕窝来漱口（开玩笑啦）。其实在那附近也有几间别的燕窝店面，但感觉这里的要大间一点而且又方便，所以就决定在这品尝我人生的第一碗燕窝（如果平时的Brands燕窝不算的话）。这里除了燕窝，当然还是会有鱼翅和煮炒的菜肴，很多人都选择在那吃午晚餐，就只有我们是专门来吃燕窝的。

点完餐后，服务员很好的递上了人参茶，是免费的噢，还不错喝。忘了告诉你们说这里的服务员都会用华语沟通啊，不过真的这么幸运碰到不会华语或福建话的，就点菜单上的照片给他看就行啦；每一个菜色或燕窝都会有照片的！

我们点了一碗价格500泰铢的血燕来共享，因为感觉普通的燕窝真的有点太普通了，当然这里还是会有其他燕窝的选择，要多便宜或多贵的都有啊。他们还一同附上了白果，龙眼和蜜枣，我个人觉得还蛮值得的，而且还不用付服务税呢。我们点的是冷燕窝，但第一口喝下去竟然是热的，本来还纳闷为什么服务员搞错了呢，老板娘看到了我的疑惑就跟我说冰都在碗底，要捞了捞燕窝才会冰啊。呵呵，还好我没有去询问服务员让自己丢面子。建议要先喝几口纯燕窝才来加你们想要的蜜枣等，加了那些料后燕窝喝起来就稍微的甜些，还是不错喝的啦。我感觉燕窝就跟我们的糖水一样，就多了那些燕窝丝的口感；所以就见仁见智吧，如果不想浪费钱在这也行，但我想说反正又蛮便宜的就来试一试也不错嘛。

合艾总行程请阅读：

合艾3天2夜自由行 . Hat Yai 3D2N Itinerary

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就2天的行程都拖了半年，我在想今年年尾一个礼拜的曼谷之旅会拖到几时啊。| 摇头 |