Li Garden Chinese Restaurant

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li garden chinese restaurant

Li Garden Chinese Restaurant is located in Hock Lee Center. It’s one
of the premier Chinese restaurants in Kuching. I have also been to the
recently renovated Tsui Hua Lau restaurant, but unfortunately, I didn’t
bring my digicam coz I thought it was just going to be our weekly
meeting. A slightly similar, but different, fate befell me yesterday at
Li Garden Chinese restaurant. I didn’t take as many photos as I wanted
to, coz it was a company dinner to accommodate a guest from Taiwan. I
didn’t think it would be polite. 😉 Hello JP!

li garden interior

Li Garden Chinese restaurant was pretty full when we got there last
night. It’s a nice place, with sealed off rooms for banquets. The decor
is not as extravagant as the newly redecorated Tsui Hua Lau though, I
didn’t see sharks swimming in large tanks. Heh!

li garden soup

The course started with soup double boiled in a classic soup holder.
It’s made with thinly chicken stomach (gizzard), a yellow date-type
thing and pepper. The double boiling method makes the soup very rich
and invigorating. The heavy pepper flavored soup is hearty and the meat
is nicely tender and chewy.

li garden peking duck

Li Garden Chinese Restaurant is famous for it’s Peking Duck. It’s
the only establishment in Kuching where they actually bring out the
whole duck on a cart and the chef expertly slices off the skin of the
Peking Duck in front of you.

li garden peking skin

I was surprised at the skilled manipulation of the chef, that
harvested all the Peking Duck skin (the part which you eat), leaving
only a juicy naked duck, white and steaming hot, on the platter, which
is then wheeled away. You don’t eat the meat of this dish, just the
skin.

li garden peking platter

Here’s what Li Garden’s Peking Duck looks like. The large platter is
served with the skin of Peking Duck, freshly sliced off the duck. It’s
served with folded round pastry, spring onions and cucumbers, and the
Peking Duck sauce.

li garden peking wrap

Basically, you take one of the folded pieces of pastry, unfold it to
reveal a round, flour dusted pastry and put a piece of Peking Duck skin
on it, with spring onions, cucumbers and sauce to taste. The pastry is
then folded like a taco and you bite into it. I love the texture of Li
Garden’s Peking Duck. The flavors are complex and heavily infused into
the crispy, yet surprisingly chewy, Peking duck skin. Divine!

li garden prawn

Next up is a plate of very nicely done deep fried butter prawns.
There’s plenty of “butter shavings” (i.e. the fried butter batter) to
complement the large prawns. The prawns are crispy and partly peeled,
with just the right amount of crunchy shell for that extra Oomph.

li garden 3 egg

There’s also a green vegetable based dish cooked duck meat and three types of
eggs – salted eggs, century eggs and normal eggs. The normal eggs are
scattered into a nice mess and the salted eggs and century eggs are
partly whole. I enjoyed this unique presentation to a simple vegetable
dish. This is where the meat from your Peking Duck goes.

li garden cabbage

The next course comes in two dishes – the main dish and a plate
containing the cabbage wrap. The main dish is a meat based one with
chai bo and it’s meant to be heaped into the cups of cabbage wrap and
eaten like that.

li garden fish

The final dish is a medallion of fish on top of rice vermicelli
cooked with various savories. It’s served on top of a large mussel
shell. I also enjoyed this dish tremendously. The fish the good part
that has the right mix of oil for a good mouth-feel and slippery and
smooth fish. Nice!

Li Garden Chinese Restaurant is a great place for a Chinese style
dinner. I’ll love to go for the Peking Duck again, but I have an
uncomfortable feeling that I won’t be able to afford it. 😉

The Jalan Padungan resident madman

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padungan crazy man

This is the Jalan Padungan resident crazy man (not a PC term), in a
more subdued situation. I’ve been wondering where he gets his sleep,
and my curiosity was finally satiated last night, when I saw him
sleeping on the sidewalk far away from his usual haunt. He was in India
Street when I caught him on my digicam.

He can be usually found wondering in an agitated manner in the
morning along Jalan Padungan. Every single day, without fail. He’s not
prone to violent behavior, though I’ve heard him shouting and mumbling
thoughts only coherant to himself while walking in his usual rapid
pace. Gotta love his dreadlocks though. 😉

Hey, I could probably be him, stalking along Jalan Padungan some
day. God knows I have enough psychological conditions to fill the
alphabet soup. 😉

Homey delicious opening day review

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homex delicious

Homey delicious (with a fork and spoon
forming the Y – initially thought it was an X) is a food establishment
that just opened today, from the banner practically blaring out for all
to see – 2nd December, 2004. It caught our attention and we decided to
go here for lunch, it isn’t everyday you pass by an opening place.

homex interior

The interior of Homey delicious is typical of the cafes springing up
in town nowadays. It’s spacious enough to accommodate a small sized
lunch crowd, with some seating arrangements in the shaded porch. The
staff is all wearing Toga style uniforms.

homex menu

The menu is done in a color scheme that is likely to send diabetics into instant insulin shock…

homex menu burger

…and I ordered something called “Homey Burger”. I was wondering if
they meant homey as it “Yo, gimme the 411, homey” or as in “home made”
i.e. home cooking.

homex burger

This is Homey Burger when it came out of the kitchen. It instantly
confirmed that they meant home style cooking. Sheesh, I could slap
together a burger that’s better than this, in half the time they took
to bring it to our table. There is a beef patty, a slice of lettuce, a
thinly disguised slice of cheddar cheese inside a stale tasting bun. It
was disappointing.

homex prawn rice

The rice that Mancy ordered was sweet and sour chicken, but sweet
and sour prawns came out. Robyn took it anyway, coz he likes prawns. It
tasted alright, best dish during lunch.

homex ginger chicken

Here’s ginger chicken rice. It’s not too bad, but the food turnover
time is unacceptable. Granted, they did note that a 20 minute wait is
expected, but still…for a working lunch crowd?

homex chicken

This is the real dish that Mancy ordered – sweet and sour chicken.
It tasted okay, and it came with one of them rice worms and a single
strand of hair. 😉 5 minutes later, another plate of sweet and sour chicken came out! Jesus Christ…

We promptly sent it back.

homex special ice

This is easily the best thing in Homey delicious – Homey Special, a
concoction of fruits and jelly topped with shaved ice. It’s great for a
hot day and today is a bit of a scorcher.

Well, I can’t say this review would be indicative of what the
service would be like once they sort out their teething problems. Homey
delicious might still have potential yet. The people there are polite
and apologetic about the mistakes, so all is good. I will go again
after a couple of months for another evaluation…

Ericsson T-28s is dead

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t28s dead

My trusty Ericsson T-28s is dead! Long live Ericsson T-28s! It has
served me well for over four years until it inexplicably died yesterday
night.

Now I need to get a new cell phone, and fast. I’m looking for
GPRS/EDGE, good integrated digicam, XHTML/HTML support and stuff like
that. The one I’m eying is the Nokia 6630 though I must admit; brand
loyalty makes me reluctant to choose a Nokia phone. I’ll rather go Sony
Ericsson.

Suggestions anyone?

Grand Malay Restaurant

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grand malay restaurant

Grand Malay Restaurant is a buffet style establishment located at Jalan Satok catering to the lunch crowd. It is also known as Restauran Anak Melayu Sarawak
which translates roughly to the Restaurant of the Malay people of
Sarawak. I was there with a group of my coworkers and a client.

gmr door

The place is located on the first floor of a non-descript flight of
stairs. The doors form the arching entrance to the unassuming
restaurant, which has a reputation from good Malay cuisine.

gmr interior

The place seems to be working on a booking basis. One minute there
was no one, and in the next, people were jostling to get a prime
position in the buffet line. The interior is decorated with minimal
fanfare…just clean table linen with a Malay inspired piece in the
middle.

gmr rice noodles

This is the start of the buffet line. Here you can see the
obligatory steamed rice, Malay style fried noodles, bamboo cooked in
coconut milk and mixed vegetables.

gmr ulam

Further down the line, there’s an assortment of raw vegetables
(ulam) which I had a portion of. The sauce that comes with it lends the
ulam with a healthy Oomph! There’s also soup and very good rojak.

gmr umai

One of the small dishes contains umai (raw fish slivers marinated in
chilli and other spices), which the chef urged us to try. It was good.
There are also some vegetables, stewed beef, curry chicken, assam fish
and clams.

gmr rose orange

The end of the line offers rose syrup or orange juice.

gmr plate

Here’s a look at my heaped plate. I had a bit of everything.

gmr dessert

The dessert table offers bananas (the small, sweeter variety),
pandan agar agar, a big cauldron of very fine tasting bubur cha cha,
banana bread, and lime oranges.

gmr coffee

The buffet ended with the waitress serving steaming hot cups of strong coffee.

Grand Malay Restaurant comes highly recommended by Sufian, one of my
coworkers. I don’t know how much the buffet charge per head though,
since my CTO paid the bill.

LL Banana Leaf review

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ll banana leaf

LL Banana Leaf is a place serving South Indian food. This
establishment has been around for quite some time and it is famous for
its banana leaf rice, which is said to be the most authentic and best
South Indian fare around these parts.

ll banana leaf food

There is a wide variety of dishes to choose from. These are the
dishes that you choose to complement the banana leaf rice. We had green
curry chicken, chicken masala, tandoori chicken and lamb curry.

ll banana leaf serve

The most interesting experience of LL Banana Leaf is when an actual
banana leaf is folded on your table and the waiter starts to pile on
the various condiments that come with banana leaf rice on the banana
leaf in small, neat piles.

ll banana leaf condiments

There is complimentary mango chutney and other things I couldn’t
identify. We were also given a cracker, the actual name of which eludes
me right now.

ll banana leaf rice

The process is then repeated by another waiter, this time bearing
gifts of steamed rice. The waiter scoops out bowls of steaming rice
from a large rice container and this is refillable. The service here is
good; the rice person goes from table to table, offering to replenish
depleted stocks of rice.

ll banana leaf dish

This is the view of the final banana leaf presentation. There are
various condiments, rice and a cracker on the side of the naked banana
leaf.

ll banana food

These are the dishes that we had.

ll banana leaf mango

Naturally, it’s best washed down with a nice, cold glass of mango
lassi. It’s a yoghurt based drink that tastes great! I love the mango
lassi here.

LL Banana Leaf is a great place to go for authentic South Indian
food. Go for the banana leaf experience itself, it nothing else.

Chix floss egg roll

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chix floss egg roll

This is chix floss egg roll. I forward a proposal to behead the person to coined the term chix in place of chicken.

chix floss egg rolls

Chicken floss egg roll looks like a solid roll of omelet egg filled
with chicken floss. It costs RM 1.70 each at Taka bakery. It’s good for
breakfast, these things.

chix floss egg open

It opens up to reveal soft a soft bread roll, slathered with that
semen consistency Special Sauce (okay, so it’s mayo :p). The egg covers
the entire pastry, providing a chewy texture to the chix floss egg
roll. The bread roll is covered with mayo and given a generous dusting
of chicken floss at the sides.

chix floss egg close

It’s divine.

cilipadi review

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cilipadi

This is cilipadi – a place that serves mainly Malay food. We went
there for lunch since I’ve never been here before. The place serves
Malay style fried rice as its flagship dish. There are a wide variety
of different variants and styles of cooking to choose from.

cilipadi suffian

This is Nasi Goreng Kampung. It’s described as “Spicy fried
rice with egg, prawn, vegetables, and chicken. Sufian ordered this dish
and it tastes good – spicy and nice.

cilipadi elvinna

This is Seafood Claypot Rice. It’s served in a clay pot and
came piping hot. The infused flavors are excellent and they don’t skimp
on the seafood. Elvinna’s order – this is the best dish that I tasted
during lunch.

cilipadi hb

This is Nasi Aruk. I ordered this one and it’s described as
Sarawak style fried rice with egg, prawn, vegetables and chicken. It
tasted less spicy than Sufian but it has a hint of other spices in it.
It came with a sunny side up egg, half done, just the way I like it.

cilipadi robyn

This is Belacan Fried Rice which Robyn ordered. It’s fried
rice with “prawn paste” (that’s belacan), egg, chicken, squid, prawn
and green vegetables. The belacan is good, it always goes well with
fried rice.

cilipadi huygens
L-R: Sufian, Robyn, Huai Bin (me) and Elvinna.

cilipadi menu

cilipadi – the name is derived from the small chilies which
diminutive nature will surprise you with the intensity of the hot
chilli. It’s a great place for lunch.

Taiwan Siau Jou (Taiwan Porridge)

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taiwan siau jou

Taiwan Siau Jou translates to Taiwan Porridge (or congee if you want
to be anal about it). It’s just opposite where I work and it’s an
eating establishment that specializes in…porridge. Seriously.

taiwan siau jou interior

This is what the interior looks like. I went for lunch with a couple
of my coworkers. I actually went from person to person and asked “Who
wants some porridge?”. 😉 It seems that porridge is not very popular
for lunch. Hell, I wouldn’t have gone if I didn’t want to review the
place.

taiwan siau jou choices

Taiwan Siau Jou has a large choice of dishes to choose from, to
complement the porridge. You basically choose what you want and you get
a bowl of congee to go with the choices. It’s a very unusual system for
me. There are dishes that you wouldn’t normally relate to
porridge…meat dishes, vegetable dishes, you name it…

taiwan siau jou porridge

This is the main dish – watery porridge (congee). It comes with bits of sweet potatoes and tapioca embedded.

taiwan siau jou dishes

Here’s what the three of us shared for lunch. The choices are varied to allow an accurate review of the establishment.

taiwan siau jou meat

This is a Chinese style meat loaf (roll?) sliced and served with chili sauce.

taiwan siau jou vege

We also ordered some vegetables – this is kacang botol.

taiwan siau jou floss

Here’s a staple for congee dishes – pork floss.

taiwan siau jou egg

This is another classic complement – century eggs with slices of ginger.

taiwan siau jou squares

We also had a meat dish made with minced pork. It came with a generous portion of gravy.

taiwan siau jou ribs

This is the final meat based dish – it’s spare ribs in sauce.

taiwan siau jou huygens
Here’s the Huygens Asia lunch crew.
L-R: Elvinna, Mancy, Huai Bin (me).

Taiwan Siau Jou is a great place for a light lunch. It won’t put you into a post-lunch coma like other lunch options will. 😉

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