food reviews

Big Red Strawberry Café

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big red strawberry cafe

Big Red Strawberry Café is located in the renowned Big Red Strawberry Farm in Brinchang, Cameron Highlands. The place was packed full of tourists during the long weekend. We went on Sunday afternoon and I couldn’t even take a decent shot without at least two tourists armed with cameras blocking my view. 😉

cafe montage

We headed straight for the Big Red Strawberry Café (the official café of Big Red Strawberry Farm) coz I was famished – we woke up late after sleeping in until 10 am and haven’t had anything to eat since the previous night. The Big Red Strawberry Café mainly concentrates on strawberry products but they also serve a very fresh salad due to vegetables being one of the main produce of Cameron Highlands.

big red indulgence

Behold! The strawberry indulgence (overdose?).
The actual food looks nothing like the photos – this is after all, a tourist trap and they make do with disposable forks and spoons and paper plates instead of the well presented menu pictures.

big red drinks

I had the Strawberry Juice (RM 3.90) while my girlfriend went for the Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie (RM 5.90). The strawberry juice is very sour – Cameron Highland strawberries tend to be small and a bit on the acidic side, but it tasted very fresh. The Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie was better, since the tanginess is diffused by the yogurt.

big red strawberry waffle

The Fresh Strawberry Waffle (RM 5) is a mass produced item made with a waffle iron (I stand witness) and strawberry preserve and jam. It still tasted pretty good though due to the rather frigid temperatures up there. Big Red Strawberry Farm is located on the highlands and the wind chill factor can be quite cold. It’s topped with ice cream AND whipped cream.

big red fried ice cream

This is the Strawberry Fried Ice Cream (RM 3.90) adorned with two Cameron Highlands strawberries. The strawberries they serve in the Big Red Strawberry Café is a bit on the minute side, the big and juicy ones are in the farm, where you can pick your own. It’s good nevertheless, I like fried ice cream – despite knowing my physics and heat transfer it still amazes the inner child in me that the ice cream does not melt while being fried. 🙂

big red yoghurt

My girlfriend had the healthy Strawberries with Honey and Yogurt (RM 3.90) for dessert. Big Red Strawberry Café uses real yogurt (e.g. the very sour kind) and it goes well with the honey (from a bee farm in Cameron Highlands) and strawberries. I pronounce it Heart Healthy (TM).

big red sundae

I, being no stranger to cardiac arrests and strokes, opted for the Strawberry Sundae (RM 5.90) topped with whipped cream. In my defense, it has a plethora of fresh strawberries at the bottom of the sundae…at least a quarter of the dessert consists of fresh strawberries.

big red strawberry cafe us

I think we both felt nauseous after the strawberry themed brunch – I had to eat a healthy plate of Maggie Mee Goreng with a Heart Healthy (TM) cholesterol laden sunny side up egg to counter the fructose and glucose intake.

picking strawberries

The best part about Big Red Strawberry Farm? You get to stroll through the strawberry farm and pick your own big and juicy strawberries. 🙂

Mango Tango @ Bangkok

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mangotango

Mango Tango is a dessert specialty shop in Siam Square, Bangkok that found it’s niche in mango desserts. Thailand is famous for its mangos and they certainly like their mangos over here. Mango Tango offers a variety of mango desserts and is a franchise with chains all over the world.

mangotango display

Jia Chui had came here the previous night and she brought me and MDC here coz the Mango Tango outlet was supposedly very delicious – we were not disappointed. The front of Mango Tango has a nice display of fresh mangos and replicas of their mango desserts outside the counter.

mangotango interior

The interior of Mango Tango is divided into two floors with seating arrangements for two and four. Mango Tango is very clean by Bangkok standards and the walls are adorned with phrases proclaiming the benefits of mangos. It has a really nice and cozy ambience.

Mango Tango (130 baht)

mangotango mango tango

Mango Tango is their signature dessert and consists of a halved and partially diced mango served with a side of mango pudding topped with whipped cream and a ball of mango sorbet. It tasted really good – it’s THE must try flagship dish.

Mango Delight (120 baht)

mangotango delight

Mango Delight is a selection of tropical and imported fruits served with huge mango chunks. It’s a great dessert for people who like fruit.

Mango Sticky Rice (100 baht)

mangotango sticky rice

Mango Sticky Rice consists of a scoop of mango sorbet, sliced fresh mangos and mangos with glutinous rice (sticky rice). It tastes surprisingly good – especially the mango mixed with sticky rice…it’s out of this world!

Mango Iceberg (74 baht)

mangotango iceberg

Mango Iceberg is a dish with mango ice cream, milk sago and mixed fruits. It tastes a lot like cold bubur cha cha except it’s full of mangos.

mangotango me mdc jia chui

The Thai sure like their mangos (and pork) and mangos are practically a national dish over here. Check out Mango Tango if you’re in Siam Square – it’s worth every single baht to eat the famed Thai mango desserts.

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All Stars Sports Cafe review

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all stars cafe

All Stars Sports Cafe is a sports themed restaurant and pub located in Mid Valley Megamall. It also has sports memorabilia and plasma TV’s dotted throughout the place tuned to satellite/cable sports channels.

all stars rock climbing

The restaurant presents itself with a life-sized rock climbing figure hanging from an outcrop on top of the dining area in front. There are also various sports related autographed photos and posters adorning the walls.

all stars back

All Star Sports Cafe also has a pool room and seating arrangements at the back of the restaurant (or front if you walk in via Mid Valley Megamall). The place serves alcohol and has an emphasis on western food, but also a menu with eastern cuisine.

all stars beer

Maisel’s Weisse (Dunken) beer (RM 26). This imported beer is served from a 0.5 liter glass beer flask that pours into a perfect 0.5 liter glass. The dark beer tastes sweet, with a strong malt aftertaste – it tastes like Guinness Malta.

all stars beer bread

The beer comes with a serving of bread – hot buns with a German butter and a knife to butter it with. I found that rather odd.

all stars four seasons platter

Four Seasons Platter
RM 40
The ultimate snack! Combining the unique tastes of Honey Crab Balls, Soya Spring Roll, Hong Kong Sharksfin Egg and assorted Vegetables with Prawn.

all stars crab

This is the first entry in the Four Seasons Platter appetizer – the plate is HUGE and long, easily occupying two tables. It’s crab meat and some other stuff wrapped in a roll.

all stars prawns

This is the second feature of the Four Seasons Platter – prawns with sweet mayo sauce. It’s the best part of the platter.

all stars rolls

The third component of the platter is deep fried soya spring rolls. It’s not that great.

all stars chicken

This is the fourth part of the Four Seasons Platter – chicken. It’s just boneless chicken, but it’s very well flavored. Nice.

all stars salmon

Grilled Norwegian Salmon
RM 32.50
Imported fresh Norwegian salmon fillet served with ratatouille and crusted potato.

all stars salmon dish

The salmon was cooked to perfection – pretty in pink!

all stars sandwich

Grilled Turkey Ham Cheese Sandwich
RM 13.50
Toasted sandwich with ham, turkey slices and cheese.

all stars sandwich dish

It’s a good club-type sandwich, filling and not too painful for healing tongue piercings to chew. 😉

all stars surf turf

Surf n Turf
RM 42.50
Our petite sirloin steak and a big juicy tiger prawn, topped with home made garlic sauce.

all stars surf turf dish

This dish is really good – it’s a medium rare sirloin steak served with a large tiger prawn on top, allowing the prawn juices to seep into the steak. The garlic sauce goes very well with this unusual pairing, bringing out the best in both the seafood and the meat.

all stars eeva cherie

I was at All Stars Sports Cafe with Cherie and Eeva…

all stars midvalley

…and then all three of us got lost while stoned in Mid Valley. 😉

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Tuah Baker – Hot from oven

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tuah baker

I was walking through Sarawak Plaza half stoned (okay, totally stoned) when I noticed an opening sign for Tuah Baker
with the tantalizingly munchies inducing quote “Good bread is the most
fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh
butter, the greatest of all feasts.”

tuah baker bakery

The sweet aroma of freshly baked bread ala Rotiboy steered my senses
to their booth in the middle of the food court – the smell of the
piping hot baked goods was strong enough to overpower all the other
proprietor’s offerings in the food court. Tuah Baker – Hot from oven is
heavily inspired by Rotiboy’s concept – except instead of the coffee
cream bun, they also have a chocolate cream bun.

tuah baker buns

The buns go for RM 1.60 each and there are no discounts for more
than one purchase, unlike Rotiboy (which I’m comparing this bakery with
due to the remarkable similarity in concept). It was timely on our
behalf that we got there just as the goods came out from the oven, so
we got the only kind of bread one should eat – piping hot, almost
tongue scalding. 😉

tuah baker bag

I got one coffee bun and one chocolate bun and would have got more,
except they’ll have gotten cold by the time I’ve gotten around to the
third one. This is what the coffee bun looks like – the buns all come
in a brown paper bag, except this one doesn’t have any bakery insignia
on it. The buns are finally put into the paper bag and “baked” for a
short period – so the paper bag feels toasty as well. 🙂

tuah baker bun

The buns are warm and crispy – there’s nothing like the remarkable
aroma of baked bread smelling of freshly brewed coffee with a crispy
crust around a wonderfully soft and fluffy bun. One of my friends,
being unfamiliar with Rotiboy products, remarked: “This tastes like
cake!”

Tuah Baker only sells the fresh from the oven coffee and chocolate
buns and it’s best to get them while a fresh batch is out of the oven.

bla bla bla … restaurant review

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bla bla bla restaurant

bla bla bla… restaurant is a relatively new
eating establishment that opened up in Kuching. It has a purplish pink
neon sign with a speech bubble around the restaurant’s name. It looks
like a small place but it’s actually 180 meters inside!

bla bla bla bridge

The interesting bit about bla bla bla restaurant is that there is a
water walkway/bridge with “stepping stones” which you have to pass
through in order to enter the restaurant. It kinda screens the patrons
a bit, coz you have to be at least reasonably sober to navigate
through, ya know. 😉

bla bla bla water

The square block bridge is also where the eating establishment
branches into the upstairs dining area or the al fresco seating areas
to the back. There are goldfish swimming around in the flowing water if
you look close enough.

bla bla bla produce

Bla bla bla restaurant has a great ambience with the water features
and other well placed decors like this great platter of fresh produce…

bla bla bla futon

There is a futon mound where you can relax and have a couple of
drinks coz you can get rather thirsty after saying the restaurant’s
name a couple of times. 😉

bla bla bla green walk

There is a second water walkway with lush greenery that leads to the
end of the long 180 meter dining area. The place feels like a lush
tropical paradise with the generous plant life placed around the area.

bla bla bla roof

There are chandeliers and (another) interesting thing about bla bla bla restaurant is the retractable roof on top.

bla bla bla long

The narrow aisle is nicely arranged with tables for groups on one
side and tables for couples of the other side so there’s room to move
in the middle. The interior design is amazing.

bla bla bla margarita

I had a couple of margaritas (RM 18) which came with the signature pandan leaf that this place serves with most drinks.

bla bla bla mussels

This is the spicy mussels (RM 20). It came in a huge platter and it tastes great!

bla bla bla ostrich

This is the ostrich roll (RM 22) which comes with a morsel of battered ostrich meat on a flat roll.

bla bla bla lamb

This is the lamb shank (RM 23) which came with a cutting knife and serving fork. It’s tender and delicious.

bla bla bla prawns

This is the cashew nut prawn (RM 28), a decadent serving of HUGE prawns (it’s gigantic, actually) with mayo. This is easily the best part of the meal.

bla bla bla group

L-R: John [blogspot.com], Huai Bin (me), Ericka, Sebastian, Kenny [kennysia.com].

bla bla bla … restaurant is a great place to have dinner. It opens till late and the ambience and food is great.

…and admit it, you love the name too. 😉

Little Hanoi

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little hanoi

Little Hanoi is a coffee shop that mushroomed up in place of another
coffee shop which has ceased operating some time ago. I just saw this
eatery when I came back to Sibu this time. I went there today with my
girlfriend for lunch. Little Hanoi serves Vietnamese food, with slight
alterations to suit local tastes.

little hanoi pho

This is their pho, which is made with hor fun. The dish is made with good broth (which IMHO dictates the taste of the pho) – clear and satisfying.

little hanoi lime

It is served with half a lime, the likes of which I’ve never seen
before…the patterns in the middle of the lime seems unfamiliar, or
maybe they just sliced the lime diagonally.

little_hanoi_pho_close.jpg

Here’s a closer look at the pho. The hor fun is soft, and the thinly sliced beef in the soup tastes tender too.

little hanoi beef noodles

This is Little Hanoi’s implementation of beef noodles – it comes with thickly sliced carrots and chunks of beef in a thick soup.

little hanoi sea salt

This one is served with half a lime and some sea salt, which goes nicely with the chunks of beef.

little hanoi beef noodles close

Here’s a closer look at the beef noodles…there’s some bean sprouts in there too, to counter balance the taste.

little hanoi spring roll

Finally, we ordered a side dish of deep fried spring rolls. The
coating on this is very unique, and this makes the texture interesting.

Little Hanoi may not be an authentic Vietnamese eating experience,
but it’s a welcome addition to Sibu’s relatively slow growing food
industry.

Sibu’s famous kompia

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sibu kompia dry

Sibu is well known for kompia as the birthplace of kompia began here. Kompia or kom pia
(literally baked biscuit) is a uniquely Sibu based product. There are
several different implementations of kompia, the most basic being just
the baked pastry without filling.

sibu kompia wet

However, the most popular implementation is arguably the meat filled
kompia soaked in meat gravy. It usually goes for about RM 0.50 per
piece. Different people prefer different variants, but the only type
I’ll eat is the gravy soaked meat stuffed kompia.

I like to soak the kompia in the meat gravy for a long time till
it’s all soggy before eating the whole soggy mess of bread and meat and
gravy. It’s like a salty Tim Tam Slam, Sibu style. 😉

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. 😉

bing! lamb wrap

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bing bernice

I didn’t go out for lunch today due to a backlog of work that I need
to get done. I wasn’t hungry anyway, so I just figured I’ll skip lunch.
However, Bernice came in with a paper bag from bing!

bing lamb wrap open

She bought me a lamb wrap from bing! the coffee shop that everyone seems to like in Kuching.

bing lamb wrap sauces

The lamb wrap comes with a small tub of sauces – mustard, chilli and mayonnaise and the familiar orange bing! sticker.

bing lamb wrap opened

I’ve never had their wraps before – there’s a lot of crisp, fresh
lettuce with a bed of lamb meat. I like the taste of game, as she
knows. I like mutton.

bing lamb wrap

I just poured the tub of sauce into the wrap, rolled it up and ate it. It’s good. Thanks for lunch, Bernice! 🙂

SMK Sacred Heart school canteen

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smk sh

I thought I’ll do a food review on a school canteen for a change. I reckon it’ll be funny, but it was anything but…

smk sh cafeteria

SMK Sacred Heart has a full fledged (!) old skool coffee shop
operation going on in the canteen. I’ve never seen the likes of it
before. Why, in my previous high school, we only had RM 0.50 fried
noodles, precooked and stuff like that to choose from. This “canteen”
has a full ordering service.

smk_sh_mess.jpg

The ambience was nothing to speak of…standard mess style dining
area. The ordering area is like a coffee shop though. Jesus, kids
nowadays. Why, I could regale you with tales of the time when I was
young; when I had to walk bare foot through a jungle trail to get to
school, but that’s digressing. 😉

smk sh food

This is my order – Coca Ice and Iban Mee. “Coca Ice” turns out to be very dilute Milo but at RM 1.20, you get what you pay for.

smk sh iban mee

The Iban Mee was surprisingly good at RM 2. It’s a spicy fried
noodle dish, with a healthy (generous, really) sprinkling of fried
onions on top.

smk sh girls

I was surprised to find a couple of girls in there, since Sacred
Heart is an all boys school (except for Form Six, but they looked too
young for that). I talked to them and got them to pose for a photo and
they told me they are from Sacred Heart, but Jesus (no pun intended),
don’t they look rather young for 18?

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