Hawkers #1 in Kuching, Sarawak

when i got to Kuching, i was brought straight to the conference venue and i missed their Sarawak Laksa breakfast... so i had to wait till the conference was over to start indulging and trying Kuchings local food. finally the time had come and my lovely guide brought me to this hawker place. i can't remember what's the name or where but it's a wide open space, next to rows of shop lots and filled with hawker stalls and coffee-shops.

so, my 1st experiment was the Sarawak Laksa. i was told by the Penangites that it was a mixture of laksa siam, hokkien mee and curry mee... now with THAT combination, i got scared! hahahahha but nevertheless i tried it.... and it was, quite nice, though i would need to get used to the taste. after a few bites, i kinda liked it. i liked it that they used bee hoon instead of yellow mee (am not a fan of yellow mee - unless for certain dishes, yes, i'm fussy like that)

omg, can u see how big and fleshy the prawns? lovely! hahah somehow it compliments the dish. i was told that there were better Sarawak Laksa around and this was just average... hmm.. if THIS was average, i wonder how was the GOOD one tastes like.. hmmm...... O_O

and oh, i HAD to try their kolok/kolo mee as well. it's something like wantan mee in Penang but instead of soya sauce to make the noodles look black, this one was in a reddish colour. chilly? maybe.. am not too sure. it wasn't spicy though. THIS one, needed to be filled with char siew and minced meat... oh and occasionally some prawns... again, just like the sarawak laksa, there are better ones OUT THERE... woookay... i thought this was alright though...

oh and i TOTALLY forgot that beers in Kuching was damn cheap compared to Penang (but don't talk bout prices in langkawi ler....)

Peranakan Wedding Reception - The Food @ E&O, Penang

have u attended a wedding dinner that served you Peranakan food? i've not and this was my first time! such a unique and interesting wedding reception. just loved it! surprisingly the food was quite good too! thank God for that :) i wonder if the couple and family had a test before... hmm...

anyway here's a review of the Peranakan food served in E&O

the "4" season
~chicken lobak, seafood pai tee, spring roll, kerabu mango/cucumber, jiu hu char~
everything was lovely! loved the kerabu mango though, my fav!

salted veg duck soup
~just right, not too sour/salty, not too bland, am not a soup person, but this is one soup i'd take~

~chicken curry kapitan with man tau buns~
tht's right! there's a reason for those buns ya know, to eat it with the gravy AND clean the dish!

~otak-otak with seabass fish~
now this is something different, usually the otak-otak comes in wrapped with banana leaf but this was spread over the fish, interesting i'd say... though there's not enough of oomph with the flavour, but nevertheless it was lovely

~fish maw and sea cucumber, Nyonya style~

lovely light veg dish, to soothe the overwhelming tastes in your mouth AND to get ready for the NEXT dish.... heheheheh

~ASAM PRAWNS~
yea babeh!!!!! it was gorgeous!! juicy and sweet and the sauce was lovely! yum meh!!!

~kerabu fried rice~
an interesting rice dish, this dish it must be thoroughly mixed (think lou sang style) to get the best of the fried rice flavour - quite nice, i liked it, but was already too full....

~longan with lotus seeds and ginkgo nuts~
good for the blane, the blane... heheheh lovely dessert to finish off the dinner

i really have to give it up to the couple for this menu, i'm sure it was carefully hand picked with much consideration. knowing both of them are hardcore foodies, i believe it was quite a challenge for E&O to satisfy them. in the end i believe they pulled it off! lovely, just lovely! *thumbs up*

Marche Restaurant @ The Curve, Kuala Lumpur

Marche Restaurant in The Curve, Damansara, KL is like a Swiss Market Restaurant. It seems that they do have such restaurants in Switzerland and i really like the concept. accept that u can't really have the REAL market restaurant here cause it'll be very unhygenic (if u have gone to our local malaysian wet markets.. lol)

i never been here before and i didn't really know how this system works. but the friendly staff of Marche guided us through the system. each person has a card, and when you go to the "market" to make your order (salads, drinks, mains, appetizers, soups...etc) they will stamp something on the card to show that you have ordered something. once u have gotten your food, and finished, just bring the card to the cashier and they'll calculate the bill for you.

one thing i see here is that with that system, they really trust their customers. i mean, what if they eat and drink and get the card stamped, but in the end not pay and just walk out? of course if the place is empty, the staff would easily identify and know if u paid or not, but what if there's a crowd? hmm...

i came here with dad on a very quick-limited-time trip to KL. so we didn't have the luxury to browse through the restaurant and enjoy the food properly and soak the place in. we went straight for pasta (which we thought was the quickest food to cook), quick browse through the dessert area and drinks area and decided on what to get

i spotted this bread pudding and vanilla sauce, i just had to get it - lovely!

pasta with cream sauce and turkey bacon, with some onions and veg - quite nice

dad had this fruit butter cake for dessert - simple and nice as well

i would definately go back to have a proper meal, without any time limit, to go through the market and have a variety of food and enjoy it. i saw some steaks and fish as well, but like i said, didn't have the time. so far, this quick trip, it did give me a good 1st impression and i can't wait to go back there again :) i'll see u soon Marche!

Sunny Hill ice-cream, Kuching, Sarawak

have u watched those american movies where sometimes u see scenes in an ice-cream parlor? all they serve is ice-cream and nothing else? well i was brought to one that was quite similar to that, Kuching style though..

Sunny Hill ice-cream parlor is run by the good people of Seven Day Adventist Church and the profits goes to good causes of their church. this lil place just has a few tables outdoorsy type and it opens practically everyday from morning till night. so whenever you feel like home made ice-cream in Kuching, head down to Sunny Hill.... coincidentally it's on Jalan Bukit Cahaya :D

i'm sure they have other types of ice-cream dishes, like the banana split, peach melba...etc w but when we went there, we were too full to try out, but the cone that i had was quite nice :)

i thought the ice-cream itself was lovely, had enough of milk, not too sweet, just nice
*thumbs up*

Damai Beach Resort, Kuching, Sarawak

after the trip to the Cultural Village, Kuching, i was told to go to the beach nearby, i actually forgot the name of the beach that my friend told me to go to, but i told the van driver to bring us to a beach that's nearby. he was quite shocked as i guess he didn't expect us to want to see the beach. but i insisted, i said, it'll only be about 10 mins, just to see.

the van driver brought us to Damai Beach Resort, where if you wanna go to the beach (and is not a guess at the hotel) you have to pay RM3 (or was it RM5?) entrance fee. anyway i really wanted to go, never thought the rest would want to follow. so hahahah in the end the rest came with me as well :D

the resort was lovely! they had rooms up the hill (see pic above) and they had massage areas, watersports, and the pool was VERY VERY inviting! oh how i wish i could have a dip. most of the guests hanging out by the pool were foreigners. i then headed towards the beach. my my.... lovely!

it was calm, it was cool, and clear. i just had to get my CSFW pics (can-see-feet-water). the beach was shallow too, i could walk in till my shorts got a lil wet and it was already quite far in the sea, so that's good. u had no idea how hard i resisted into not getting myself all wet and just be in the water... but i had no change of clothes and i promised i would only take 10 mins...

i'm sure that there are other beaches around Kuching that must be explored, only wished i had more time!! next trip next trip... :)

Kek Lapis Dayang Salhah, Kuching, Sarawak

the other group i was with in Kuching, they took the lil sampan boat across the river from Waterfront to get some lovely (and cheap) layer cake. i heard it was a home business but they had a room specially for the cakes and there were rows and rows of cakes on shelves.... i can imagine how crazy the guys went when there were there, getting full from all the free tasting they did.

they called me asked if i wanted any, so i placed an order for them for 2, one was cheese and durian, both my favourite, though i would love to try the colourful ones and the chocolate ones.. but, how much cake can one eat la! hahahah it is already RM10 per cake hahahha

i was quite surprised when my friends brought over the cakes. it was all properly boxed and wrapped for shipping! they knew we were not locals and will be flying back, so they wrapped it in a way that you can even put it in cargo! so yeay!! don't need to worry bout squashed cake! lol

here's the durian and cheese ones.

Hui Sing Garden, Kuching, Sarawak

when u start to plan to go to Kuching, PLEASE remember... HUI SING Garden! by hook or by crook, u HAVE to go there for a full meal, from appetizers to meals to desserts and drinks. sure satisfied one i tell you! why?.... i tell you.

now i never heard of this place till my friend cum guide brought me there and i'm GLAD he remembered this place! it's a hawker place in the middle of rows of shop lots and wet market (i think) and i think if u mention Hui Sing Garden to any local, they would know :)

so, for appetizers, you HAVE to try their satay, it's not like any other. they had pork and chicken satay. now these satay, to me, they're like tou yu (thick black soya sauce) chicken/pork on a stick and i LOVE tou yu chicken.. so of course i love this satay. and surprisingly it blends well with the peanut sauce!!

next is what i didn't try, cause i already had my mains elsewhere (i'll blog that later). but i heard the tomato noodles are quite nice as well. i'm sure there are other foods u can have here for your mains.

then there's THE drink. THE drink that actually made Hui Sing Garden famous (that's what i was told - feel free to correct me). it's the White Lady. say what??? u heard me, WHITE LADY! i was skeptical myself but with much coaxing, it was ordered for me, it looked good and tasted oh so wonderful! imagine having it on a HOT day? *swoons*

funnily after a few sips of it, i managed to get the concoction right! now, can you? i will not spill the beans here :P u got to try it for yourself

the red squares are just the glass design, not the drink.

dessert u ask? i tried this on my second trip there (on the same night but different group of ppl) and it was called Matterhorn. yup, weird name for a dessert. the history of the name and dessert, pls google and u'll find it. something about the creator loved the Matterhorn moutain and inspired the dessert or something like that.

anyway, it's COLD (like duhh) and icy and there's bits of jelly, cincau/lengkong, cendol bits and longan/laici - depending on where u have this dessert (it seems there are other places that sells this as well) its like leng chi kang but it's not. this one had lime/lemon to give that tangy "exciting" bit to the taste. again, if u had this on a HOT HOT day... u'll be energised after that!

ok, i maybe overly excited bout all this but that's how i see it, it's just too good to be missed!
am craving for another go right now, while i'm typing this...

Peanut ice-cream in Kuching, Sarawak

when i was in Kuching, there was a Kuching Festival going on, i thought it was a cultural thingy but the locals told us that it was more of a FOOD festival... now that's interesting, but then again, i had that image of local hawker food selling their stuff at the festival at an overrated price, and fighting over the role of Best Kuching this and Best Kuching that, where by it's actually not... errmm.. maybe that only happens in Penang... LOL

ANYWAY, we dropped by and whoa! this was HUGE! and there were LOADS of food. i'm not from Kuching, so i wouldn't know what's good and what's not. anyway what really impressed me that even at such festival, PORK AND BEER were sold there!! O_O omg, now THAT u don't see in Penang... not halal man!!! i started to get excited.. hahahaha...

i didn't really stay long as i had other places to go to cari makan in Kuching :) but no regrets dropping by!!

now i met half of the other gang there and they made me try this peanut ice-cream.. i thought, pfftt it's just any other normal ice-cream, just made in a fancy way... but with the first bite.. omg.... words cannot express the feeling i tell u! yummmmmmmyyyyyyyy until i had to go get one all for myself! am not sure where they originally sell it in Kuching, so maybe you need to get a local to help you find out.. :)

what i found out was that the ice-cream was actually coconut ice-cream, with a bit of grounded peanuts wrapped with poh-piah skin (i think it will also go well with crepes/pancake)

pics may not show how good it taste but, trust me, it's LOVELY!!

has it been ANOTHER year?

my my how time flies, once again....

it's my BIRTHDAY!!!!

woot woot!!

Waterfront Kuching, Sarawak

it's my first time going to Kuching and i've heard lots of good stuff about that place. now that i had a chance to go and know a friend who stays there, i thought it'd been good to go and see Kuching. the group stayed at Tune Hotel which is just at the start of the Waterfront (opposite Hilton) hence it was quite a strategic place to stay. walking distance to malls, restaurants, coffee shops and local bazaars.

i thank God for the good weather the day i went to explore the Waterfront. the sun was shining and had a lovely sunset to it. there were some breeze as well, which was good.

i love how the Waterfront was made in such a way that it's for families to spend the evening, health freaks to jog on, even dating spot for couples (young and old)

there's shis sculpture at the main entrance to the Waterfront and i thought it kinda blended it well with the chinese temple at the back... u know, modern + traditional all at one place

Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak

while walking along the Waterfront, i was told that there were cruise "ships" going along the river for sight seeing and lil sampans fetching passengers to and fro the other side of the river. we came across this boat. it's the biggest boat i've seen at that moment on the river. and it had a restaurant at the lower deck and a viewing deck above. u can see that most of the passengers were travellers. i guess, it's one of the things one will have to do when visiting Kuching :) it seems this boat goes from one end of the river to the other and back. and it can be booked for private functions as well... now that's nice! imagine having a birthday party or even a wedding reception on it? cool!

also another must-do thing here at Waterfront is to get on the lil sampan to the other side of the river. tht's where the nicer and cheaper layer cakes are, and also other local delicacies! yum... and also not just for the food, but just for the fun of getting on and off the boat. oh, don't forget to pay the boatman something for the ride :)

view of the Waterfront from the opposite side of the river

i think Kuching is quite similar to Penang, i mean, maybe not that many highrise building, but i don't know, the feeling i got going around Kuching, gave me the feeling of being in Penang. anyway, i think it's a nice quaint place. simple (but oh so AWESOME) food, lovely sights to see and people are quite friendly as well :) i didn't really have much time to explore more of Kuching, tht just gives me more reason to go back! :) so yea, Kuching, a must-see and must-do place! *thumbs up*