Pictures of yummy food on first night in Penang

This is my first entry in a while as have been quite busy recently. Actually this is reviewing my trip to Penang in middle November.


This entry is about the dinner we had on the first night we reached Penang. We had originally wanted to go to New Lane for dinner but unfortunately it was closed for the day hence we ended up going to Rangoon Road where it is another collection of hawker stalls. There were about 30 stalls selling a variety of local dishes.


The below are the pictures of the dishes that we had.


The first picture is the Penang Char Koay Teow which is one of the most famous local dish. It is a different version from the one commonly found in Singapore. The Penang style is fried without a sweet sauce and it is fried till it is dry.


The one that I had over there did not disappoint. The prawn was very succulent and the koay teow was very tasty.

The next dish is the satay. We ordered two different meat. The satay on the left side is the pork satay and on the right is the chicken satay.


Both types of satay were very tender.

The below is the Penang style Ngoh Hiang. There is actually quite a lot of different items that you can select. My personal favourite is the loh bak, prawn fritters and the steamed octopus.

You can have the items with either the chilli sauce or the other sauce shown below.

The below is the cuttle fish with kang kong. It was ok but did not really standout as compared to the other dishes we had over there.

Next is the Hokkien Mee. It is actually prawn noodles as can be seen below. The soup base is a mixture of prawns and pork ribs. It is accompanied with prawns, meat and the pig skin which is shown on the bottom left hand side of the bowl.

It is one of my must have dish when I am in Penang.

The following is the Koay Teow Ting. It is a clear soup base which could either be based on a chicken stock or duck stock based. For the one, I had over there, the soup was very refreshing and it went well with the koay teow. The fishball that is generally offered is usually smaller than the ones you can get in Singapore.

The last dish is the Penang curry mee. It comprises of pig blood, prawns, tao pow and cockles in a thick soup based. It is quite different from the one in Singapore.

It was also very yummy.

It was a lovely dinner on my first day on arrival in Penang and was looking forward to enjoying the local delights for the rest of the trip.

Opinion on Arsenal performance in the BPL in the 08/09 season

This year is one of the most competitive season in the BPL. So far what has happen is Chelsea unbeatable home record of unbeaten run has been put to an end by Liverpool. Manchester United is shaky but still on the tailcoat of Chelsea and Liverpool. ( Liverpool is doing very having beaten both Manchester United and Chelsea)

Not only at the top, the gap between the bottom club and the middle table team, is a gap of only 8 points. Therefore if any of the bottom team is able to string a few good results, they will immediately be out of the relegation zone.

However there is one team from the big 4 which has been the most inconsistent is Arsenal.


The below is a screenshot of the league as of the 18th of November.

Arsenal this season has been blowing hot and cold. They are able to beat Manchester United but are losing to teams like Stoke and Hull city. Stoke and Hull City are teams which in previous seasons, Arsenal will outplayed these teams and beat them convincingly. In this season, the Arsenal team seems to be lacking a cutting edge in the final third. They are still maintaining their high standard of intrigue passing and fast movement in the midfield and defence but once it goes to the opposition half, there seem to be something lacking.

In my opinion, Arsenal is crossing more often in the box especially if Walcott is in the team which is something some commentator has criticized them previouslyas lacking width. However, there is usually one player in the box when the cross come in. As a result, the cross is wasted. Their main striker Adebayor is usually not in the penalty box. It can get frustrating at times when you see the sole target man is not in the box but is on the flank. Whether this is intentionally setup in this way so that like Henry previously the main striker will cut from the flank and cause problem for the opposition, however in my opinion Adebayor is not the same type of player.

Therefore in recent matches his effectiveness is less apparent. In addition, the defense of Arsenal seems to be shaky in the last few games. They have been conceding quite a lot of goals. It seem strange that now Toure is on the bench when he was outstanding in center defence in the last few seasons. Gallas has been caught out for a few of the goals.

Arsenal really have a great youth system and there is talent abundance. However in the current condition, they are too inconsistent to last a title race and they do not have a plan B once their silky football is unable to make a breakthrough unlike Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.

Arsenal will always entertain the fans with their play but are unlikely to win a leagu title unless they add some steel into their team to lead the team when the going gets tough. All the other teams have such a player, example Chelsea has Terry and Lampard, Liverpool has Gerrard and Manchester United has Gary Neville, Giggs, Rooney.

Taking everything into consideration, Arsenal is only a bit behind Manchester United so it is not all gloom.

The future is bright for Arsenal but whether the fans can tolerate a fourth season without any silverware remains to be seen.

This should be a very exciting race for the title.

Visit to Shin Kushiya ( Japanese food)

The below is a review of the Shin Kushiya outlet at Vivocity.
It is supposed to specialised in the grilled style of cooking but they also offered a whole range of other selection such as tempura/ramen/sushi.

Screenshot of the menu

We decided to order a mixture of their offering and of course we also ordered some of their grilled items to try out.

The below is the salmon sushi and a wasabi octopus salad.
For the salmon sushi, the salmon was fresh and the sushi was just prepared as the rice was a bit warm so the combination of the salmon and the rice went very well.
For the wasabi salad, it was quite spicy till it cause a numbing effect but it combined surprising well with the chewy octopus bits and the cool vege which was mixed together.

The next item is the soft shell crab temaki. It is very well prepared and freshly served once it is done as the rice is still warm and the soft shell crab was very crisp. The combination of the crisp from the soft shell crab and the dried seaweed with the warm and soft rice in the center is a delight.

The below is the salmon sashimi. It is raw salmon with an accompaniment of wasaba.
The below is a sample of the grilled items.
We had the grilled squid, prawn, mushroom and the chicken.
I liked the grilled squid the most and the most disappointing is the grilled mushroom as I had tried better ones at another Japanese stall.

The below is the tempura prawn. It was good but nothing outstanding to stand out from its competitors.
The chicken teriyaki below was one of the best we had. It was very tender and the seasoning was very yummy. Thinking about it is making me hungry.
The below is the BBQ squid in Japanese style. It takes about 20 mins to prepare it. It was chewy and very full of flavour. I liked this dish a lot.
The last item was some noodle dish with tempura prawn.
In conclusion, the dishes in general are very nice with some outstanding items. The only downside is the pricing as it is more on the expensive side comparable to sushi tei. Therefore cannot go often as it is a bit pricy :)

Visit to Crystal Jade Xiao Long Bao Outlet

These photos are taken a very long time back. Some of the dishes shown below seems to have been modified by the restaurant recently.

Anyway the below dishes are some of my favourites when I last visited the restaurant.

The first dish shown below is the fried eel.
It is fried to a crisp and it is coated with a sweet sauce. The combination of the sweet sauce and the crisp texture is a wonderful combination. Usually I will order this dish if I visit the outlet.


The next dish is the jelly fish appetizer. Unlike majority of places where usually the jelly fish is prepared in a sweet sauce, the preparation for this dish is to tossed in the jelly fish in a slightly salty sauce. It is quite nice.

The next dish is the sliced fish cooked with black fungus and spring onion. The fish meat is very tender and has a melt in your mouth sensation. The sauce is also very good to go with rice.

However in my recent visit, I do not seem to be able to find this dish in the menu. Maybe they change the name of the dish.

The next dish is a Sichuan dish. It is called 回鍋肉 in mandarin. In English, it can be termed as a twice cooked pork dish. This is because the pork will be cooked firsly by boiling and after which it will then be cut and stirred fried with some vege as shown below.

They also served some pancake to go with the dish. However personally prefer the dish to go with steaming hot white rice.

The last dish is also another Sichuan dish. It is Ma Po Tofu. It is tofu which is cooked in a spicy gravy with mince pork in it. The version offered here is not so authentic as it is supposed to have a numbing effect when you consumed it but i do not felt it :(.

However it is a great dish to go with rice. The silky texture of the tofu with the rich flavor of the gravy with the mince pork in it is really wonderful.

As can be seen, I am a rice lover hence the dishes I recommended are best to go with rice.

Visit to a unique stall in Lucky Plaza

This is another old entry which I am trying to update now.

It was a visit to Orchard Road few months back and we were passing Lucky Plaza and my fren suggested to go and try a small eatery in Lucky Plaza. He mention you can try things like shark fin soup and abalone dish at under 10 bucks.

Out of curiosity, we went to the eatery. It was called Rabbit brand Seafood Delicacies. It is located if i recall correctly on level 2. The below is the screenshot of the menu.

The three of us each ordered different set menus each for variety.

The picture below is the Buddha Jump Over The Wall set menu.
I tried the soup and it was not bad.

My other fren had the shark fin soup set.
Myself I had the abalone noodle. I liked the noodle with the gravy and the special chili paste.

For the abalone, I not able to comment too much as not an expert on it. I liked the noodle so much I ordered another plate. ( Me noodle crazy :) )

Anyway it was an interesting experience and was quite value for money especially for the food you get in the city.

Only problem is there is limited seating and is quite full during my visit.

(Guess news spread fast)

Visit to Peach Blossom at Marina Mandarin Hotel

This is a review of a visit to the Peach Blossom restaurant to try out their dim sum Al carte buffet.

It is only available on the weekend afternoon from 12 noon to 3pm. If you are planning to go, it would be better to give a call a day before the visit to book a table as it is quite occupied.
The menu if i recall had about 30 plus items and there is a selection of deserts although it is limited to one order per person.

The below picture is the table layout.
The below is the stand for the teapot, quite interesting to me as first time see the teapot with a warmer below.
The following pictures are some of the fotos for the dim sum items we ordered. There were more items but was too busy eating and forgot to take foto.

The first item is the har gao or steamed prawn dumpling. It was quite ok. The filling was sufficient and the prawns is fresh and juicy.

The next item is the char siew chee chong fun. The texture was very smooth and went well with the filling.
The below is one of the unique fried items but have forgotten what it is.
The following two pictures are a snap shot of the various items that we had that day.

After which we decided to order the sweets to try out and the below are the fotos.

In general, the food was excellent although the service was a bit slow partly due to the large crowd of people in the restaurant at the time.

It is a place worth visiting again :)

Wedding Lunch at Si Chuan Dou Hua

This is my first entry in a long while as have been caught very occupied with work as well as playing some online games :)


Anyway this review is about the wedding lunch I attended recently. It was held at the Park Royal hotel ball room and the food was supplied by Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant.


The wedding was a very elaborate affair and especially like the entrance portion.


Firstly have to thank the people sitting at the same day as me for the inconvenience of giving me time to take fotos of almost all the dishes.


The first dish to arrive is of course the cold dish. They termed it as Dou Hua Combination Platter. It comprises of Thai Style Silver Fish, Shark Fin fried with Egg, Salad Prawn, Jelly Fish and Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab.



I liked the soft shell crab personally.





The next dish is the 8 treasure seafood soup. It consists of dried scallop/abalone, sea cucumber, crab roe, fresh prawns, crab meat, spinach juice and a superior soup base as per stated in the menu.



The soup was actually quite nice with the predominant flavour of the Spinach and the prawn and crad flavour. I must be unlucky as not able to find the abalone :(

Steamed Red Garoupa.

The people were quite skillful to remove the bones of the fish. Nothing outstanding for the taste as to me it is just a steamed fish.

The next dish is the Braised Sea cucumber and duck stuffed with chestnut. This dish was quite good. The meat of the duck was tender and it went well with the sea cucumber. Only think is I seem not able to find the chestnut.

The below is the spicy seafood combination. The quality of the picture for the below is a bit blur.

Anway it is a dish where there is fish slices, cuttlefish and prawns cooked in a spicy sause. Do not let the color of the dish think that it is a very spicy dish. Actually it is not very spicy and it is a bit on the sweet side with a tinge of spicyness. It went well with the Fried Man Tou though. ( Something like the Chilli crab gravy)
The below is the steam prawns in chinese wine. It was ok.
As I was away from the table when they serve the baked pine seed rice in lotus leave, hence only able to capture what was left after they serve each person one bowl. For the tastewise, it was nothing really outstanding.

The last dish is the double boiled Hasma with red dates and lotus seeds.

Interesting website from Taiwan

The below link is a fren who send it to me and I found it quite interesting.

http://tw.superfate.com/channel_fortune/

This link to a website which from considering your time of birth predict your fortune as well as other aspects in life.

Interesting for trying out though not sure how much is true.

Do give it a try. Some more you are able to translact to the English version as well.

Opinion on Euro 2008

Tonight is the final between Germany vs Spain. It should be an entertaining final as both teams have been playing attacking football throughout the tournament.

One of the more refreshing thing in this tournament is the determination by the majority of teams to play attacking football. They will not sit back after taking a goal lead. They will go for the kill and try to claim a decisive win.

In this tournament, one of the surprise so far is the performance of the Russian team. Excluding the first match and the semi final defect both times to Spain, they were really outstanding against the rest of the teams. One of the best matches was the Holland vs Russia game. It was end to end stuff and the passing movement was so fluid.

The other surprise team is tonight finalist Spain. The usual under achiever is playing some of the most fluid football and in my opinion when Cesc Fabregas is playing Spain play a level of football that no team could cope with.

The disappointing teams in this tournament are some of the big guns such as the aging Italy and France sides as well as the Czeh republic.

For the first two teams, I felt that they were counting on too many of their aging stars to pull them through. This is especially true for France which had many of the first team players were from previous world cup and euro teams.

For the Czeh side, they were unlucky in their final game vs Germany as I felt that they had a very strong midfield especially with Modric in the team. He is really outstanding and will be a great addition for Spurs in the coming season in the EPL.

There is no real standout player in this tournament so far and it seems like the team is been given precedence ahead of individualism.

May the best team win the final

Lunch at Sabai ( Thai Cuisine)

This is really a very belated article as have not work on it since April.

I had brought my mum and relatives to the Thai restaurant located at Takashimaya level 4. The name of the restaurant is Sabai and it was featured in a newspaper review. Hence the decision to bring them there as firstly my mum like Thai food and secondly going to try a new place.

The below is a picture of the entrance.

A picture of one of the displays in the interior of the place.

After reviewing the menu, we decided to order a few items to share which are shown in the following photos.

The first dish to arrive is the seafood tom yum soup. The soup is delivered on top of a flame to ensure the soup is still hot when is served to us.

As can be seen, the soup is very clear which does not look very hot. However believe me when we had the soup it was really spicy. The soup was spicy enough and it had a sufficient sourness which give a very strong flavour and unforgettable flavour.

This was really a very excellent soup.

The next dish is the chicken fried with dried chili. This chicken was deep fried to a crisp and it went well with the dried chili.
The next dish is the boneless whole grouper cooked in Thai sauce. This dish was one of the best I had. They had debone the fish from the tail to nearly the head and they had curved up the meat and deep fried it. Hence from the fist glance of the picture, it looks like there is only the fish head.

The meat was very tender on the interior in spite of the exterior was very crispy and the sauce complimented the fish taste very well.

The below is the scallop cooked in a dry curry style. This was the dish which was not up to the expectation. There was nothing outstanding in this dish.

The below is the sambal Kang Kong. It was quite good.


The below is the deset buffet spread which is charged at 8 bucks. There is about 15 different desert items to choose from. My family really love the desert as it was very well prepared especially for the deserts which contained coconut milk.

In my opinion, if you are a desert loving person, you should have it. The sequent photos are some of the items that were taken from the selection.

In summary, my family really enjoyed the food and mention it was one of the best Thai food they have had. The majority of the dishes were excellent. The only downside is the pricing is on the expensive range.