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Category: Food / Many Choices

Newcastle: Za Za Bazaar – World Buffet With An Asian Street Food Theme

Newcastle: Za Za Bazaar, World Food Banquet – Are you a fan of buffet? No, I am not, but then I still head to buffet some times, especially during any festivity, like friend’s birthday, or just a celebration of some events, like the very most recent one at Za Za Bazaar in Newcastle, sort of a little Chinese New Year meal with a few friends from Malaysia and Hong Kong.

A little bit on why I am not a fan of buffet is I don’t enjoy the bloated feeling every time after a buffet meal. HAHA. Buffet is fun of course, with a plentiful choices of food to choose, but then some times it’s hard to try everything, moreover the heart is always thinking that, ‘I must eat the most out of the money I’ve paid’, which is a typical ‘kiam-siap (stingy)’ Malaysian attitude. That’s why, I rather pay the same amount for a decent few-course meals with people serving me. I am quite lazy.

Talking back about this Za Za Bazaar that I’ve just visited recently, at The Gate, Newcastle, I was quite amazed with the interior setup which have an Asian street food concept that feels very graphical, food stalls and Chinese. In compare with another buffet restaurant in Newcastle – Kingdom Buffet, I find Za Za has a better interior setup which somehow psychologically made my meal better (hey, I study interior design, so it’s the decor is very important to me). =D

Food type ranges from oriental, Asian, Indian to British, American, Mexian, Italian and beyond. It’s not surprised though that most of the food served are oriental > western (local) as most buffet restaurants in the UK are operated/founded by Asians. Well, forgive me for not taking any photos of food as I was busy eating and enjoying the interior space, but I can share with you some food that I like. Japanese sushi, American and British section did not capture my taste buds, whereas Indian curry gave me the best sensation of all; Italian, Chinese on the other hand leaved an OK-good impression in my mouth and some of the fried noodles were rather salty. I encountered a few weird food too, but I think some would like it. For £13.99/person (dinner, weekday), I find it quite reasonable, but if really-really-really would like to compare, Momiji in Singapore and Jogoya in Kuala Lumpur are so much better.

For pricing, contact details and opening hours, please visit Za Za Bazaar’s website for more.

February 13, 2014
JJ’s Cafe – Malaysian Food In Newcastle

JJ’s Cafe – Malaysian Food In Newcastle – Malaysian are now spread all over the world, although not as huge group as the Chinese are, but there is a lot of Malaysians residing in the UK, or other western country. Thus, looking for a Malaysian cuisine to cure homesickness is rather easy, same goes to Newcastle Upon Tyne, where I am right now. This little city in the North East of England has as many as 3 restaurants selling Malaysian’s cuisine. One being JJ’s Cafe, another one is Mamak Corner and the last one is Rasa Nusantara.

JJ’s Cafe is located on Heaton Road, somewhere about 25 minutes away from City Campus, somewhere near Morrisons, you will know if you resides in Newcastle.

Speaking about JJ’s Cafe, their menu is pretty much Malaysian food, you can find most of the mainstream Malaysian food like Nasi Lemak, Nasi Goreng, Chicken Curry, Curry Laksa, Wantan Mee (dry), Maggi Goreng, Roti Canai, as well as Char Koay Teow and more. One thing about eating Malaysian food abroad is with an open mind, do not expect much and don’t compare with home. The taste is may not come close, but they are good somehow. Other than Malaysian food, they do English breakfast and tea too, but they never caught my craving till now.

Wayne with his cute finger.

Anchyi with her Nasi Briyani. Looks good!

Alvin & me.

Jon and Ivan of HK!

Curry chicken rice, I was not attracted to this because I can cook my own curry at home. XD

Hainanese Chicken Rice which doesn’t feels hainanese to me, but then it’s good!

Char Koay Teow, not Penang-style, I’ll just call it a general Malaysian style, spicy and sweet. I find it good.

Food choices are pretty awesome, so do the price, most of the food at less than or around £5 which I would say reasonable because you can hardly find this price of Malaysian food in the UK. One funny thing that my friend told me that, if you see Malaysian food selling more than £6/7, the owner must be a Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indian/Malay would be selling them cheaper. =D LOL.

JJ’s Cafe

16 Heaton Road,

Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE6 1SD

Telephone: +44 1912657766

November 22, 2013
Klang Valley: Grafa Cafe, A Hipsy Bicycle Cafe

Klang Valley: Grafa Cafe, A Hipsy Bicycle Cafe – Recently just found out a cool artsy & hipsy cafe at Subang Jaya and it’s called the Grafa Cafe. Located in the heart of SS15, the cafe welcomes you with a artsy futsy retail store in front where you can find arts stuff, t-shirts, bike gear and more. Afterall, it’s a cafe with a bicycle themed.

Selling food from local style seafood nasi goreng (fried rice) to pasta, Coney Hotdog and sandwiches, this is a cafe of fusion food between the east and the west. The cafe itself is simple and nice, with wide varieties of food and I must mention this – the food portion is huge for pasta and nasi goreng!

Coney Dog.

Spaghetti Carbonara with Meatballs.

Nasi Goreng Sotong.

Taste wise? Well, it’s not really reach my liking for the Meatball Spaghetti Carbonara (RM20). Thea carbonara cream sauce is good, but not the meatball. On the other hand, the Coney Dog was nice with lots of minced meat topping on the hotdog.

Gary, Jason, Henry, Hwa Jie, Quenna, & Connie. =D

It seems to be a nice place to hangout, with big food portions, but kinda pricey and I am not going to order the Spaghetti Carbonara again. Haha. Would I come again? This is like some place that I would only go once, unless friends invited me there for a meal, maybe?

Grafa Cafe

55, Jalan SS15/4B,

47500 Subang Jaya.

Telephone: +603-56117600

Business Hours: 12pm-1am (daily)

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February 25, 2013
Klang Valley: 鸟人 Bird Man Cafe & Restaurant

Klang Valley: 鸟人 Bird Man Cafe & Restaurant – What a funny name for a restaurant – Bird Man! The person who started the restaurant is really very ‘bird’. So jiao. During high school, I always call those playful and talk cock people as bird man. Haha. Anyway, I have 7+ months left to reside in this big city of Kuala Lumpur, so I have to explore as much as I can including Bird Man.

Me, Jason and Henry.

Siyi, Hooi Peng, Quenna, Connie, me, Jason & Henry.

So, after work, I went to meet up my friends who are interns at another company for dinner at Kota Damansara and they brought me to this Bird Man. At first, I was like ‘What?! Jiao Lang? Bird Man?????’, then I saw it, it’s really a restaurant with a lame name. The owner must be a very bird bird man.

Grilled Black Pepper Chicken Chiop.

Shabu-shabu Beef Rice.

Unagi Rice.

Ramen with full boiled egg instead of half boiled tamago egg. Hmmmmm….

My Portugese Cheese Baked Chicken Rice. =(

Toast with Ice Cream, the only thing that looks good.

It seems to be tempting with the tagline of ‘contemporary international dining’. The menu does indeed looks interesting ranging from Western to Asian Oriental food and it made me confuse of what to order. From the recommendation of the bird staff, I ordered my self a Portugese Cheese Baked Chicken Rice (RM12.90). Hmm, hmm, hmm, not that nice as I expected. Perhaps it’s not a good cheese and the chicken was just fried chicken. Bad choice for me. I asked my friends how their food taste like and all of them gave me a very neutral answer of OKOK-only.

So, this Bird Man place is place that I will go for once only. Enjoyed the gather, not bird food. Blahhh. Time to sleep and thinking of where to eat in this coming days. =D Perhaps you can intro some nice food at Kota Damansara to me too?

The Bird Man Cafe & Restaurant

43G, Jalan PJU 5/21,

The Strand, Kota Damansara,

Petaling Jaya 47800, Malaysia.

Telephone: +603-61424885

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Photos are taken with Samsung Galaxy Note 2 & Samsung Galaxy Camera (Henry’s).

January 22, 2013
Klang Valley: Square Dotz Cafe @ SS2

Klang Valley: Square Dotz Cafe @ SS2 – Invited by a friend, Arvin to check out the Square Dotz Cafe at SS2 few days back as there’s some sort like a music night where indie bands play and sing song. I didn’t really stay long for the music but it was a cool one.

Square Dotz Cafe located in one of the bungalow in the SS2 neighbourhood. When I’ve got invited to there, I thought it’s some sort like the music cafe, the Chinese call those 民歌餐厅 Min Ge Can Ting, turned out it’s a bright little cafe with very simple decoration. What’s interesting is the murals which were painted by a group of Taylor’s University architecture students. I’ve no idea who they are. Haha. It’s kinda hard to classify this restaurant, it’s a mix of local food with a bit of western food. Fusion, I assume.

Benson & Arvin.

Hock, me & Ching Yi.

Friends told me the food were pretty expensive, but it seems to be still OK with price all less than RM20. They’ve decided to eat somewhere else and only ordered a drinks there. Well, since I was there already, why not try out their specialties?

Here’s my order, Beef Rendang with Basmati Rice (RM16.90). You can opt for chicken instead and the whole presentation does looks good to me. Basmati rice is those Indian rice and its fragrance was interesting and nice. As for the beef rendang which has a good aroma, but then I wish it to be more spicy that it will be awesome. Overall, it’s not a bad try.

Square Dotz Cafe

2 Jalan SS 2/66, SS2,

47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Telephone: +603-78654386

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January 12, 2013
Klang Valley: Levain Boulangerie & Patisserie

The exterior of Levain. Looks pretty cool.

Klang Valley: Levain Boulangerie & Patisserie – ‘Boulangerie’ means bread shop and ‘Patisserie’ means a type of French or Belgian bakery that specializes in pastries and sweets and ‘Levain’ is the name of the restaurant/cafe/bakery that located near the very busy area of Jalan Imbi/Bukit Bintang, but then it’s hidden around that area on a row of bungalow houses.

The restaurant.

They are famous for macaroons!

If you are from around KL, then you will know about Levain, but if you are like me from Penang. nevermind, let me bring you there now. I’ve heard some good reviews from my KL friends and finally I get to visit it during a lunch with my dear Clarice. It’s not very hard to find actually, but GPS leaded me there.

Ohhh, so many cakes! So pretty!

It looks pretty awesome inside with bakery at the entrance and sittings inside and also outside. Since it’s my first time, I don’t really know how to order, the person asked us to find a seat ourselves and that’s it. After asking again, it’s actually order your food at the counter, you can pick some pastry too, and then tell them your table number when ordering, pay it and wait your food to be served. It took me some times to do the ordering because I didn’t know what to order at first, there’s so many nice food on the menu and I want them all.

Wahhh, OKOK-only.

So, I ordered their famous a Spaghetti Seafood Aglio Olio (RM12.50), a Mushroom Chicken Soup (RM6.50) and a Turkey Ham & Cheese With Rice Pizza (RM18 for Large).

I like this! Mushroom chicken soup!

Spaghetti Seafood Aglio Olio. Yums.

Turkey Ham & Cheese with Rice.

Wanted to try more by stomach couldn’t take more already. I like the Mushroom Chicken Soup, it’s so creamy and the Spaghetti Seafood Aglio Olio is nice too. For the pizza, I feel so-so only, because I don’t really fancy rice on it, and not that much of meat. You maybe will like it, but not me.

Me and Clarice.

Clarice looking happy after the meal!

Overall, it’s a nice place, and I’ll come back to try more, perhaps the fresh baked pastry.

Levain Boulangerie & Pattisserie

No 7, Jalan Delima,

55100 Kuala Lumpur.

Telephone: +603 2142 6611

Email: enquiry@levain.com.my

Monday to Sunday 7.30am – 9pm

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December 20, 2012
Dinner At Pat Kin Pat Sun Cafe, Jalan Genting Klang

Dinner At Pat Kin Pat Sun Cafe, Jalan Genting Klang – Have been visiting a friend at Setapak for a few times recently. You know, Setapak is like so far from Bandar Sunway, one is at the south and another is at the north, so no surprise that I seldom visit the place.

Only then I know there’s a very happenings road called Jalan Genting Klang where there’s many F&B outlet, frequent visited by UTAR and KTAR students at there. I went there with Arron, Raykee, Sher Reen and Carmen 2 weekends ago.

Pat Kin Pat Sun means ‘will not leave until I see you’ in Cantonese and from the name itself, you know it serves Hong Kong char chan teng food, something like Wong Kok & Kim Gary.

Well, the food at there are almost identical to Kim Gary food, we ordered cheese baked rice (RM13.90) for each of us as it looks tempting in the menu. In my opinion, I feel it’s so-so only as the cheese didn’t really sip into the rice, it’s just a layer of cheese and pork on top of the rice. The essence, the aroma, the feel are not strong enough.

Anyway, they do seems to serve nice western food e.g. chicken chop too. Gonna try that in the future when I visit Setapak again.

Pat Kin Pat Sun Cafe

G-21 & M21 Platinum Victory 128,
Jalan Genting Klang,
53300 Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.

Telephone: +603-41431929

March 27, 2012
Fusion Of Thai & Nyonya At Malabar Restaurant

Fusion Of Thai & Nyonya At Malabar Restaurant (Invited Food Session) – Last month, I was invited to join a bunch of Penang food hungry bloggers to check out this new restaurant in George Town – Malabar (Dine & Chill) Restaurant.

Malabar Restaurant is located at the corner of Kampong Malabar, the junction of Cintra Street & Kampong Malabar. They serves Thai & Nyonya cuisine there, so don’t be surprise when Thai food has a sense of Nyonya, and Nyonya has a sense of Thai. It’s not authentically Thai & Nyonya, but the food special, fusionised, and good, affordable too.

Besides serving food, they have rooms for tourist which serve as a lodging motel with affordable price. The trend of restaurant + room is getting popular in George Town, especially in colonial-style shop houses.

On that day, we were served more than 10 dishes of their specialty food. Hungry me was so busying filling up my stomach and also taking photograph of the food. Let’s get into the photos and food below.

Interior of Malabar Restaurant gives a homy feeling.

Wall of photo collage of cute dogs.

Room at upstairs.

Loh Bak – RM8/2pcs. I like the skin of the loh bak for being crunchy and the meat is sweet.

Braised Garlic Pepper Pork Ribs – RM12. Somehow, the taste of garlic was not strong enough.

Asam Pedas – RM8/2 fish. My favourite dish because of the sourish soup, be sure to eat it right after it’s served, else it will not be good when it’s cold. Yums.

Stir Fried Thai Style Mayonnaise Prawns with Broccoli – RM22. Not-so-Thai-style after all because of the mayonnaise sauce. It’s more localized type of prawn but overall the taste is OK-good. Kids will like it.

Thai Style Roast Chicken – RM11. I prefer it have more thick gravy which can be eat with rice, but still nice.

Thai Style Beef Koay Teow – RM9.50. This is something different, the beef was good and tender and the beef balls were yummy. Though, the soup was a little bit salty, drink more water after eating this.

Otak-otak – RM4 each. This one is yummy as you can find lots of fish meat in it.

Deep Fried Belacan Chicken – RM12. One of my favourite dish here. The chicken was so crunchy and the fragrant of belacan was awesome!

Chicken Soup With Herbs – RM26. Aromatic steamed herbal chicken with very sweet herbal soup. Nice.

Fried Kangkung – RM9. The taste of belacan and shrimp paste are good.

Malabar Belandar Eggs – RM4.50/2 eggs.

Desserts of the Day – Steamed Pumpkin with Coconut Milk Custard – RM3.50. Finally, end our meal with the desserts. It’s sweet, it’s special. I’ve never try this before. It’s somehow blend the moist with sweetness, revealing an average taste, not too strong, not too light.

Kasturi Lime with Sour Plum Drink – RM2.80. Something refreshing

Malabar Restaurant – Dine & Chill

26 & 28, Lebuh Cintra, 10100 Penang.

Telephone: +604-2638266

Website: www.malabar.net.my

Business Hours: 11.00am – 10.00am (Closed on Tuesday)

Happy Hours: 5.00pm – 9.00pm

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February 29, 2012
Cecil Street Market And Hawker Stalls (Qit Tiao Lor Ban San / 七条路巴刹)

#1: You will know the place by seeing the name Pusat Penjaja Lebuh Cecil which means Cecil Street’s Food Court.

Cecil Street Market And Hawker Stalls (Qit Tiao Lor Ban San / 七条路巴刹) － Cecil Street, also known as Qit Tiao Lor in Hokkien or literally means 7th Road is famous for its market and hawker stalls. Many locals love to flock into the market and hawker stall to eat out and hunt for good food as there have a variety of local Penang hawker food to choose from.

#2: A Hokkien Prawn Noodle stalls which haven’t open yet.

Cecil Street Markat & Hawker Stalls is one of my favourite place to eat in Penang given that the place is more local-ish to me with 99.9% people eating out are locals and for its great variety of local food. I dislike hawker food stalls like at tourist centric Gurney Drive area and New Lane.

#3: Aunty was thinking something.

#4: A busy woman talking on the phone and wanting to buy kuih.

#5: At the kuih stalls, the owner lady trying to tell the girl how much it is for the kuih.

Yesterday, I went there with my mom to have lunch, and also to buy some stuff from the market to cook at home. It was about noon time and you can hear many people chattering around with coffee boy shouting here and there loudly to order a drinks for the customers.

#6: Another hidden and good hokkien prawn noodle stalls. The name is Ah Lai’s Hokkien Prawn Noodle.

#7: Disabled person trying to earn some living by selling his voices – singing karaoke, which turns out to has a good voice.

#8: An old lady waiting for … someone, or food.

#9: Picking dishes which to be eat with porridge.

Aroma of local food can be inhaled at there. Hokkien dialect is the main language of the hawker food stalls area which can be heard almost everywhere. Everyone was busy chomping their food and talking. I was then busy taking photos around, capturing the image of the locals to share with you guys.

#10: Fishmonger scrapping off the fish scales.

#11: A man in helmet picking shrimps.

#12: Eat more vegetables which is very good for your health.

#13: Garlic, do you like it? Yes, I do.

#14: A lady buying stuff at the market.

I’ll show you in other post that what I have eaten yesterday. Porridge with a few dishes, and a bowl of Penang hokkien prawn noodle was my lunch yesterday, which is deliciously good.

October 2, 2011
Dinner At Jogoya Japanese Buffet, Starhill Gallery

Dinner At Jogoya Japanese Buffet, Starhill – Jogoya Japanese Buffet restaurant is as the name stated, a Japanese buffet centric restaurant based in the premium shopping mall, Starhill Gallery in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. Besides this outet at Starhill, there’s another one outlet in Taipei’s tallest building – Taipei 101.

I have been wanting to go try out this place and finally I had a chance to visit and dine out at there. The price is RM88++ per person which is more likely an international buffet rather than a standalone Japanese food buffet. Japanese food is of course the main food that you can find in there, but there’s still other choice like Chinese food, Thai food and Western Food.

First thing first was of course getting must stomach half filled with delicious Japanese sashimi and fresh raw oyster which I don’t really eat in normal days. They are my all-time favourite. After trying out the Japanese section with sushi, sashimi, teppanyaki, Japanese steamboat and other Japanese food, only then I move on to try some other Asian dishes like Chinese food, Thai food. And lastly, went back to a little bit of Japanese food.

The only section that I didn’t try out was Western corner which I was not really interested in it.

RM88++ is indeed worthwhile but somehow, I bet you couldn’t try all the dishes in there with over 200 dishes to choose from.

Well, in taste wise, it may not be the super delicious, but somehow reach the standard of good-to-eat. Eating buffet is not really a comfortable thing to me because stomach get full and bloated after eat, shouting for how full it is after that. Somehow, it’s a good experience for me.

It’s a PORK FREE restaurant means it’s a halal restaurant, however there’s alcohol like red and white wine. There’s some section which you drop a small clip with your table number for the food you want and they will cook it and send to your table.

Besides, there’s various of desserts for you to choose from with many variety of pudding, cake, Haagen Dazs and New Zealand Natural Ice Cream, ice kacang and more.They do have promotion from time to time. Sometimes is buy-1-get-1-free for lunch section, now they have a promotion of 2nd customer get 50% off, but then it’s only available for lunch.

Check out the website for more and now it’s time to enjoy the photos that I have taken after my meal. =D

Chicken and mushroom soup in the tea pot.

Beautiful and delicious salmon sushi. Yum yum yum!

Fresh korean oyster. It’s really succulent and juicy which makes it feels good in the mouth as if it’s swimming in there. The icy cold oyster flush down my throat and gave a boom to me. Yum. I wonder why Korean’s oyster though? Why not other country’s oyster.

Freshly cut salmon sashimi.

Haagen-Dazs ice cream! Unfortunately there’s does not has my favourite macadamia nuts.

Mango pudding, looking pretty.

Free flow of wine.

Weight increased after the visit, guess I’ll get the weight down, and go back in other time. =D

September 21, 2011

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