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Category: Food Blog

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

    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.

  • London: Breakfast At Le Pain Quotidien

    London: Breakfast At Le Pain Quotidien

    London: Breakfast At Le Pain Quotidien – A London friend had brought me to this very nice breakfast place calls the Le Pain Quotidien (French pronounciation as luh pan koh-ti-dyan), or literally means The Daily Bread at Tottenham Court Road. There’s actually quite a number of outlets in London, in fact it’s an international chain cafe, having outlets around the world. A little bit of research found out that Le Pain Quotidien was not originated from French, but Brussels, Belgium in 1990.

    It was about an hour to noon and the place was half full. 3 of us, were sat on a long communal table at the far end and later filled up as time went on. The cafe is setup in a warm and cosy atmosphere, with lovely industrial light that bring a twist into the warm design. Food is mainly about breads, sandwiches, omelet and their set of breakfasts. The very friendly staff had made a bit of recommendation to me as a newcomer.

    I’ve ordered myself a Organic Scrambled Eggs with bread, side with Sauteed Mushrooms @ £6. The succulent mushroom was very good to me whereas I couldn’t identify the goodness of the scramble egg, pretty standard. There’s a variety of jams and spreads that you can use freely for the bread which is quite a new experience for me. Everything was quite fine, only that I find that it doesn’t really fill up my huge hungry stomach.

    Head over to Le Pain Quotidien’s website for the list of location.

  • London: Burger & Lobster

    London: Burger & Lobster

    London: Burger & Lobster – Most people (I would say, Asian mainly) will not miss the opportunity to visit Burger & Lobster, a restaurant that sells only, burger, or lobster in London. It’s like becoming one of the must-eat food in London. ‘Have you been to Burger & Lobster?’ ‘You must really try the Burger & Lobster!’ Most Asian friend will recommend this food outlet in London when you ask them what’s good in London. It’s more like a hipster place, where eating at Burger & Lobster is cool and must-do.

    The place must be good, because 5 of their outlets are always full and have a queue all time. It’s not that you can just walk-in to eat anytime, you just have to wait, from as little as 15 minutes to an hour or more. Reservation only available for 6 or more, yet you still have to wait despite having a reservation. We had about 10 of us, and we still waited for like 15 minutes to get our table ready. The one I went to was at SOHO, and there’s 4 more at Mayfair, Farringdon, Knightsbrige and London City.

    Eating at Burger & Lobster will let your mind have a break because you do not need to think that much on which and what to eat. There’s only, burger, or lobster! Burger, is a succulent huge beef burger serves with fries and salad; whereas lobster has the choices of lobster roll, or full lobster steamed, or grilled, or mix, or you can pay more for larger lobster. A standard burger, or lobster cost £20/each. Most newcomer will of course, go for lobster because at this hefty price tag, a lobster would be more worthwhile than a beef burger. I did not try the beef burger, but Foursquare has good review on it. My lobster was a grilled one, served with salad, and fries.

    The aroma of grilled lobster was so good, and the lobster meat was very juicy and fresh. Not to mention, the fries was good too! However, I find that steamed lobster could be a better choice as the steamed one still have the lobster red roe intact (eggs), I’ve no idea where’s mine had gone. Dipping the lobster with the garlic butter sauce were just superb. You know what, the whole meal took about 1.5 hours to finish everything up, it’s like the longest meal I’ve ever had for one main course. I was just trying to clean everything up inside out of the lobster, no wastage. =D Thumbs up!


    Friends from the same high school, Chung Ling High School, Penang! Interesting that we met not back in Penang, but in London. // Photo by Oohjii.

    Head over to Burger & Lobster’s website for their list of locations and details.

  • London: The Breakfast Club

    London: The Breakfast Club

    London: The Breakfast Club – Have been looking for a good breakfast in London lately and I found this on a recommendation by a friend – The Breakfast Club. I went for a brunch last Saturday and it was a crazily long and cold 45 minutes queue for it. I guess, the food is really good, or the premise is very small.

    After spending almost an hour outdoor in the cold air, the lady came out and told us that our table is ready. Indeed, the place is rather small. Hungry and cold, I quickly placed my order and ordered the first thing on the menu, a Full Monty Breakfast @ £9.70, which I guess is one of their best one since it’s the first Club Classic section. It’s a typical English breakfast set which consiss of bacon, sausage, black pudding, eggs, home-style fried potatoes, mushrooms, beans, grilled tomato and toasted multigrain bloomer.

    I don’t know whether is it my oriental taste bud is not suiting the English food, or what, I find it not that interesting. Black pudding is the least interesting of all, so do the salty sausage. Overall, it’s somewhat similar to other English Breakfast that I’ve had before, except the potatoes was quite nice. I don’t like the portion of the mushroom was that less. Try the All American pancakes for your first visit, it seems to be a better choice as my friend told me.

    Click here for the list of outlets for The Breakfast Club. The one I went to was at Camden Passage, out Angel Station.

  • Taipei: Ay-Chung Mian Xian 阿宗面线 (Ah Chung Mian Xian/Mee Sua)

    Taipei: Ay-Chung Mian Xian 阿宗面线 (Ah Chung Mian Xian/Mee Sua)

    Taipei // Ay-Chung Mian Xian 阿宗面线 (Ah Chung Mian Xian/Mee Sua) – Throwing back and continue on where I’ve stop on my Taiwan trip last year. I just remembered that I did not finish my Taiwan trip post for last year because of all sort of laziness and uni project. Whatever it is, let’s go back to Taiwan in pictures.

    One of the must-try food in Taipei is this Ay-Chung Mian Xian located at Ximending. In a very simple explanation, Mian Xian or Mee Sua literally means rice-flour noodle and Ay Chung, is of course the person, Ah Chung, the brand, the kickstarter, the boss, the whatever. Instead of oyster mee sua that you can normally find in Malaysia’s Shihlin Taiwanese Street Snack, Ah Chung serves it with large intestines and the best, it doesn’t smells bad. Don’t worry that you will not find any disgusting things in it.

    Fusing 3 of the condiments available – chilli sauce, garlic & vinegar, it gives you a burst in the mouth, not spicy but delicious. A bowl costs NT$45 (about RM4.96) and I would say it’s reasonable me. Good breakfast for me back then, but the real thing is, I prefer mian xian with oyster instead of intestine. Yeah.




    Xi-Meng-Ting Headquarter/西門町總店： 
    Address: No.8-1, Emei St., Wanhua District, Taipei City
    Walking Directions: 5 minutes walk from Ximen MRT station, exit 6
    地址: 台北市峨嵋街8號之1
    Opening Hours: 11:00 to 22:30 (Mon – Thu); 11:00 to 23:00 (Fri – Sun)
    Tel: 02-2388-8808

    Shilin Branch/士林分店： 
    Address: 1F., No.24, Lane 101, Wenlin Rd., Shilin District, Taipei City
    地址: 台北市文林路101巷24號1樓
    Opening Hours: 15:30 to 01:30 (Mon – Thu); 15:30 to 02:00 (Fri – Sun)
    Tel :02-2883-8058, 2883-8867

    Xinyi District Branch/東區分店： 
    Address: No.2, Lane 17, Sec. 4, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Xinyi District, Taipei City 地址: 台北市忠孝東路4段17巷2號
    Opening Hours: 11:00 to 21:30 (Mon – Thu); 11:00 to 22:00 (Fri – Sun)
    Tel :02-2721-9198, 2721-9899

  • London: Sunday Brunch At Duck & Waffle, Heron Tower

    London: Sunday Brunch At Duck & Waffle, Heron Tower

    London // Sunday Brunch At Duck & Waffle, Heron Tower – It’s just amazing having a good brunch at 40th floor, overlooking the city of London. That was one of my Sunday, two months ago. I thought a trip to London would be a budget one, but I ended visiting some quality restaurant at one of the tallest building in London, the Heron Tower. It’s on the 40th floor and remember don’t go to other floor as you will ended heading back down and up again like what we did. Funny! The concierge down there must be laughing at us, heading up and down.
    Doesn’t looks like a grand entrance to Duck & Waffle.
    Duck & Waffle, the name of the restaurant has already describes their specialty – the combination of duck, and waffle. Of course they do serves other food, but their food is pretty creative too!
    The bar area.
    Interesting bar counter.
    Back to the restaurant experience, located on the 40th floor of Heron, you can get a very good view of London. The toilet greets you first, then only you will see a bar. Weird location of toilet which made us thought we were on the wrong floor. The bar has a very interesting concept design with typography and bottles hanging at the ceiling. Heading into the restaurant area will give you an amazing view of London. Unfortunately we were seated on the west side, the best view would be the east and it was not a clear sunny day for a good view. Another interesting thing about Duck & Waffle is that it operates 24/7, so you can head over here early for sunrise breakfast!
    Me & Jin.
    Chern & Alvin.
    Group photos of 4 guys with London as background.
    Food will be the main attraction of the restaurant of course. Price starting at about £10 and being cheapskate Malaysians, we ordered a few dishes and shared among 4 of us! To be honest, the portions were really small and the stomach was hardly full after the brunch. I guess it’s just a food tasting session for that morning. 5 food, and it costs each of us about £16. Yes, it’s rather expensive, but the taste was quite nice. =)
    Here comes the Duck & Waffle. A crispy duck drumstick, a fried duck sunny egg, a waffle and mustard maple syrup. Very weird combination, and trust me, it’s good. £17.
    Bacon Wrapped Dates. The blend of sweet and salty. Another fun combination. £9.
    Spicy Ox Cheek Doughnut, with apricot jam. The least interesting one, to me. £10
    Wild Cornish Pollock Meatballs. I like this one, but there’s just 3 small little meatballs, which I find it not enough for four of us. HAHA. £11.
    BBQ-Spiced Crispy Pig Ears. I’ve to tell you this is highly addictive and you can hardly stop eating this! £5.
    A picture of the 30 St Mary Axe designed by Foster + Partners before leaving.
    There’s the LOVE Sculpture located right across of Heron Tower.

    Duck & Waffle
    40th Floor, Heron Twower,
    110 Bishopgate, London EC2N 4AY,
    Telephone: +44-203-640-7310
    Business Hours: 24/7

  • JJ’s Cafe – Malaysian Food In Newcastle

    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
  • Discovering A Small Part Of France In Big KL

    Discovering A Small Part Of France In Big KL

    This is a guest post by Edith @ www.applesonsticks.com
    As a foreigner, living in KL is not as challenging as eating in KL. My first week after arriving here I was so excited about diving into the culinary world that I forgot how all this new exciting food was really new to my body, and therefore ended up with food poisoning and indigestion on a regular basis. All that was cured with the help of a lifesaver, and even though I love Asian food, I soon found myself missing Western food, or at least the part that I’ve gotten used to in France.
    That’s where my French friends came in handy, because they have been living here longer than I have, and knew the best, yet hidden places in KL. So one fine day we went to a place called Levain Boulangerie Patisserie, which is a place located far from the hustle & rustle of the chaotic city. Quietly placed in a renovated bungalow, Levain Boulangerie Patisserie welcomes guests for breakfast, brunch, dessert, tea time, coffee, and any event that requires cake! The first meal I served there was brunch, and it was perfect for that! No need to wake up early on a Saturday, taking all the time you need to get up and to your destination, after which you get most comfortable with your croissant, fresh orange juice, and cappuccino. Although it’s difficult to stop at only 1 serving – once you enter and the fresh bakery smell hits you, with the trey in one hand and the clips in the other, you find yourself overwhelmed with choices of pastries, breads, cookies and cakes. I ended up ordering more than I could take, but luckily you can always get take away!
    If you are hungry for a larger meal, you can choose from a variety of hot meals prepared in Levain’s kitchen – pasta, sandwiches, salads, and morning meals such as pancake platters and French toast with fruits. If you are less hungry, and just in for a hearty treat, there is an unlimited assortment of pastries that will make your mouth water. It’s almost impossible to choose from all the goodies laid out before you. Melon buns, cheese tarts, chocolate chip cookies, donuts, brownies, croissants, mini croissants, danishes of all sorts looking delicious for an offer you can’t refuse.
    But maybe you’re looking for something special. In that case you must try their offerings of cakes, pralines and macarons! All the cakes look amazing, and you get to choose between Chocolate Truffle, New York Cheesecake, even Chocolate Tiramisu, and many more. Macarons come in all colors and flavorings, and the pralines are really just an endless sea of the most gourmet recipes I’ve seen.
    All topped off with a fresh juice of mango, orange or pineapple and a lovely tea or coffee to pair it with. I had one of my best brunches in this place, no doubt, and I think everyone would find their menu just overwhelming. There’s really a treat for every individual in this place, and the location it’s served in is no more below than is the food. Especially if you’re looking for a small part of France to experience the French breads again, you ought to try this place out.
  • Bangkok: Must-Eat Swensens Ice Cream

    Bangkok: Must-Eat Swensens Ice Cream

    Bangkok: Must-Eat Swensens Ice Cream – You know right, one of the must-eat thing in Bangkok or anywhere in Thailand is Swensen’s Ice Cream. Why? It’s because it’s dirty cheap, no I should say low-priced! Yeah, the desserts are so much cheaper than the Swensen’s in Malaysia and Singapore. Ice cream desserts in Thai’s Swensen’s starts from 69Baht (about RM7), and in Malaysia it’s from RM15, there’s so much difference!
    After some research, I found out that Swensen’s actually specialize in ice cream desserts and founded in San Francisco, California. Somehow, the Swensen’s in Malaysia and Singapore serves food, which seems more to be a Western cuisine restaurant than ice cream restaurant.
    So in Thai, the Swensen’s only serves ice cream, and you must just try it out!
  • Klang Valley: Signature Cake @ Thirty 8, Grand Hyatt Hotel

    Klang Valley: Signature Cake @ Thirty 8, Grand Hyatt Hotel

    Klang Valley: Signature Cake @ Thirty 8, Grand Hyatt Hotel – KL has so many nice food place to explore! I am starting to miss the time exploring those beautiful cafe & restaurant in KL already. Although they are rather pricey, yet, I try to spend it budget-ly and experience the ambience and food fully.
    So Thirty8 @ Grand Hyatt Hotel, located just right beside of Kuala Lumpur Convention, the name seems to be very ‘atas’ high-end and it’s not overly high-end as I expected. Haha. It get a bit confusing at first because I was not welcomed by the hotel lobby once I stepped into Grand Hyatt, instead I have to take the elevator to go to 38th floor, where the real Grand Hyatt Hotel’s lobby is, pretty interesting.
    At just a level down the lobby, 37th, it’s where Thirty8 is, the hotel’s lounge. Having a 360 degree view of Kuala Lumpur, the view from here is just magnificent, and you will just in love with it. Pick a good spot, facing the Petronas Twin Towers preferably and enjoy your moment there.
    It was an afternoon for my and Clarice. I think it would be even better at night, but afternoon gets to photograph easily with plenty of natural lighting, but then night view would be stunning too.
    So, our main purpose was just to try their Thirty8 Signature Cake @ RM25 which literally is chocolate cake, but it’s more like mousse cake which is very soft. The special part of it is the presence of dry ice that create the smoking vapor effect which ‘WOW’ people. Topped with caramel and side with a banana ice cream, this dessert is very sweet! Yes, I mentioned very sweet. So beware if you are not into super-sweet dessert.
    Next time, if there’s a chance again, I would like to try their ‘Straight From The Oven Chocolate Cake, Raspberry Sorbet, Vanilla Anglaise’, which is a highly recommended cake too!
    Thirty8 Restaurant & Lounge
    Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur,
    12 Jalan Pinang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur.
    Telephone: +603-2182-1234
    View Shiok Or Not : Food & Travel Map in a larger map
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