Old Rex Cucur Udang

I love Rubber Road!! It has some of the best places to eat here, Bombay Masala, Kuching Chicken Porridge, Everspring Cafe, Boon Khai (an ais kacang spot) and of course Old Rex Cucur Udang (Old Rex Prawn Crackers). Old Rex, I think, refers to the old eating spot in Kuching, Rex Cinema (where Star Cineplex is today). I remember a huge eating area and Rex was famous for its lok-lok (fried snacks). My family and I used to go there for tea after all of the girls have had our haircuts opposite the road. I vaguely remember what it used to look like, but what I really remember was the excitement of being able to choose my favourite snacks and drinks! It was such a treat for us back then! Ahh, memories.. ^_^!!


L and I went to have Old Rex for tea today, since we were in the area, muahahaha! Perfect excuse for having tea! L was hungry, I was just greedy! Anyways, we were in the mood for lok lok and a bit of ice cream or ais kacang. Ais Kacang is an icy dessert with a mixture of goodies such as red beans, sago pearls, chendol, xian cao, sweetcorn, jelly, fruits and basically whatever you request. You can have the ABC (which is a mixture of almost everything listed above) or just choose your favourite condiments. My all time favourite is Ang Tao Jagung (Red Bean and Sweetcorn)!!!


L and I had a funny experience when ordering our desserts today, I ordered my usual, and L decided to just have the plain Red Bean ais kacang. But what was initially nice and simple became so complicated when the waitress started listing out the different types of red bean desserts!! We were just looking at her with blank expressions, until I started laughing and L just gave up and said "I'll have the same as her.."!!! Haha!! We couldn't even catch everything she said, all I heard was "Ang Tao.. Ang Tao.. Ang Tao.." (Red Bean.. Red Bean.. Red Bean..)!! So funny!! So if you ever want to order, just be really specific with what you want, and NEVER try being simple! But this place doesn't serve the best Ais Kacangs, I prefer the ones served in either Boon Khai, Song Kheng Hai and my ultimate favourite, the stalls near the Jubilee Ground. Will post an entry on those places soon!

Ais Kacang!!

My lovely ang tao jagung!!



Anyways, the drinks stall is different from the lok-lok stall, the lok-lok stall is right in front, you can't miss it at all. The best thing to have here is definitely the hei pia (prawn cracker)! It's really crispy, and I just love crunching on a prawn cracker dipped in the nutty chilli sauce.. Fantastic stuff.. Other things to eat include Fish Balls, Squid, Tofu, Sausage, Fish Squares, Crab Rolls, Sweet Potato Slices, Yam Slices, Bishop's Nose and sometimes they have Chicken Wings as well. These snacks are arranged in a glass display, you just have to point at what you want and the waiter will take it out for you and put it in a plate for someone to deep fry it for you. Then it comes served with bowls of chilli sauce heaped with crushed nuts! I just adore the nutty chilli sauce, whoever came up with that idea deserves to be listed in history books!

Our heap of goodies!

Hei Pia, Fish Balls, Crab Rolls, Fish Cake!

Dipping the snack into the sauce.. Yumm..

Old Rex is usually packed during tea time, I seriously tell you, I'm sure that all the working people in the area skip work everyday to go have tea here. Even on a rainy day there were no parking spots available! Aii.. But really, this is a great place to go to for your afternoon tea, or if you're in the mood for lok lok! Enjoy!!


Old Rex Cucur Udang,


Rubber Road,
(On the same stretch of shops as Bombay Masala)

Bombay Masala

Everytime I have a craving for Indian food, the first place that I think of is Bombay Masala. Bombay's a fairly new establishment, I think it opened sometime last year, and their food is absolutely fantastic!! I absolutely love their curries, breads (they have naan!!) and their briyani!!



My family and I went there for dinner tonight, I was really looking forward to having their briyani, but they ran out if it... Oh well.. I decided to have their nasi campur (mixed rice) instead, and my parents opted for their naan (Indian bread, tastes kinda like pita bread). I chose cabbage, beans, lamb curry and ayam masak merah for my mains, and I was not disappointed. The lamb curry was so nice and rich, the lamb tender and the curry flavourful. The ayam masak merah was also cooked to perfection, the sauce wasn't too sweet or spicy, just right. I love their cook, I wish I knew someone who could cook like that! The veges were a little on the oily side though, so nothing very great there. I must say, the thing that gives you the Oomph! is definitely the curries. Definitely the curries! I had some papadoms to go with my rice as well!

My lovely nasi campur with Papadoms!

Papadoms

The naan was nice and soft, and it did not have that burnt taste. Some places here that serve naan just seem to like leaving it to bake like a cake in the tandoori oven.. and the end result, naan that resembles bricks.. The thing I like about Bombay is that they have such a huge variety of naans! They have kheema naan (naan with minced lamb/chicken in it), garlic naan, cheese naan, butter naan.. the list goes on and on and on!! Fantastic stuff! My dad had the naan with dhal curry, some veges and ginger acar ( ginger preserve). My mum chose fish curry. The dhal was alright, not too acidic, according to my dad but my mum wasn't very happy with the fish curry. She said that it was a bit too sour, they had added too much tamarind juice into the curry. I don't usually take fish curry so I'm not too sure if they usually add lots of tamarind juice or was it just today's curry. But the other curries that I've tasted, I love!





Plain Naan

Naan with Fish Curry

Dhal Curry

I had Fresh Lime Juice today! And I asked them to go easy on the sugar syrup (they have a tendency of making it way too sweet!)! My dad had their tea, not too bad! He prefers my mum's tea though!

Teh Besar (Big Milk Tea)

Fresh Lime Kurang Manis (Fresh Lime easy on the syrup)

The decor of the place is pretty much like any other Indian restaurant here, but they have an airconditioned area as well, which is great for those really hot and humid days and nights! Bombay's a great spot for anyone who's in the mood for really good Indian food!


Bombay Masala,


Rubber Road,

(Behind Everspring Garden)

Salted Chicken Noodles @ Full House

Another Taiwanese style place to introduce! Full House is a small eatery next to the Third Mile Kaya and Toast (which isn't the best place to eat, by the way). Serving a selection of Taiwanese Style dishes and local varieties, this place really is a full house during lunch hours!


L introduced this place to us sometime last year, and we have been addicted to their dishes ever since then. The only thing is that it's rather far from where most of us live/ work, so we hardly ever get the chance to go there for meals. Anyways, I had to go there to do something this afternoon, so I grabbed the opportunity to have my favourite Salted Chicken Noodles!

Salted Chicken Noodles!

This has got to be my favourite dish in Full House, the noodles are always nicely cooked, not mushy at all and it has that QQ feel to it. The chicken chop that comes with it is well marinated, boneless and crispy! And the best thing about it is that it is not oily at all! The pickles that come as a side are also pretty yummy, and it tastes almost like what J's mom makes which I absolutely love!!


I have tried their Pan Fried Dumplings, Salad You Tiao, Fried Noodles and Salted Chicken Rice. Pretty all right, but the best is still the Salted Chicken Noodles. Nothing else compares! Next time I go, I'm going to try their Special Spicy Noodles, which comes with the Fried Chicken Chop as well!

The best thirst quencher, ever!

This is Iced Lemon Tea! My all time favourite drink at every single Kopitiam! If it isn't Iced Lemon Tea, it's Teh C Peng! But I'll post pics of Teh C Peng another time!


Full House,

Central Park,
Next to Kaya and Toast.

Everspring Garden

There's this place on Rubber Road that is always full of people from the moment they are open for business. It's a small coffee shop, early 1990's style type of coffee shop situated right in front of the Sunday Market. My mum has always heard her colleagues telling her about how cheap and nice the food is, and how that is one of their favourite spots for a simple dinner with their family. We decided to go there for dinner tonight, just to taste their dishes for ourselves!

We sat down and were immediately given attention even though the coffee shop was rather full. We ordered a few simple dishes; Fried Kueh Tiaw, Bilin Stir Fried with Belacan (Local Ferns Stir Fried with Shrimp Paste) and Japanese Tofu cooked with eggs, everything to share. The food came within 15 minutes!! Surprising as I was expecting a half an hour wait. Everything was served on orange plastic plates, just like the school canteens!

The Fried Kueh Tiaw was really nice, not oily at all and full of ingredients such as squid, fish cakes and chicken. There wasn't that icky kuali (wok) aftertaste as well, which comes with the food in some of these coffee shop restaurants. Although a tad bit bland eaten by itself, but when eaten with the accompanying chilli and garlic in soy sauce, the taste was just right. Very, very satisfied with their Fried Kueh Tiaw!

Yummy Fried Kueh Tiaw!

The Bilin was rather salty though, especially when you get to the bottom of the dish. But it wasn't overcooked, there was still a crunch to the Bilin. Yummy! The thing I liked the most about the Bilin was that it was not at all oily, as some places serve Bilin swimming in oil.. The Japanese tofu was quite salty as well, and well... a bit eggy.. but these two dishes would taste really good with plain white rice. Maybe that's why it was a bit more salty, as it was supposed to be accompanied with white rice. Hmm... Maybe..

Bilin stirf ried with belacan

!

Bilin! Bilin! Bilin!

Eggy Japanese Tofu!!

The cost of our meal was really cheap as well, RM16 for all three dishes! It really is a good spot for nice, simple meals, all at an affordable price. Will definitely be going there again to try their other dishes. Looking forward to trying their Lemon Chicken and Sweet and Sour Pork! But remember that if you sit inside, you'll leave smelling like smoke and oil..

Everspring Garden,

Rubber Road.
(Opposite the Sunday Market)

Tang Ren Dessert House

I was driving to college one day and I spotted a new shop serving Hong Kong style desserts (a.k.a. Thong Sui). I was really excited as I missed all my Sesame Desserts, Red Bean Soups and Soft Beancurd desserts, so, so yummy... I always wanted to drop by to see what they have to offer, but somehow, we always ended up going to other places instead..

Anyways, L, Starcat and I decided to drop by last week to try it out as I was hungry and wanted something nice and light to eat. The store was about to close, but they said that it was ok for another order, so nice! Very friendly staff!

Just about to close for the day!

We spotted some baked puffs and since I was so hungry, I ordered a Sio Pau (Baked Char Siew Pao) and a Curry Puff!! It looked really good in the display case, but honestly, it didn't taste that great.. The sio pau was a bit hard and dry. The same goes for the curry puff. I think that it could be because it's been sitting there for the whole day or something. But I'm never going to order their puffs ever again!



Sio Pao

Curry Puff

The menu doesn't really serve a lot of Hong Kong Desserts, and there were some items that were on the menu but not served in the store.. Maybe it's some kind of daily special item or something, but R was rather disappointed that she couldn't try her choice. They had my Red Bean Soup and a variety of cold drinks like Longan and Red Dates and Air Mata Kucing. They also serve light snacks, I remember they had toasties there and some other snacks, but we didn't bother. I should have ordered a toastie, since the puffs were so bad.. Maybe next time!

L ordered the Air Mata Kucing and Starcat and I both had the Red Bean Soup with Orange Peel. L said that her drink was rather refreshing, and not that sweet which was really good as some places serve syrup as their drinks. I loved my Red Bean with orange peel soup! It was not too overly sweet, and was filled with ingredients such as lotus seed and huge beans!! Really satisfied with my red bean soup, I practically licked the bowl clean! Too bad it wasn't that thick in consistency though.. but I still liked it! I don't really remember what else they serve there, but will definitely go back again to try out their other desserts!

Chan Pei Hong Dao Sha

One thing to complain about though, you really have to remind them that you have orders, coz they forgot our red bean soups... we waited practically half an hour for our dessert, and when we asked them about it, they realised that the bowls were still in the microwave.. Aii..

Parking is easy here, there are loads of spaces in front of the store, and it's situated right next to Ting's Noodle House and another restaurant (I can't remember what it's called..hehe) which is good for people who feel like having something sweet after a meal!


Tang Ren Dessert House,

Ban Hock Road,
(Opposite Grand Continental Hotel)

Taipei 101

My friends and I first heard about Taipei 101 a few months back when we were supposed to go and have a mini gathering there. However, we were unable to make it that night, and although we had always wanted to try Taipei 101 out, we never had the opportunity to do so, until Labour Day this year.

Honestly speaking, Taipei 101 is rather hidden, so the chances of you just driving past it is extremely high. If it wasn't for Starcat pointing it out to us, we would never have found the place! The decor reminded me of one Korean restaurant that I went to in Auckland, the same colour scheme and sitting placements. It wasn't smoky like the Korean restaurant though, so that was good. The one thing that I didn't like about the place was the fact that the music was on too loud, making talking rather difficult. Maybe it was because there were not that many patrons that day so the staff decided to create a more lively atmosphere or something.. Another thing that I found strange was that although we initially spoke to the waitress in English, she just started speaking to us in Mandarin. Lucky for us, we could speak pretty decent elementary Mandarin, so ordering wasn't that tough.. It helped that we had the menus right in front of us though!!

We decided to order the Spicy Noodles as mains, and a number of side dishes which were the Salted Fried Chicken, Squid and Prawn Roll, Taiwan Sausage, Hung You Chao Shou (some sour wantan thing) and the Deep Fried Tofu. The Spicy Noodles came served with half a stewed egg, meat gravy, beansprouts and chinese chives and it was actually extremely spicy, as they used a lot of chilli seeds and chilli oil!! It practically zinged out our tastebuds! The noodles were also overcooked and rather mushy.. We ll did not fancy it much and left most of our noodles in the bowl, untouched. The portions of the side dishes were really small, much to our disappointment. The Taiwan Sausage just looked really burnt and bad, although L thought that it was pretty good. I preferred the Salted Fried Chicken, although it looked rather charred as well. The Tofu was alright, and the Squid and Prawn Roll was passable. The Hung You Chao Shou was.. sourish as I'm pretty sure that they used the spicy preserved beancurd as an ingredient for their sauce and it was a little mushy as well. I preferred the kiaw we shared for a snack earlier on in the morning.. The food we had for lunch was seriously nothing to shout about, it was that blah.

Overly spicy Spicy Noodles

Salted Fried Chicken

Prawn and Squid Roll

Hung You Chao Shou

Crispy Skin Tofu

Taiwan Sausage with a side of garlic

One thing's for sure though, Taipei 101 serves really decent drinks! I had the Green Tea Milk Tea, L had the Heinekken Milk Tea, Starcat had the regular Milk Tea and K had the Honey Milk Tea. L loved her Heinekken Milk Tea, although I thought that the taste of beer and milk tea was rather strange.. I suppose it could be due to the fact that I am not a very big fan of beer though! The Honey Milk Tea was nice, albeit a bit too sweet and Starcat claimed that her drink was satisfactory. I really liked my drink, not too sweet and it had the nice jasmine scent of the tea! Thumbs up for the drinks! I would have taken more pics, but Taipei 101 isn't much for presentation, the only two drinks that came in clear glasses were the Green Tea Milk Tea and the Regular Milk Tea.

Green Tea Milk Tea and Regular Milk Tea

We all decided after the meal that future visits to Taipei 101 would be merely for the drinks, and never again for the food! A good place to go to if you're in the mood for Milk Teas, interesting variety and pretty decent quality!

Taipei 101,

RH Plaza,
BDC Area (near the new flyover)

Coffee and Spices

Coffee Master Somerset is no more! How sad is that? Starcat and I went to Somerset one Saturday, in hopes of eating our Hawaiian Pizza Toast when we were greeted by a totally different layout and management staff! Then the cruel truth.. Coffee Master Somerset has been taken over by Coffee and Spices..

Stunned, we both decided to stay on and try it out anyways.. We were terribly disappointed at the lack of items in their menu, and the fact that there was no Hawaiian Pizza Toast!! Hai.. but we decided to try their Vanilla Ice Blended and their Nasi Lemak with Chicken Curry. Their menu includes sandwiches, and several other rice dishes and noodles as well as the usual coffee/tea/juice fare, but we didn't feel like anything else, so we both ordered the same thing.

The Vanilla Ice Blended was more like a watered down milkshake, especially when you compare it to the Vanilla Coffee Ice Blended from Bing. There just wasn't any kick in it, and Starcat and I were really disappointed in the drinks. We were hoping against hope that the food would be good.

Vanilla Ice Blended

We were pleasantly surprised when the food came to our table! The Nasi Lemak presentation was rather impressive, they were rather generous with their portions. Although the Chicken Curry was not as great as the one from Coffee Master, the sambal for the nasi lemak was really really good! It reminded us of the nasi lemak that we used to eat back in school, so we whacked the whole sambal down! Good stuff the sambal!

Yummy Nasi Lemak with Chicken Curry!

The staff are really nice as well, very helpful and polite! Thumbs up for the excellent service! Plus they gave us free cakes! Haha! We were sitting and chatting for a really long time, so they gave us cakes too! So sweet! The cakes tasted good too!

Free cakes!

The drinks at Coffee and Spices range between RM 2.50 to about RM 6 plus, depending on what you order. The Vanilla Ice Blended was about RM4.50 I think. The Nasi Lemak plain is really cheap, RM 2.80 whereas the one with curry is about RM5.5o as well I think. Not more than RM6!

I would really recommend this place for the Nasi Lemak, and I should be going again to see the additions to the menu (as promised in the menu itself!)! Ambiance wise, it's almost the same as Coffee Master, although I must admit that I prefer the layout then. But do go and try it our for yourselves, there may be more good things coming soon!

Coffee and Spices,

Somerset Gateway,
Level 4.

Magenta

My friends and I went to Magenta to celebrate L's birthday last week. We decided on Magenta as we thought that it would be nice to celebrate her first milestone in style! I've been to Magenta before and was rather impressed with their decor and the overall ambiance of the whole place. Their food is pretty good too and is served to you in huge plates and bowls (which kinda look like basins at times) and is beautifully arranged. They really take fine dining in Kuching to a whole new level as this is the only place that I have been to so far that has provided me with a feast for both my eyes and my tastebuds.

Soft Shell Crab Salad

The restaurant is dimly lit, no harsh lights that tend to hurt your eyes sometimes and is decorated with antiques such as plates, wooden cupboards, a gramaphone. Chiffon scarves hang from the ceiling, serving as partitions and kinda give off a romantic, dreamy feel as well. There is a sleeping Buddha near the door as well, although I must say, I'm not entirely sure how that fits into the decor..

We decided to just have a huge feast as we were celebrating! We ordered the Soft Shell Crab Salad as a starter, and a Hawaiian Pizza, the Classic Aurora Chicken Chop, Fish and Chips and Braised Lamb Shanks for our mains. The salad was great, I loved the soft shell crabs! Very tender and fresh. The greens were nice and crisp as well, very rfreshing for a starter. My chicken chop was fantastic, it was nicely prepared with pineapple rings on top, served with sides of salad, onion rings, a bread slice topped with an egg slice, turkey ham, salsa and cheese, as well as two dips. Very, very satisfying..

The fish and chips were really fresh as well, and served with fries, a salad and tartar sauce. The lamb shanks were braised really well, the meat was so tender that all u had to do was lightly tear the meat off with your fork. L thought that it was too tender though, she likes cutting her meat.. The mash potatoes that came with the lamb was excellent! The best mash I've had in a long time! The pizza was a surprise though, the pizza base was more like a crispy thin naan.. But the topping was really yummy, really chunky turkey ham pieces and pineapples, they were really generous with their toppings. And it was a good thing that the base was really thin, we had so much to eat!

Braised Lamb Shanks with Mash

Soft shell crab salad, our own arrangement!

The lovely Aurora Chicken Chop!!

Fish and Chips

Hawaiian pizza

I had my favourite calamansi with red plum! I found that drink in Sibu, and I thought that it was the only place where I could get it. But this time round, they used lemon I think. It was a really tangy, sharp sour, not the slightly milder taste that calamansi has.

Super sour calamansi and red plum

They have pretty efficient service there as well, although you shouldn't admire the lizard door knob too much. L did that and got a "surprise" from a real lizard.. hehe.. I recommend this place to anyone who has something to celebrate or who just feels like pampering themselves. It really is something else.

Magenta

32, Lot 141,
Nanas Road,
93400, Kuching.

Tel: 082- 237878

Takopachi in Kuching!!

YUMMY TAKOPACHI!!

I found Takopachi in Kuching!! No more longings to go to either Singapore or KL for takopachi anymore! I stumbled upon it accidentally really, it was one of the spur of the moment decisions to go to Jalan Song for dinner and I was already planning on having the mee mamak when Starcat and I found the stall!

The stall claims to be the first takopachi stall in Kuching (which is right!) but they call it takoyaki or something else like that. Anyways, for those who do not know what takopachi is, it's a round dough ball stuffed with either octopus, ham and cheese or any other stuffings that the stall offers. The balls are then toasted (I don't know what else to call this cooking method) in an iron pan and turned around constantly so that the ball is nicely browned and crisp. They then top it with some flaky brown thing and a little sauce before serving it to you piping hot.

The takopachi stall here serves two types of stuffing, octopus as well as ham and cheese. We ordered a mix and was rather pleased that it came really fast. Their version is more like the Singapore version, more dry, as compared the the ones I've eaten in KL which are completely sloshed in gravy. I prefer the dry ones, not as messy to eat!

Word of advice, order the ham and cheese takopachi. I found the octopus one too doughy, as the octopus piece was rather tiny. The ham and cheese one had more of a taste to it too, and was delightfully cheesy! As we ordered a mix, it was more of a guessing game to see who got what stuffing, and sadly, I got more octopus than ham and cheese.. Oh well..

The stall is near the satay stall at the other end of Jalan Song (not the one near Pizza Hut) and I think that an order of Takopachi is about RM4-RM4.50. We ordered a lot of food that night, can't really remember how much was what. But I will go and check again another day when I have my takopachi cravings!

Takopachi Stall,
The other end of Jalan Song.

Sugarcane with Coconut, Sugarcane with Lemon

The juicy and crisp Coconut flesh!

I've got a really great drink to introduce to you all! Sugarcane and coconut slices from Song Kheng Hai!! This is really the best combination as you get to eat the yummy coconut flesh whilst savouring the sweet refreshing sugarcane taste.. I had this drink with my friends a while back, and when I went back yesterday, we took pics of this great drink! Enjoy!!

Another fantastic combination is the Sugarcane with Lemon. It's especially good on a hot day as the sour lemon leaves this tangy taste in your mouth which I personally find extremely refreshing for a parched throat. Too bad I don't have any pics of this delight yet, but I will post them up when I do! Available at Song Kheng Hai and at Topspot, but I'm pretty sure that they do this combination practically anywhere that sells Sugarcane drinks. Don't forget to try either combination!

Uncle Bob's Chicken

There has been a huge influx on Taiwanese style snacks in Kuching now, and the latest addition is Uncle Bob's Chicken. This should be the Taiwan Zha Ji Pai (Deep fried chicken steak) that is one of the best sellers in the Taiwan night markets.

I have never tasted the real deal from Taiwan, and have only tried the ones that they sell overseas in the Taiwan cafes, so when this stall opened in Kuching, I decided to just go for it. I mean, the hoardes of people clamouring to grab a piece has to mean that it's good stuff right?

Uncle Bob's claims that their chicken breasts are as tender as drumsticks, but I really don't know as I am not a big fan of drumsticks myself. I have always preferred breast meat, so this was right up my alley!

Their chicken is basically a huge piece of boneless meat that is marinaded in their own blend of spices and coated in breadcrumbs before they deep fry it. You have a choice of original or spicy and they sprinkle your choice of flavour over the chicken before they cut it into small slices.

Fresh out of the fryer! Huge right??

The sprinkle- the- flavour tray

I have tried both and I must say that I prefer the original to the spicy, as the flavourings they use for the spicy version is rather salty. It's a really nice crispy snack, and as it's served skinless, the cholesterol content is, i guess, lowered albeit the fact that it is deep fried. The only bone I have to pick with them is that IT'S NOT BONELESS! There are bones in all the orders that I have placed! Oh well..

Apart from the bone problem, it's thumbs up all the way for Uncle Bob. It's a fantastic side dish to your main dishes and a great snack over your cup of Teh C Peng with your friends. At RM4.50 a piece, it's slightly pricy but definitely something that your tastebuds will enjoy! They offer popcorn chicken as well (RM3.00 a pack), but I have never tried that so I shall not say a thing.

Uncle Bob's Chicken stalls are located at Jalan Song, Tabuan Jaya (Siang Siang Corner) and some other food courts that I have never frequented. Go to Jalan Song (there are two stalls there!) as there's a huge variety of other food that you can try!