Spiced up the day!

..............................................................................................................................................................................
Short Talk:

Sighs..... I'm surrounded with mid-term tests....someone save me.....
..............................................................................................................................................................................

How do you usually start off your day? with a cup of coffee? milk? pancakes? How about starting off your day with a bowl of steaming hot, spicy laksa?

Well, that was what I did a few mornings ago. There is this eating place at Stutong area, called Fat Cat and in this eating place, there is a small stall that sells pretty good tasting Laksa. The price is reasonable too and the portion given is fair.

The shop... called fat cats... I didn't see any fat cats inside...

Laksa is a local delicacy in Sarawak, can be found particularly in the city of Kuching. It is a spicy dish which consist of gravy made from coconut milk and spices, the vermicelli is blanch and it is served with chicken strips , egg and prawns. A lime is provided to add in sourish taste, 'belacan' is given to give it a more spicy taste.

Mmmm.... smells good....looks good.....tastes good.


Yippeee.... Prawn!!

The lime and belacan that goes well with it

Not many people know how to make good laksa. The stall in 'Fat Cat' is one of the good ones that can be found in Kuching.

To top it off.... a locally brewed coffee!!

To top it off.... is to drink a good old cup of locally brewed coffee!

Chicago 7

..............................................................................................................................................................................
Short Talk:
Wanted to go for a shopping spree... but I noticed that my wallet keeps telling me insufficient funds... sighs......
..............................................................................................................................................................................

Eating outlets are mushrooming everywhere in Kuching these days. Some are good some are bad, some are acceptable. Some have good food, some has inedible food, some have good food but damn lousy service.

Chicago 7 would be a new fast food chain in Kuching.They proudly claimed that they have the best broaster chicken in town and its being done the original way. But when I visited the restaurant, the broaster chicken was NOT yet available...ok fine... I accept the fact that maybe the machines has not arrived yet. So we had no choice but to order what was on the menu that is Burgers only.

Genuine Broaster

For those of you who had read Kenny Sia's blog, Chicago 7 should not be a new name to you. They gave their beef burger some weird name. The called it Cow burger...so I ordered the double cheese cow burger and ordered a blackcurrent drink. They gave me a number and said they will send my burger over. After paying up, adorable Tee Heng and I went and look for a seat to settle down.

After a few minutes a group of ladies sat a table or two away from us, then a small family sat opposite us and another family came in much later. To our astonishment, the people who came later than us got their food first. So we thought maybe their orders are easier to make. Maybe they have not caught or slaughtered the cow for my cow burger yet and Tee Heng's chicken burger's chicken must have escaped and they are trying to catch that naughty little feathered fowl back.

Then things got a little quirky, everyone who came later than us got their food and ours seem to be lost somewhere, I was going to be late for work... damn those people... has my cow really ran off? Has Tee Heng's chicken flew away and got into someone's pot of curry?

I called the person who took our order and asked...

Me: Excuse me, where is our food? We ordered earlier on and all the other people who came later got their food and I am going to be late for my work.(*tulan face...)

*tulan means pissed off in Hokkien

Waiter: (nervous and frightened look) ... oh ok... I go check now... (runs off to check our order)

Me: *Smirks*

But... we still had to wait for quite sometime. The order came... adorable Tee Heng takes a look at his burger and...

Adorable Tee Heng: (in mandarin...) Kanineh...this type of burger ask me cook at home I also know ma....GY...&^^$#%**U

Me: *looks at my burger*... mine looks good... but my fries... so sad looking... bloody hell!!

Do you guys have any idea that the fries portion is so little... so sad looking.

Look at the fries portion!! So little....bloody hell


At least Mr. Cow was not so bad.

Cute Tee Heng: KANINEH I ALSO KNOW HOW TO MAKE THIS TYPE OF BURGER! *&$%^^&

To be fair my burger was good. As for Tee Heng's I have no idea, you guys can ask him bout that.

My Ratings for Chicago 7:

Food: 7/10
Service: 4/10 (They didn't even apologise for the late coming of our food)
ambience of the restaurant: 8/10

...........................

On another issue, totally not related to food is that I am so bored in my office and I do not have any internet connection and I don't know what to do until I started playing with Microsoft Paint. Is Started to create a few things...that was how bored I was. I will show you some of my masterpieces here. Well in all seriousness.I think it just sucks. LOL!

Now I am here, bored and blogging this post via notepad, in the office. I seriously have nothing to do now. Hahaha!

Vacation @ Kuching Part 1- The Junk Restaurant

................................................................................................................................................................................
Short Talk:
Thinking of shedding of a few more Kgs...woo hoo... diet time...lolz....nah joking...
................................................................................................................................................................................

Well after giving it a good thought I am going to split this post into a few parts. So that it won't get too long and bore all you dear readers out there to sleep. haha. I assume it will be neater this way too.

well the first night of my so called vacation was bringing both Brendan and Hans to this cheeky little restaurant downtown. The name " The Junk Restaurant" as mentioned in the name, the restaurant is really full of junks. But wait...it is not just any kind of junks, these junks are valuable junks because the owner of this restaurant loves to collect antiques and use it as decorations for the restaurant.

Antique clock

Antique lantern

Once inside the restaurant even with all the antiques inside it...there is no eerie feeling. But there is this romantic atmosphere as the restaurant's lighting is dim. Very dim for me, cause I can hardly read the menu. And when I worked there, I hardly know what I was scribbling onto my order chit, cause I can't see what I was writing.

Antique Piano or organ?...anyway it doesn't work

Well I am drifting off topic. So back to topic. I decided to settle down for Asparagus prawn and also the Aglio olio prawn pasta. Yes I know, I know why is it all prawns... Well someone likes to eat prawn and I am also a prawn lover...LOL

Asparagus Prawn


Aglio Olio Prawn Pasta

Brendan settled for the Lamb Shank and Hans settled for the Terriyaki Chicken.

When the food came, we started to dig in. The Asparagus prawn was good, but sadly the asparagus was a tad too old so it was hard to chew it. After that came the Aglio Olio Prawn Pasta. It was good, but a bit too dry. But It was still alright for me. The bright side was that the prawns were very fresh.

The terriyaki chicken was good...but the meat was burnt so it has this bitter taste to it. Hans loved the mash potatos though. I loved the Saute vegetables.

Burnt Terriyaki Chicken

Last but not least was the Lamb Shank. The lamb shank was good. The meat was tender and juicy. The sauce was superb.So I guess the lamb shank was the best dish for the night.

The best dish of the night...Lamb Shank

The drinks that night was good.No complaints for it.

So here are the overall ratings for the food that night.

Asparagus Prawn: 7.5/10
Aglio Olio Prawn Pasta: 8.5/10
Terriyaki Chicken: 6/10
Lamb Shank: 9.5/10


overall ratings for the restaurant: 8/10

The total cost for that night was RM 134.00

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ivy a very good friend of mine who works at Junk for giving me special treatment that night.

To someone special, being with you was the happiest moment in my life.

Stay tune for part 2 guys!!

Cheers!!

Dining Out: Simple Dishes

VOL: 2

Simple design, homey feeling. Who says we need to dine at posh restaurants in order to get good food?Jerald's Dining will prove my point. This restaurant is not over decorated with modern or cool interior design. It is just a small house that the yard or more like car porch that has been turned into a little dining restaurant. Jerald serves both oriental and also western dishes. The menu is simple nice and easy to read.

The whole restaurant is operated by its family members, two sons, a daughter and the parents. The restaurant itself is not very big just a few tables and it gets packed very easily. If you guys think that it comes with air-conditioner, well you can wash that thought away as the restaurant operates with just one ceiling fan. So its pretty humid, if it so happens that if that day is really hot and humid. You can guess that what is it going be like there.

Well, after checking the menu out I decided to settle for the same dish as my sister, the chicken chop with mushroom sauce. My dad and Ah Tek decided to settle for local dishes, Hokkien Noodles. As for the star of the night, my mother because it was her birthday settled for the Kung Pow Chicken with rice. I decided I wanted salad too so I went for the egg salad.

My sister recommended me the milkshake which I settled for Strawberry.

Strawberry milkshake

The food took quite a long time to come and usually salad is suppose to come first as it is the starter my salad came last! So service wise it was not that great at all.

The Chicken Chop was superb, the meat was soft and tender and the sauce was superb. The salad that came with it was good and the french fries goes really well with the mushroom sauce. My strawberry milkshake was just as good as my chicken chop. The Hokkien Noodles looks good but as for the taste I have no idea but from my dad's information it was good also.

Chicken Chop with mushroom sauce

Hokkien Noodles

The Kung Pow chicken came quite late. It was quite good but my mum grumbled that there were no vegetables that comes with it only meat with lots of dry chillies. The Egg Salad that I ordered was good too, the portion to me was a bit small.

Egg Salad

Ratings:

• Chicken Chop - 9 / 10
• Egg Salad - 8/ 10
• Milkshake - 9/ 10
• Service - 4/10

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I mentioned earlier on that we were celebrating my mum's birthday at Jerald's so here is the coverage on what we have done on that day.

I went for a haircut that day after my tuition class with Sung. But sadly the usual saloon that we visit was full and we had to try out another saloon in BDC called First Saloon. Cutting a hair at D' Saloon cost us around RM 16.00 but that day it cost us RM 25.00 per person because of the hair wash which took a long time, they lady gave us quite a massage, I must say. after that it was off to do some more things.

My hair looks way better than the way D' Saloon's staff styled for me.
Worth every penny

Later around 6 in the evening I had to go over to Secret Recipe to collect the cake I had specially ordered for my mother. I went for the espresso cheese cake. Which was just as good as the other cheese cakes served by secret recipe. It was not really sweet which was just right for my mother. We went for dinner around 7pm and when I brought the cake along with me the other customers keep staring at me again a bunch of kepo-gongs and kepo - mas.

Espresso Cheese Cake.
Written: "To our dearest mother, we love you very much. Happy Birthday!"

Sis and Mum

Sis and Tek

Mum and I

Dad and I

Then we sat down and oreded our food. After the satisfying meal I went and took the cake out, mum was quite shy. She keep asking us not to sing... well in the we didn't sing either, the next thing she said, "put one candle only just one". LOL I guess mum was just too shy to let people know her age. Do not worry mumsy your age is safe with us *winks*

Happy Birthday mum, We love you!

Cake cutting session

There was this couple beside us that kept staring over at out table... they must be drooling over the cake. LOL go get it yourself, its from Secret Recipe.

Overall dinner was great and so was the cake, Dinner thanks to my sister and her boyfriend Ah Tek.

I would also like to thank my friend Sung for lending me his wonder camera.

Dining Out : Bella Italia - Italian Cuisine

VOL: 1

There are several good restaurants in Kuching that serves good food in Kuching and also at a reasonable price. On Monday I was craving for a creamy piping hot plate of pasta. Where to go in Kuching for good pastas and pizzas? Not Pizza hut, it is non-other than Bella Italia, a small Italian restaurant located at RH Plaza BDC. It is a bit hard to find Bella Italia as it is hidden behind RH Plaza. It is juts opposite Ming Kiong Garden, where they plant the Sarawak Apples.

Outside Bella Italia

Inside Bella Italia

Il Menu

Bella Italia serves great pastas and pizza. It is also the one of the restaurants in Kuching that you can find a variety of pastas being cooked in different ways. On that fateful day I brought my two of my buddies along with me. In this way they can saviour good pastas and we are able to try out more things.

Cafe Latte

Ice Cappuccino

Ice Chocolate

After having a short battle to decide what I wanted I decided to settle on Linguine alla Marinara, My friends David and Tee Heng had Linguine alla Padrino and Fettucine alla Carbonara respectively.

My Linguine Marinara came first, I thought that it was really good, the sauce was tomato based and chunks of tomatoes can be found, the sauce was thick and taste was great, the pasta was soft and the seafood was pretty fresh, I just felt that the prawns are a wee bit to small. But overall I felt that it was good. Portion wise was fair.

Linguine alla Marinara

Tee Heng's Fettucine Carbonara was good, The sauce was thick and creamy and not too dry, the mushroom and bacon were well cooked. The pasta blended well with the sauce. The sauce tasted creamy but at the same time the aroma of the bacon and mushroom was downright mouthwatering.

Fettucine alla carbonara

David's Linguine Padrino was not bad. The sauce was definitely different from ours. But seems like the portion was not enough for him. The sauce is transparent and it is cooked together with smoked salmon, garlic, black olives and fresh chilli. I thought that it was good too.

Linguine alla Padrino

Since David (nicknamed the bottomless pit or Dapig) felt that the pasta was just not enough he settled for another pizza. But I cannot remember the name of the pizza though. The pizza unlike the pizza in pizza hut was thin but very crispy. The pizza was just as good as the pastas we had. The crust of the pizza was crispy and cheese melts in your mouth.

Pizza

I decided to try out the dessert, I have been dying to try out the tiramisu. So upon finding out the tiramisu was available on that day, I ordered a piece. Tiramisu is an Italian dessert made from espresson coffee, ladyfinger cookies as base, mascarpone, cheese, eggs, cream, sugar, Marsala wine, cocoa, and rum. It was delicious, as the you put it into your mouth it actually melts inside your mouth, its sweet and there is the taste of rum and wine which perks up your taste bud, leaving behind this feeling of satisfaction in your mouth. I have checked wikipedia for the meaning of tiramisu, and tiramisu in italian means "Pick-me-up"and metaphorically, "make me happy", but it could have a more sexual meaning to it (Hmmm....seductive or horny dessert ).

Tiramisu

Overall, highly recommend Bella Italia to all of you who wishes to try out good pastas and pizza in Kuching. Service wise from staffs was good and the food is great.

Map to Bella Italia (Not to be scaled)

Ratings:
Linguine alla Marinara - 9.5/10
Fettucina Alla Carbonara - 9.5/10
Liguine Alla Padrino - 8/10
Caffe Latte - 6/10
Ice Chocolate drink - 5/10
Ice Cappuccino - 6/10
Pizza - 8/10
Tiramisu - 9.5/10
Service - 8.5/10