I didn’t know I was going on my 3rd diving trip this 2-6 February until about a month ago.

It was Irene who mentioned that she’s going to Mabul/Sipadan with her sisters and 2 other guys, since she sounds like a crazy person who is fun to hang out with, I decided to tag along despite not having met anyone face to face prior to this trip, Irene including.

rather refreshing to be flying a non-budget airline for once

So I logged into both AirAsia and MAS for flights to Tawau and decided to take the non-budget route since the price difference was not more than 10% in this case.

RM 434 paid for the return fare, including 20kg luggage allowance, pretty delicious meal (the nasi lemak is just as good as those served on Air Asia, and comes with Ferrero Roche too).

Tawau to Semporna, at Dragon Inn

When I reached Tawau at 11+ in the morning, Irene, Lynn, Jen, Chan, and Gun had already been waiting there for some three hours after flying from KK. We chartered a van (RM 250 both ways) to our destination for the day – Semporna.

The 90+ km journey from Tawau (nearest airport) to Semporna took just over an hour. Instead of lush pristine Borneo jungle that I had envisioned, it we were greeted with rows upon rows of palm trees with the occasional village houses instead. Not a whole lot of visual treatment going on.

Semporna, at the lion’s lower jaw

Semporna is often the stopover town for divers and travelers alike heading to Mabul/Sipadan islands. Located at the southeastern corner of Sabah (the lion’s lower jaw), Semporna has a population just over 100k, with a rather tiny town center that isn’t even as big as SS2 in PJ. You could walk the whole downtown area in 15 minutes or so.

the view from Dragon Inn Floating Resort

We checked into Dragon Inn Floating Resort to spend the night. Since there were 6 of us, we chose the dormitory style accommodation for the night to give everyone a chance to chill together. At RM 20 per person per night it was really cheap, but unfortunately the lack of air conditioning proved to be a major problem not for being too warm, but for having too many mosquitos making a feast of us.

Speaking of mosquitos, here’s quiz from Lynn (answer at the bottom of the page): What’s the difference between a mosquito and a fly?

Umai – a traditional Sarawakian delight

Irene brought a packet of Umai all the way from Kuching for me (thank you very much!).

Umai is a traditional Sawarakian food that is best described as a sort of raw fish salad. A packet of raw fish (white fish) that is pre-marinated with lime juice and onion that is served by mixing with red chili, fresh lime juice, and probably some salt and pepper.

Give it a few tosses ala yee sang style and you’re ready to roll. It was actually quite refreshing, kinda like the cross of Japanese salad and Chinese yee sang but with a heavy lime juice taste and a hint of spiciness. I liked it and would try a fresh version when I find myself at Sarawak next time.

dinner at the restaurant by the bridge

For dinner, we took a short walk from the resort and settled upon the little restaurant by the bridge that connects town center and the resort. The vegetable was okay, spicy squid rather tasty, and the venison somewhat tough and forgettable.

We sat under the sky with a gentle breeze brushing our hair, waiting for the next day’s diving excursion at Mabul and couldn’t care less if dinner wasn’t exactly impressive. It was less than RM10 per pax anyway.

Next up – Mabul island.

Answer to Lynn’s quiz: A mosquito can fly but a fly cannot mosquito!

Tags:  irene,  sabah,  semporna,  Travel,  umai

Posted by KY | 24 Comments »

Over the weekends I went to Kuantan for a short trip with Sheryl. We didn’t have any concrete plan, and it was basically just an opportunity to spend some time and catch up after she’d come back from her post graduate studies in Europe. After all, it was some 7 years since we were last living together in the States.

Pak Su seafood restaurant, with the best al fresco dining experience

After spending better part of the afternoon chilling at Cherating beach sipping coconut juice, we decided to check out Pak Su seafood restaurant by the beach. It was partly due to convenience as Pak Su is located rather close to where we were staying.

While this is a Chinese restaurant, it is also halal, and there were quite a number of Muslim patrons and workers alike at the premise.

We took a table at the al fresco dining area by the beach. The scenery was incredible, full moon, strong waves, and the rather powerful sea breeze makes up for one of the best seafood dinner ambiance I’ve experienced.

fresh Canadian oysters, vegetable, butter prawn

For the two of us, we ordered a pair of fresh Canadian oysters (RM 8 each) to start. They were huge, juicy and absolutely delicious, the other other place with comparable oyster would be Kensington at Seremban.

Butter prawn (RM 20) was another commendable dish, it was cooked in the “wet” style (there’s also the other butter prawn preparation you might have had from Chinese wedding dinners, this is not the same method). The prawns were huge, fresh, and rather delicious.

To fulfill the illusion of having a complete meal, we ordered a plate of vegetable (豆苗 RM7) too. It was however, a bit too old and not something I’d recommend.

stuffed crab and steamed siakap

The one famous seafood dish everyone must try when at East-Coast is the stuffed crab. Pretty much every seafood restaurants from Kuantan to Kemaman will have this particular dish on the menu.

We ordered two stuffed crab from Pak Su (RM 6 each). It was basically a crab shell stuffed with plenty of crab meat and god knows what else, but it was quite tasty! I would order more than one next time, it was like having the best of crabs without having to deal with the whole peeling off crab shell nonsense.

The steamed siakap (RM 18) we had was forgettable. The fish steak as per recommended by our server was way too tough it felt like we were chewing on cardboard. There are quite a lot of other live fish to choose from though, so perhaps other choices would be better than what we ordered.

KY, the awesome view, and Sheryl

The service at Pak Su follows the life style of east-coast Malaysia quite a bit too much, it was horrendously slow. While it didn’t take too long for us to get our food after ordering, getting the attention of servers to start the prepare our table/ordering/paying/getting change took way too long.

Our dinner was RM 84 in total, including 5% government tax, pretty reasonable price that is comparable to KL standard.

As for the food, there were dishes that was rather good (oyster, stuffed crab, butter prawn), and some were pretty lousy (vegetable, fish). However, I do feel that this place is worth visiting even if just for the ambiance. You really have to be there to appreciate it.

Address:
Pak Su Seafood Restaurant
No.4/1417, Batu 6, Lot 922, Kg.Bahagia Beserah,
26100 Kuantan , Pahang Darul Makmur.
GPS: 3.87582, 103.36636
Tel: 09-544 8025
URL: paksu-seafood.com.my

Tags:  crab,  kuantan,  oyster,  prawn,  seafood,  sheryl

Posted by KY | 26 Comments »

Hoho steamboat is probably one of the earliest “pulau ketam” type steamboat in town, it has been operating for so long that Kim said her parents actually dated there. It is then safe to say that this place has been in operation for well over two decades.

Hoho steamboat, established since forever

Housed at the same premise as the pretty well known Ipoh Road Yong Tau Foo at Segambut just a stone’s throw away from the intersection of Jalan Kuching and Jalan Duta, the restaurant is converted from a former Bungalow with ample parking space. There are tables inside the building, under the tin roof (with fans and ample lights), as well as under the moon light. The usual ingredients for pulau ketam style steamboat.

steamboat set, deep fried dumplings, bacon strips

Most of the porkgang and two extra guests braced the traffic last Friday evening for a good steamboat meal thanks to the suggestion by Cheesie.

For the eleven of us, we ordered steamboat set for nine pax that includes dumplings, pork balls, fish balls, fish noodle, tofu, prawns, vegetable, tofu skin, eggs, noodles (yee mee), mee hun, quail’s eggs, and fish cubes.

Kim and Cheesie doing the hardwork

We added a couple plates of deep fried dumplings to munch while waiting for the soup to boil, and they are actually rather delicious.

Other extra orders we had were clams (to make the soup sweeter), quail’s eggs (cos Eric has low cholesterol), and of course, extra pork balls and some raw bacon. Hoho is one of the very few steamboat places that offers bacon strips, the concept is a bit new to me as I usually like my bacon fried, but the boiled version is actually pretty nice too.

Haze is a very happy girl. Jac doing the “cooking”

Due to a bit of miscommunication, we ordered both tomyam and clear soup for our pot. While the tomyam soup turned out to be pretty tasty, I usually prefer to have only the clear soup. Having the pot split down the middle with two soup base that has very different tastes is usually not a great idea as they tend to mix up quite a bit when boiling.

The sambal supplied by Hoho steamboat is rather potent and fragrant too. To me a pulau ketam steamboat is never complete without good sambal, and this place does not disappoint when it comes to that.

Though not the absolute best out there, the combination of price (less than RM 25/pax with drinks), taste, and experience does make Hoho steamboat a place worth visiting. By the way, they have the best URL too: steamboat.com.my

Address:
Hoho Steamboat
67, Jalan Segambut,
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.180645, 101.677523
Tel: +603-6252 6473

Tags:  cheesie,  dumpling,  eric,  gareth,  haze,  horng,  jaclyn,  kerol,  kimberly,  pork,  Steamboat,  suching,  taka

Posted by KY | 28 Comments »

When it comes to Japanese food, you can’t really find a higher concentration of restaurants than Hartamas and Subang SS15. With the former, there’s at least quite a big community of Japanese expats living around Mont Kiara area, but with Subang, well, there isn’t an easy explanation.

It just seems like there are more and more new Japanese restaurants opening at the area every year, Jyu Raku being one of the newest kids on the block that already packed no less than some half a dozen outlets.

Jyu Raku, with classy deco and a rather extensive menu

Incidentally, the first Japanese restaurant I blogged about all the way back in 2005 was Rakuzen, situated right next door to Jyu Raku. In fact, it was the former Japanese head chef from Rakuzen that opened this restaurant.

an extensive sushi bar with grilling area at Jyu Raku

You can really see the resemblance in the menu as well as the restaurant layout between Ryu Raku and Rakuzen. An extensive sushi bar with grilling area connected to the kitchen, about half a dozen tables on the ground floor, and bigger dining area on first floor as well as a couple private rooms.

Photos you see from this blog post were taken from two separate visits, but I have been to Jyu Raku probably at least half a dozen time since. Quality of food has been pretty excellent, and there is a wide selection of dishes to choose from.

sashimi, jyu raku roll, Sheryl

The sashimi (kame, RM 48) has always been very fresh and served with grated wasabi. Wasabi makes a heck of a difference when it comes to enjoying sashimi, and once you had freshly grated wasabi to go with the raw fish, there’s no turning back.

Their signature Jyu Raku roll (RM 28) is something not to be missed too, unagi, prawn, and sashimi and lettuce wrapped with a very thin piece of cucumber and topped with salmon roe. Really luxurious and positively delicious.

ebi maki, cha soba, gyu tan, and that grated wasabi

The cha soba (cold green tea noodle) here is as good as anywhere, smooth silky, and absolutely delightful especially on a hot day.

One of my favorite parts of cow – the tongue, is served at Jyu Raku too. The tongue has a slightly firmer but smoother texture compared to meat, and carries a slightly different taste to it that to me, equals some of the best cuts of meat. A place for cheap gyu tan is at Daidomon (buffet style), but quality aren’t as good as Jyu Raku.

Cheesie with her mentaiko (marinated pollock roe)

Mentaiko, or marinated pollock roe, is available on the menu but somehow aren’t available most of the time. The Ebi Mentai goes for RM 15, but when Cheesie asked for a bowl of mentai without the prawn, the restaurant obliged too. Mentaiko is quite a lot smoother than the more common ebiko (shrimp roe), and usually has a bit of a spicy kick to it. I love it.

cold inaniwa udon, beef with shimeji mushroom, green tea ice cream

Other dishes I’ve tried here include the inaniwa udon that is consumed much like cha soba, but a lot more subtle in taste (doesn’t come with wasabi). Beef with shimeji mushroom was pretty delicious too, but I’d imagine if we had ordered wagyu instead, it’d be even better, but alas, I don’t have a limitless wallet.

Jyu Raku is located right across from SJMC

Since the menu is rather extensive, there’s quite a lot more that I haven’t tried from Jyu Raku, yakimono, kushiyaki (skewed grill) wagyu, salad, and so forth. Those that I tried hasn’t been disappointing, but according to masak-masak, the tempura should be avoided though.

Address:
Jyu Raku
13, Jln SS15/5A
47500 Subang Jaya
Selangor
GPS: 3.074770, 101.586370
Tel: 03-5633 3819

Tags:  beef,  cheesie,  Japanese,  mentaiko,  sashimi,  sheryl,  soba,  subang,  udon

Posted by KY | 30 Comments »

When #porkgang was first initiated, we met each other almost exclusively only over dinners, and there were almost always pork involved. One of our earliest dinner meet was at Ribs@Oasis. This happened late last year, but I had somehow forgotten to process the photos until now.

Better late than never anyway.

Ribs serves a variety of Western food with a strong dosage of swine, just the way we like it. Situated just a couple minutes away from 1-Utama shopping complex, parking spaces aren’t hard to come by. However, getting there can prove to be a bit of a hassle on weekday evenings due to traffic.

Seating areas are mostly indoor, but there are limited tables near the sidewalk for those who prefers alfresco dining.

grilled pork loin chops

Anyway, lets get on with the food.

My eyes were fixated on the grilled pork lion chops (RM 30.50) when I saw it on the menu. It simply says “Chef Lee’s special recipe, served with braised cabbage and tangy apple sauce”

When the pork chop came, it did not disappoint at all. A huge slab of pork with a layer of fat around the edge, grilled to perfection with the fatty layer glistering and the leaner part still juicy, add a bit of that apple sauce, perfecto. I’d order it again on my next trip, no question.

grilled ribs, deep fried pork chunks, pan fried butter fish

Since the name of the restaurant is called Ribs, it goes without saying that we had to give it a try. Kim ordered a big slab of grilled belly Oriental pork ribs (RM 32.90) that came sitting on a generous serving of mash potato. I took a bite, and while it was pretty good, it wans’ t really overly impressive to be honest.

The deep fried pork chunks (RM 12.50) though, was really awesome and would serve as perfect beer food. The taste a little similar to the deep fried “nam yu” pork from Pan Heong at Batu Caves, but slightly more batter and crunchier, it was really good.

One of the ladies ordered the pan fried butter fish (RM 21.90) instead of something porky and gave the dish a huge thumbs up. Good to know Ribs@Oasis knows how to please your friend who wants to maintain her figure.

Eric, Horny, and Gareth ordered the bacon pork & reverse pork burgers

Then there are the pork burgers.

Ribs@Oasis offers quite a few types of pork burgers.  The usual, with bacon, with grilled pineapple, or if you so prefer, the ultimate reverse pork burger too (RM 20-29.90).

The shiny bacon, caramalized pineapple, and that big juicy home made pork patty ought to make any pork burger lover droll like a hungry puppies. Gareth rated this as good as the Cristang’s pork burger but totally different at the same time, with a completely different taste and texture too, but equally agreeable to the taste buds.

banana fritters, ice cream, molten chocolate cake with haagan daaz

Then there’s the desserts. I can never really understand the idea of over stuffing yourself at dinner, and yet still order desserts, but apparently suanie , jaclyn, cheesie, and kim do, and that’s why they ordered desserts.

The ice creams were from Haagan Daaz, and hence they were pretty good. I had a bite of the banana fritters and found it to be too huge, it was not exactly great. The molten chocolate cake though, was quite delicious. Forgot how much they were priced, but I remember them to be pretty reasonable.

founding members of porkgang, and 2 of horng’s lady friends

Ironically, the ribs at Ribs@Oasis might not be the dish to order, but the other pork dishes – especially the pork chop and burgers, does make the place worth a visit or three despite the traffic.

We had wanted to hang out at the place a tad longer, but unfortunately they observe the “normal” closing time by around 10 ish at night. I’d wish they open later and sell more drinks though.

Address:
Ribs@Oasis
2 Tengkat Bandar Utama,
1-1 BU4 Oasis Complex,
Petaling Jaya, SELANGOR 47800‎
GPS: 3.150219, 101.609912
Tel: 03-7729 8921‎

Xpax adverts

For you Xpax, U.O.X./S.O.X. users out there, have you  heard about the Big Freekin’ Sale yet? From 11 Jan till 31 March 2010, the offers include 50% off calls, 50% off downloads, and free blackberry access weekends (I talked about it on this post)

Now lets look at the comparison on the rates you get during the sales period and some other telco.

Calls within the network as low as 19 and 7.5 sen per minute from 10pm-10am, whereas the cheapest from the other three providers is at 30 sen per minute. For Friends & Family within the same network, calls from the same time period are only 5 and 6 sen per minute, with the other providers pricing it at 15 sen per minute.  Don’t miss out! For more details check out the Big Freekin’ Sale site.

Just in case you forgot, the Free Blackberry Access Weekends work this way:

• Monday to Friday, reload the unlimited BB 250 plan for RM 2.50 per day
• Saturday and Sunday – FREE!

It is that simple.

Tags:  burger,  cheesie,  eric,  gareth,  horng,  jaclyn,  kimberly,  pork,  pork chop,  ribs,  suanie

Posted by KY | 27 Comments »