After a night’s stay at Semporna at the lion’s lower jaw of Sabah, we packed up our gears and took the boat to Mabul island. The six of us jumped onto the speed boat operated by Uncle Chang’s Sipadan Mabul Dive Lodge.

We were all stoked as it was the first half of our 2 day, 6 dive expedition.

all smiles except for Chan, who is susceptible with sea sickness, noob

A lot of people associates diving at Mabul/Sipadan to be an expensive affair, but with Uncle Chang’s, accommodation is at an affordable RM 60 per night including all meals, with 3 dives at Mabul & Kapalai priced at RM 260, and a further RM 560 for 3 dives at Sipadan (longer boat ride and 1-day dive permit). For those who doesn’t dive, there’s a RM 100 boat transfer fee that includes unlimited snorkeling at Mabul.

We had a bit of an engine problem half way to Mabul, so the usual 45 minute ride took over an hour, no one really complained though. We were too excited for what’s ahead of us.

giant sea turtle

Mabul and Kapalai are arguably the best spots for muck diving, which basically consist of slightly water with higher concentration of sediment, a condition perfect for many exotic sea creatures to call home, albiet with slightly lower visibility.

Our first dive site was at Eel Garden where we spent 43 minutes at 17 meter underwater. There were plenty of giant sea turtle, stone fish, lion fish, and of course, the famous Nemo too.

pipe fish, crocodile fish, blue nudibranch

After stopping at the dive lodge for slightly over an hour, we proceed to our second dive site at Kapalai island and spent a further 42 minutes at a maximum depth of 18 meters.

The dive site at Kapalai consist of mainly sandy bottom with plenty of man made corals. Ship wrecks and other structures make perfect home for plenty of fishes. There were giant grouper, trigger fish, cuttle fish that flashes colors, blue spotted stingray hiding under the wreck, and even a sea dragon too.

clown fish with anemone, blue spotted ray, cuttle fish, hermit crab

We probably didn’t have enough surface interval between the two dives as the boat transfer from Semporna to Mabul took a bit too long. As a result, Chan somehow ran out of air (while I still had some 70 bar left) and Gan managed to throw up after surfacing. I think we almost went off the dive chart for diving again too soon, oh well..

We then went back to the dive lodge and had our well deserved lunch. It wasn’t great food, but perfectly edible with meat, vegetable, rice, and fruits.

fluet fish, angry eel, upside down pencil fish, moray eel

After lunch and a bit of rest to clear the residue nitrogen in our body, we headed to our final dive site of the day, Paradise II at Mabul. There we spent 45 minutes at a shallower 12 meter maximum depth, I managed to finish with more than half a tank of air left.

Paradise II had plenty of turtles, moray eel, sting ray, and we even spotted a hermit crab. It was already 4pm by the time we were done.

Some of the best photos I took on this day came from this dive as shallower water = better colors.

the most beautiful sunset this side of malaysia

We spent the rest of the day completing our dive logs and a bit of tanning. As Uncle Chang’s is located at the west side of Mabul island, by around 6pm when the sun starts to set, the whole resort bask in amazingly beautiful golden rays of light.

They claimed this place to have the most beautiful sunset, and they were right. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

rocking it on at Uncle Chang’s Sipadan Mabul Dive Lodge

After dinner, the live band at the lodge came out and started rocking the crowd. There were 4-5 singers, some of them orphans under Uncle Chang’s wing (part of profits go to orphanage), and the man himself (long hair, white t-shirt) too sang “we are the world”. The singers were actually rather entertaining, with the girl possessing an exceptional though unpolished voice. She’d have made Simon Cowell proud.

After a while, bottles of free rums were given to each table, and the dive masters started pouring cheap red wine to us too. That got the crowd really going, in no time we were dancing on the floor and singing together with the rockers. It was absolutely awesomesauce.

The night more than made up for the canceled Killers concert.

A couple of us spent the night sleeping on uncomfortable wooden deck chair under thousands of stars at night, with sea breeze blowing on our face, and max brenner the cat on my stomach acting as an extra organic heater. It was splendid.

Tags:  chan,  clown fish,  crocodile fish,  cuttle fish,  diving,  eel,  gan,  hermit crab,  irene,  jenny,  kapalai,  lynn,  mabul,  nudibranch,  scuba

Posted by KY | 38 Comments »

I went back to Penang over the long weekends.

toll fees: RM 93
hours spent driving: 9 hours both ways
petrol:  RM 100
distance traveled: 780 km both ways
seafood noodle for two: RM32.50
having dinner with mom: priceless

Seafood noodle – pick your own ingredients

I suggested Japanese food at first, but it was mom’s idea that we go to this fish head / seafood noodle place at Weld Quay for something a bit more special.

Siong Ho fish head meehun is located within Village Coffee Shop at Weld Quay, just a couple hundred meters from the jetty, and actually quite near to where my late grandma’s place where I spent a big chunk of my childhood. It was a bit nostalgic.

Calling Siong Ho a fish head meehun place is a bit of an understatement, the choice of ingredients offered at this place is quite astounding. There’s fish ball, meat ball, fish fillet, fish head, fried fish, kidney, prawn, cuttle fish, squid, minced meat, and even crab.

fish head/seafood mee hun with all the extra ingredients, nutmeg juice

For my bowl of personalized meehun, I chose a couple pieces of kidney (they are very tasty!), fish ball, fish  meat, a piece of fish head, prawn, and cuttle fish to go with mee hun and clear soup. You can also choose to have noodle, kueh teow, or thick mee hun, tomyam soup is available too. (but no version with evaporated milk, like in KL)

Mom ordered pretty much the same thing except without cuttle fish, and deep fried fish instead of the fillet.

The seafood’s fresh, the soup is sweet, and I particularly like the fact that they have this whole container full of deep fried garlic on every table. I like my seafood noodle with plenty of those, and I think I refilled probably 3-4 times, it was an awesome idea, why wouldn’t other shops do the same thing?

mom & I having a simple dinner

One other thing that’s available here (and most kopitiam in Penang) is nutmeg drinks. Blended nutmeg with a dried sour plum, prepared in a way that is similar to kedondong (umbra with sour plum) but without the bitter after taste, and more refreshing.

Dinner cost RM 32.50 in total, and for the amount and quality of ingredients we got, not to mention the good taste, I thought it was well worth it.

Address:
Village Coffee Shop
107-A, Pengkalan Weld (Weld Quay),
10300 Penang, Malaysia
GPS: 5.411949,100.338049
Tel: 019-458 8693

Tags:  cuttle fish,  fish-head,  kopitiam,  mom,  Penang,  prawn

Posted by KY | 34 Comments »

This is the ultimate unlikely combination when it comes to Asian food. An plate of oxymoron of traditional Malay (and hence, usually halal) food with a Chinese/Nyonya twist to it. Ladies and gentlemen, please meet the star of the day – nasi lemak with mince pork sambal.

mince pork sambal, curry chicken, and that fragrant rice

I’m not sure where else is this combination available, but 6 to 10 Nasi Lemak and Grill at seksyen 17 is one of those very rare places that serves non-halal nasi lemak. I have previously blogged about their Western Food in this post (pretty tasty and rather economical), but it actually took me a while to try their famous nasi lemak. I didn’t know what I had missed for so long.

suan, horng, and “aunty” enjoying their nasi lemak

The standard nasi lemak comes with rice, fried ikan bilis (anchovies) and peanuts, sambal with onion, a few slices of cucumber, and half a hard boiled egg. You can then choose to add a number of extra ingredients, including mince pork sambal, cuttle fish, beef rendang, or curry chicken.

The mince pork sambal is the must-order, if only for the “I’ve had it too” factor. The pork and sambal combination works well, and made perfect with the fresh lime juice squeezed on it. Spicy and a tad tangy, flavorful, and that unmistakable taste of delicious pork. You just have to try it.

cuttle fish and beef rendang too

The cuttle fish is one of their most ordered ingredients too, with it’s perfect texture and spicy strong flavor, it is not hard to see why. I also tried a chunk of the pretty tasty beef rendang without being disappointed, and the curry chicken too, received positive feedback from my lunch buddies.

A plate of standard nasi lemak with one extra ingredient goes for RM 7.00, two for RM 10.50, and three for RM 13.50 or RM 14. Definitely not among the cheapest nasi lemak around town, but you do pay for quality and taste I suppose, and I just went there twice in the last two weeks.

a slightly hidden location, but well worth the drive

6 to 10 Grill & Nasi Lemak opens for lunch (12-2:30) and dinner (6-10), they are closed on every Monday and Tuesday.

Address:
6 to 10 Grill & Nasi Lemak
BG-1, Block B,
Happy Mansion
Jalan 17/13, PJ
GPS: 3.123268, 101.634489
Tel: 03 7955 4993

Tags:  cuttle fish,  horng,  nasi-lemak,  pork,  seksyen-17,  suanie

Posted by KY | 43 Comments »

When I first got the invitation from foodstreet for a food review session from Peony Garden at Kota Damansara, I did some searches on the internet and but was not able to find any blog entries. So I went to the restaurant with Eiling (who is going to give me some golden tickets) having little to expect.

seven dishes to sample, with original ingredients

As it turns out, Peony Garden serves Northern Nyonya food, which means they are actually from Penang, my hometown. The relatively new restaurant is run by a pair of siblings, Karen and Eugene Chew, whom despite knowing little about blogs and the way of cyber world, were very friendly (especially when we arrived at our common mother tongue, Penang Hokkien).

We were served the unique “green leaves drink” that is made of seven different types of grass and leaves. It tasted pretty refreshing though slightly on the sweeter side. The owners explained to us that many of the ingredients used are sourced from Penang and other states, and Karen cooks everything from scratch, the traditional way, even the sambal is made by pounding fresh chili and shrimp paste by hand.

Penang otak-otak, asam prawn, curry black pomphret, salted vegetable duck soup

We were then served seven dishes, and I recognized what they were instantly without having to be explained! Tau eu bak (soya sauce pork), asam prawn, curry bawal hitam (black pomphret), salted vegetable duck soup, Penang otak-otak, jui hu char (fried sengkuang with dried cuttle fish), and fried spring roll. These are the dishes I grew up with, the memory of mom working in her kitchen flashes back like a tsunami wave, the familiar smell, the sound of sengkuang sizzling in the wok, and how she always peel the asam shrimps for us. I wish mom was here to have this session with me.

In the taste department, the food actually measured up very well. The asam prawn, cooked with asam and dark soya sauce carries a strong and fragrant asam taste that is slightly salty and sourish, complementing the sweetness of the shrimp perfectly. The fish curry is done the traditional way as well, with black pomphret and a generous portion of laksa flower that adds to the taste. There is no substitute with another type of fish as “lemak” (fatty) taste of the black pomphret suits the asam curry best.

soya sauce pork, jui hu char, spring roll

I personally always prefer the Penang style otak-otak, and the version at Peony, though not the best I’ve had, was not bad either. As for salted vegetable duck soup, it might take a little used to if you are not accustomed to it, sourish and slightly spicy, I liked it.

Jui hu char is a dish that is cooked by many Penang family whenever they worship ancestors (don’t ask me why). It is best eaten with some sambal and wrapped with fresh lettuce, much like the way you’d have Korean BBQ meat. The deep fried spring rolls actually shares the main ingredient (sengkuang) with jiu hu char, but served with a unique blend of dark soya source and chili that gives it a pretty interesting taste, in a good way.

If you’ve followed this blog for some time, you know that I am a pork lover. The tau eu bak here was absolutely fantastic, cooked for hours to the very soft and tender texture, the soya sauce is imported from Nothern state to get the taste just right. Coupled with the original sambal, I had to fight with Eiling till the last piece, it was as good as it is sinful.

green leaf drinks, and eiling with the Peony plate

Dishes are priced from RM 8 to RM 20+, pretty decent even though the portions aren’t big. Authentic foods are hard to come by these days, and I don’t think you can get them any more authentic than here. A family run restaurant that prepares everything painstakingly the traditional way. I am sure I will return.

Poeny Garden is just 5 minutes away from IKEA/Ikano/Curve

The restaurant also host private events and birthday parties. If you like it the old school way with nasi kunyit, curry chicken, and hard boiled egg for your baby’s full moon, they do it too.

Lunch: Tue to Fri 11am – 2pm
Dinner: Tue to Sun 6 – 10pm

Address:
16-1, Jalan PJU 5/10,
Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara,
47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.150886, 101.593237
Tel: 03-6141 8323

Tags:  asam,  baba,  cuisine,  cuttle fish,  food,  nyonya,  otak-otak

Posted by KY | 44 Comments »