Post Raya Feels

So, 1st of Syawal, Aidil Fitri came recently and life now resumes after a very short break with family.

My sister, brother and sis-in-law and their boys came over to spend some time in Langkawi.


Cant believe how big the boys are now. With such distinct characters too. Amazing.

We had meals at many places too - home, Pizza Hut Cenang, Najjah Restaurant Padang Matsirat and McD (yes, McD!).



I wonder how much weight we put on after a month of fasting.







We mostly lounged around at home (punctuated with more food of course, it is the Salleh Family way) but it was good. Even managed to bring some Grilled Chicken Pasta Bake for the team at work which I heard was very quickly demolished.


Even the cats were happy being constantly showered with attention.


Moments of simple bliss can often be missed mainly because we often forget to look for and enjoy it. But reminisce about your past, and I bet you the world, something will make you curl your lips and smile.

Selamat Hari Raya everyone.

Out & About: Dinner at Waroeng Ayam Penyet, Langkawi

What happens when one is hungry and bored to pieces on a Monday evening.

Go out and eat, that's what!

This place is located in Langkawi Mall, at level 1. The staff are friendly and the food is consistent in quality. Good things to have in my book.

Out & About: Dinner at Haroo Story Langkawi

Decided at the very last moment to grab an early dinner with Mom yesterday. I let her decide this time as I selected the spot in our last makan-makan jaunt.

She chose Haroo Story, the Korean Culture Cafe in Langkawi Fair, as she had a hankering for some spicy food.

Upon arrival we were welcomed by the smiling and lanky waiter who led us to our table. This halal-sourced meats restaurant (a thing in Langkawi, whereby most meats are Halal slaughtered and prepared) features sparse and open style of decorating, which I found to be agreeable. A quick peek at the menu later and we had our minds made.

Barely 5 minutes after our drinks arrived, the dishes arrived in quick succession (food preparation here is usually quick) heralded first with complimentary thin triangles of Kimchi Pancake and a bowl of cabbage Kimchi.

First up was our Spicy Topokki, a rich and satisfyingly face melting stew-like dish of rice dough and tofu skin accompanied with a small cup of squid and tofu skin broth.

This dish is an excellent introductory dish to Korean food if you havent had any before, because I feel that it suprises the heck out of you if you think only Malaysians can handle chilli-spicy foods. This rich deep stew is counter balanced with sweet sliced onions and spring onions, dampening the heat of the chilli sauce it is cooked in. The rice dough is amazingly tender, with a gummy texture that encourages you to chew and hence let that amazing hot sauce do its magic in your mouth!

I am not someone who can take spicy foods all that much, but this dish is so good you would want to slowly savour it, but its spicy kick encourages you to cram your maw as fast as you can.

That broth supplied on the side is an incredible salve against the relentless spice. This genious soup, flavoured so mildly with squid and tofu works well to tone down the heat a few notches (and thus more time to finish the dish).

Mid Topokki, our Kimbap arrived. This is a Korean dish that is most reminiscent of Japanese rolled sushi.

The flavour styling is also quite similar (except for the addition of the mayonnaise dots on the plate). Our Korean host and restaurant-proprietor was quick to suggest that we use the slices of Kimbap to mop up the Topokki sauce. This certainly elevated what could have been a mildly flavoured dish.

Then Mom's order of Dolsot Bibimbap arrived. It is a rice dish of cooked chicken slices, raw colourful slices of vegetables and topped with a raw egg in a hot stone(ware) bowl. You enjoy it by stirring everything in the bowl to let it 'cook' and add in squirts of Gojuchang hot-sauce (this is one of the hearts of Korean cuisine). The resultant rice mix takes on a moist 'nasi goreng' like texture, dependant on how fastidiously stirred and turned it is. Word of caution though, this is a sizeable portion and very filling so plan on sharing it with someone.

My main dish of Spicy Beef & Vegetable Soup (Yukgaejang) arrived right after we started stirring our Bimbimbap. 

This dish had a deep beefy flavour yet still strangely light and fresh tasting. The beef slices are brought to a rolling boil and all the other ingredients added- raw veges, strings of mung bean noodle, and cabbage kimchi, before being poured into a stone(ware) bowl. Arriving at our table bubbling and spitting, it comes with a bowl of rice but it can be had on its own. I had to fight off my Mom who was scooping up more of my soup than her own Bibimbap!

Lastly, despite our already stuffed bellies, I ordered a dessert of Yuja (Citrus) Bingsu.

Resembling most to Malaysia's ubiquituous ABC, this dessert however ended being our star dish alongside the Topokki. This bowl layered scoops of vanilla ice cream and globs of orange and lemon slice jam (closest description I can manage) with incredibly smooth shaved milky ice. The result is altogether AMAZING! Cooling, creamy, sweet and sour, mildest hint of bitter from the citrus peels, and thirst quenching. It superbly calmed our palates after the unwavering assault of spicy-delish dishes.

The dishes all totalled to a bit over RM120, with drinks (Calpis Yoghurt Soda and a Mineral Water) but it is money well spent.

Coupled with the fact that our waiter went the extra mile in bringing us the food picture-board and explained the dishes to us and the lovely Korean Host/Proprietor who also always came by to check on us and shared how best to enjoy her offerings, I think we have found another favourite place to eat in Langkawi.

Langkawi Chronicles : Three Amigos!

Stayed in Langkawi for many months and never once had I really gave the restaurant a chance. It was always a maybe next time or, there is no nearby parking spot.

Today however, the was a spot merely 10 meters away and Boss Lady and I swooped in immediately.

We should have eaten here months ago. The portions are sizeable and very satisfying for big eaters like me.

The service is quick and the food preparation didnt take long at all. I ordered to start, a sharing plate of Nachos with Pico de Gallo and it arrived barely 5 minutes later as a plate of crisp corn chips topped with lashings of soured-cream, pico de gallo, jalapeno and spoonfuls of delish tomato/meat sauce.

Then our mains arrived, Beef Fajitas and Mixed Grill Platter of Chicken, Beef and Lambchop Fajitas. These were serious Man-portions of carnivore favourites on a square sizzling hot plate spitting and sputtering at the table, rewarding you with sweet smells of grilled meats and peppers.

As a Chef myself, I know that their recipe is a slight variation on the usually dry rubbed spice mix, resulting in meats that are more succulent (yet just as delicious, with the cajun-like spices) with some gravy to mop up with the flatbread fajitas. We were given 2 slices per order (we were informed one can ask for more, but 2 was plenty). If you love meats with a lot of character, these 2 dishes will surely satisfy.

The chef then dropped by at our table, regaling us with more bits on the restaurant - there are actually 3 restaurants in the same place: Indian, Tex-Mex and Italian, food uses Halal meats (and no alcohol in the food), they do serve alcohol for those who do wish to partake in beers and tipples.

I must say I am thoroughly impressed with the tastes and portion sizes of Three Amigos. Big dinner for 2 costs a about RM140, including drinks. Makes me regret not coming here sooner.

posted from Bloggeroid

Langkawi Food Quirks

One interesting quirk about Langkawi is that halal Chinese style hawker food can be very hard to find.

I have lived here for more than 40months and have not once found a place that offers good dry style Pan Mee.

The local Malaysian eatery chain Old Town Coffee does have a version of it but the taste is far from what I would call delicious.

And therefore I pounced on a bowl offered in one of the lowerground foodstalls at IPC (formerly known as Ikano Power Center), Mutiara Damansara.




This was relatively similar to the one we created in Malaysia Airlines' Golden Lounge a few years back.

And what a joy it was to be able to partake in this scrumptious densely textured noodle dish redolent with sweet, spicy chilli and salty undertones.

Unfff.

posted from Bloggeroid

Groupie Makan Time!

After long last, managed to treat my team to a nice Steamboat Dinner at Pheonix Restaurant, Bayview Hotel, Langkawi.

There are times when they drive me screaming up the wall like a skinned penguin rolled in salt (how's that for mental imagery?) but, for better or worse, they are my family now.

Much fun to be with them outside the work environment. Even greater joy to see them happy like this. I catch myself smiling wide sometimes when I think back on how crazy a team I have right now.

Onward and ahead team. Lets do our best always.

Out & About: MZ's Boat Noodles

On a whim Mak and I went to give this place in Pandak Mayah, Kuah a try. Not too bad. Deep, sweet and fragrant morsels in every tiny bowl.

The place does not offer much beyond its forte, but a few types of cakes are offered on a daily basis. Not too bad a place to drop by and slake your thirst and grab a small snack.

FB Farce

Imagine going through your FB feed and stumbling upon a post about a certain 'wakil rakyat' in Langkawi given an extra new task

So people were commenting, essentially congratulating the chap and them suddenly you reach a post by a commenter you know asking said Wakil Rakyat to impose Hudud Laws and Hapuskan GST.

Dude! Really? Seems a whole lot disingenuous to ask for implementation of the hudud laws when you partake in a lot of recreational drinks and chemicals.

Wow.

Out & About : Praha (Prague)

It was that time of year again for our company's annual conference trip. This year the powers that be decided it was to be Prague, the capital city of Czechoslovakia.

It was a long 13hour flight from KL to London on MH 0004 and after a short 3hour layover, we connected to Prague on BA 856. The lot of us arrived late evening (almost midnite!) in the hotel in the city.

The hotel itself had this old world appeal about it as it was nestled in a refurbished old building. Thankfully the inside was lovely and the rooms were sufficiently largeish for 2 persons. The bathroom was even better with a modern standalone tub nestled close to a warm radiator and lovely rain showerhead above.

Thankfully I slept like a log and woke up relatively recuperated (unlike my Japan trip, where I caught a flu). Bathed and refreshed, I had thier breakfast buffet at their quaint restaurant below. Simple food was served, just a smattering of types but each was done correctly and served properly they way it was supposed to be.

Then I spent most of the day going over my presentation to iron out any kinks.

The next day was a full meeting day for us and I must say it went pretty well. Very few negative comments and all round we noted that the company did well (which explains the Prague trip).

We had a walking tour after that, led by a local elderly-but-hale chap called Simon. He brought us through a circuit of new and old parts of Prague ending in Republic Square.

View of the Charles Bridge in the distance.

Entrance of a lovely restaurant in the old quarter part of Prague, about a 5 minute walk to Charles Bridge.

Hippie love in Prague?

I wonder how often the owners must paint the buildings. That is a LOT of work!

That is a stall near the side staircase leading on to Charles Bridge. Wonderful aromas of roasting Pork Knuckle rotisserie style! :)

View of the clean(ish) river flowing underneath Charles Bridge.

Republic Square with an automaton celestial clock.

Love the different building faces and house-crests.

Good golly, filled with merry. Tourists of many kinds, of many nationalities. Lovely.

It was a long walk (with nary a break in between) but the city was lovely with charming cobblestone roads, mortar buildings and many nooks and crannies, the way all old European cities are.