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

Eating Out @ Dubu Dubu (Korean Fare), IOI City Mall

Stole some hours for a quick dinner with Mom and Sis in November last year. Walked for hours in the enormous IOI City Mall looking at stuff and window shopping.

Worked up a huge appetite in the process and suddenly the usual fare/shops had no appeal no more. So we walked around a bit more and came upon Dubu Dubu (cute name!).

The hostess was this incredibly kawaii little lady who sat us down and patiently showed us the menu and made recommendations of what to order.

The menu had a-a-carte items as usual, but the set meals
were recommended to us by the hostess. Looks like a fair spread too.

Our set meal!

Ultimately the three of us took the good-for-4-persons set meal of Seafood Jigae (seafood in kimchi soup), Beef Bulgogi, Spicy Topokki (say it wrongly and it becomes a popular Malay cuss-word!) and Korean Spicy Wings. We also added an a-la-carte dish of Pa Jeon. Just in case tak cukup lauk. Hahahaha.

The rice was first to arrive, a bowl of densely packed rice speckled with red grain rice (reminiscent of the red rice used to make Nasi Dagang) with portioned kimchi and pickled vegetables.

Then it was the Seafood Jigae, a bubbling cast-iron bowl of seafood in spicy kimchi broth. Spicy kick, with the sharp tang of pickle juices from the Kimchi and the warming seafood broth.

Mom going for the kill!

As soon and we tucked into the rice and soup, the other dishes came in succession. The Beef Bulgogi (always choose the beef option when it comes to meats, it carries such a rich umami flavour when done Korean style) had a soft fried egg on top, complete with gloopy egg yellow (Yeayy!).

Then the Spicy Chicken Wings came and was amazingly crunchy too, despite being coated in the sticky chilli vinegar glaze. Quickly followed by the Pa-Jeon, which is nothing more than the humble egg and flour omelette that had julienned vegetables thrown in. This had a zingy, sour dipping sauce on the side. Something that lifts the overall experience from meh to wow.

Pa-Jeon!

The sharp soy and vinegar dipping sauce. 

Last came the humble dessert. A seemingly unglamorous tau-fu-fah. However, this turned out to be one of the Champion dish of our dinner. The beancurd was so smooth and silky it was like eating wet clouds. The best part, those yellow strips in the bowl was actually candied lemon peel in sweet syrup. Together the plain tofu was elevated to sublime levels due to the interplay of milk, citrus, sweet and faintest of bitter derived from the lemon peel. I had 2 bowls of this. It was SO good.

Out & About: Dinner Game of Thrones style in Prague!

Pre-dinner we-fie as the others are yet to arrive and therefore there is time to be crazy

En Din and his lovely wifey.

Power ladies - Roslina and Tim

Cheers (non-alcoholic, of course).

Our wonderful B.O.D Members with their family.

Leadership! L-R Clockwise from Middle:
En Ali the Honcho, En Zul the Money Guy, En Zai of Kahaani, Pak Budi of RHR Indonesia,
Pak Aziz of The Qamar Paka, Mr Mohan of Lanai & Sasana Kijang & Chef Feisal the group culinariste.

Pirates! Yarrrr!

Blond belly-dancer and me!

I don't know if I am happy because there is the hawt babe, or because
I get to handle a proper python! Hahaha!

Yesss! Picture with hot babe taken!

A Few Of My Favourite Things: Namoura, A New Love

Tried this gem of a dessert, Namoura, found at a Lebanese stall in a food court in near our hotel.

I am normally not a fan of arabic style desserts (mainly because of the use of loads of honey and sugar), but this one sort of caught my eyes (and belly). Ordered a portion (and shortly after, another!)

Imagine a wonderfully deep buttery flavour, redolent with clarified butter (some would argue Ghee), ab-soul-utely dripping with unctuous honey and held together by fragrant notes of orange blossom water.

Uhh-huhh.

I had to have it twice!

:)

Out & About: Halal Food in Prague

One cant go on travelling in Europe and continuously partake in non-halal meats (or worse, go Veg all the time, ugh) without serious repercussions of guilt right?

Haha.

So a couple of us decided we were to look for proper Halal food in Prague. Thankfully the presence of Middle Eastern cuisine and cultures is very much a common thing here, so there was indeed at least one shop/cafe in every street block or shopping complex.

First off was a simple Food Stall in a nearby shopping complex called Safir. Where we had these delights.

Yup, an utterly delightful Namoura. A sweet honeyed dessert of baked almond and sugee.

Brother Hj Manan tucking into his dish of Lebanese styled Briyani and Chicken in Spicy Tomato.

Ogle!!

I had a small order of mixed grill. A simple dish of skewered chicken, lamb and beef over pickles with a wedge of lebanese flatbread. I was too hungry to bother with snapping any pictures. :P

The day after, after our long Walking City Tour, a few of us decided to gallivant at the Palladium Mall in the Republic Square and have more halal meats. 

Walked around until we worked ourselves an enormous appetite. As Rezeki would have it we found this proper restaurant and was immediately taken in by the handsome waiters to a table  (they were very persuasive waiters okay!). 

El Emir, Lebanese Restaurant.

Could they be siblings? 

A quick peruse of the menu we made our minds and moments later we were tucking into really good Lebanese at El Emir Restaurant, a western styled sit down that offers Halal dishes. The food here I would argue to be even more authentic than all other I have had. 

Now, this is a proper Mixed Grill Dish. Unff!

Can you smell the delicious aroma of grilled meats over the tart pickles. Yummy!

En Ali (camera shy isn't he?) decided upon having the Lamb In Spices,
which doesn't describe much but imagine a silkier and smoother biryani
with a whole lot more subtlety. It is at once rich and satisfying without
making one feel jelak. Glorious Lamb Shank over steamed basmati grains.

Then we went back home to digest. 

The next day, knowing it was going to be my last Lunch in Prague, I went back there with Bro Hj Manan where I ordered the biggest sampling platter they had. Hahahaha!

 

In yer face homies!
That is a masterfully prepared Mezze Platter. Grilled Meats - Shish Tauk, Lamb Kebab, Raw Dried Beef, Grilled Beef Cubes, Falafel, Spinach and Cheese Parcels with Aubergine Moussaka, Tabbouleh Salad and Chick Pea & Sesame Hummus with a basket of Lebanese Flatbread. 

Just look at those glistening juicy meats. The slices of Raw Air-Dried Beef was surpassingly good, gamey, and rich and moist, despite it being dried. 

The cold and cooling side dishes worked in tandem with the warm and spiced meats. 

 

Gloopy side dishes. Yummmmmm.

Best cap to the meal, a deep, European styled dark coffee.

Our bill came up to about CZK 1100 (Czech Korunas, or Croners) for each of the 2 days we went, which translates to about Rm 170-180 for 2 persons. Not too bad at all of the portion sizes and the quality we had. 

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.