Monday, April 28, 2008

Swensens, Thailand

It’s the mango season and Swensens in Thailand has come out with the most ingenius menu!!

swensens millionaire mango menu


The Millionaire Mango!!!


Yes, they’re having their very own version of Sticky Rice with Mango and Coconut Milk!! I couldn’t believe it when I saw it either! OMFG.

swensens mango boat menu


Mango Boat, two scoops of Mango ice creams and pandan sticky rice (this is so good, full of fragrance).

swensens mango boat


Add another 10 baht for the heavy cream. (comes in a shot)

mango ice cream with pandan sticky rice


I never really liked mango ice creams but these were heavenly!!! And I have never eaten ice creams with rice before either, yet this was just pure genius for me.

Wash it down with free Swensens water.

water from swensens


Or their very own berry yogurt shake

berry yogurt shake


I’d suggest the water as the sweetness of the mango ice creams will overwhelm the yogurt drink.


Rating: 5/5



Location: Any Swensens restaurant in Thailand at the moment.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Doi Chaang Café @ Chiang Rai, Thailand

I was cycling back to my guesthouse situated at the riverside when I passed by this beautiful café sitting quietly but brilliantly at the corner of the street under the traffic light.

After a two seconds thought, I made a small u-turn and cycled back to the café to park my cycle.

waterfall


What catches my eyes when I entered was the stunning artificial waterfall at the entrance. Which made me decide to take a break and enjoy a cup of drink here.

staircase


I like how the upper deck of the place is made of wood. And everything felt so romantic, back to nature sort.

dinning setting


pictures on the wall
Love the paintings


Sit here with your love one to enjoy the hustles of Chiang Rai street outside. Perfect!

table by the window


Even the menu looks so recycled, though a properly done one~

cafe doi chaang menu


However the selection of drinks is a bit disappointing. Cheap though.

menu


The desserts here are looking sinful. From chocolate cake to this blueberry muffin, ermmm..

muffins


I chose the sofa at the end of the café as my spot.

sofa dining table


And no, I did not just drink water la, if that’s what you actually thought.

I ordered the ice chocolate drink. Wasn’t that nice. But it was cheap and the ambience was nice, so I’m quite satisfied.

ice chocolate


Oh yea, don’t forget to bring your fully charged laptop if you want to use the wifi or for work.

battery charging fee


Electricity sure don’t come cheap here. -.-

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Travelling and Diet

The scary thing about travelling, is you won't know if you have gained weight or lost some.

There's no way to tell, you can be bloated for all you know.

It's a scary procedure, for those who know weights can't be controlled, you might end up returning to your home after one month of travelling gaining more than 5 kg.

Or losing more if I'm lucky, which I doubt. I did lose a lot more in Lao though, maybe I should stay in Lao for 30 days, and lose up to 10kg in that month. :D

That sounds like a healthy way to lose weight, and what a way to explore the country.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Manhattan Fish Market, IOI Mall

Short Note: Winner for the Tasting Room contest is May Yee. Congratulation girl, I'll see you on the 18th of May alright? :)


Manhatten Fish Market. I always think it's an irony. Manhattan, but the fish are probably local fish they obtain from the local morning market rather than all the way from Manhattan.

fish manhattan

Yet, I have to admit, they do serve one of the most impressive seafood platter around town.

Not only it looks good, it tastes good and very filling too.

We started off with some Caesar Salad

caesar salad


A bit of a disappointing amount, as most pub salad always serve a size too big for you to even finish it as a main course.

But then again I guess that's why it's called the starter, appropriate almost.

salad leaf


Nice salad dressing, complements the leaves. Lacks some oomph, can't quite put into words what, that certain something special that will make you come back for more. It's alright, nice to eat, but nothing special.

seafood platter for two - calamari and prawns


Seafood platter for two is a must try.

And please, do not order this if you are alone. Unless you have been starving yourself crazy for three days three nights, it's a magnificient portion for two, or even three.

firing at cheese grilled prawns


Great presentation too. Though if only there's no burnt smell if would have made things more appetizing. But hey, I'm not complaining.

seafood platter for two


Love the fish, love the oysters, love the chips, love the calamar, even the butter rice is superb.

People go for their fish and chip, I find it rather sub standard. However, I do highly recommend to go for the platters. It's really romantic if you're with your friend or partner.



Manhattan Fish Market
(Almost everywhere: Sunway Pyramid, KLCC, Mid Valley, Ikano Power Centre, Centre Point, etc)
IOI Mall, Batu 9, Jalan Puchong,
Bandar Puchong Jaya,
47100 Puchong, Selangor

Tel: 03 5882 1493

Website: www.manhattanfishmarket.com

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Pancake House, Sunway Pyramid

After visiting JCo donuts for so long, I finally took notice of this restaurant next to it. Called Pancake House, in Sunway Pyramid new wing.

Appeared to run by a group of Philippine's girls, I decided to give it a try.

What took my breath away was the Bolognese spaghetti (I know it's odd to order pasta in a pancake house, hey it wasn't my order, right Dom?)

bolognese spaghetti


It's not your traditional Bolognese, it's sweeter than normal beef paste. I love it! It's has the right texture and the right consistency of sweetness and tomato paste.

To me, it was perfection.

The pancakes were very fluffy too. Something I can't seem to produce in my kitchen.

banana pancake top view

But the Banana creamed filled pancake was nothing to shout about.

banana pancake


The ice cream was too small and the banana filling's too little.

I had the chocolate filled pancake with peanut butter on top.

peanut butter chocolate pancake


It was nice, since anything with peanut butter is nice to me. I can't say it would be fair for me to judge that this was a splendid dish. I just love peanut butter.

But will definitely go back for the pasta.

Rate: 3/5 (they have very friendly staff who sang britney spears and backstreet boys' songs)



Pancake House
LG, Sunway Pyramid New Wing (Next to JCo Donuts)

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Lao Food In a Glance

Lao food consists of some Siamese and Vietnamese influence, hence it is not easy to learn about Lao food in a day.

It is even possible to have tried most of Lao Food in two days.

There's a lot of soup and fried noodle, fruits, baguette and salads involved.

First there are a lot of fruit shakes.

banana pineapple shake


This drink of mine is banana and pineapple shake, I asked them to make it. Pretty good I'd say.

lao salad


The Lao salad. Made differently by different stalls but the concept is the same.

chicken noodle soup


Chicken soup noodle, one of the more stable dish. You can find this everywhere.

chicken soup


Chicken soup, mainly consist of raw vegetables, chicken and Maggi seasoning packet in soup.


noodle soup


Noodle soup. More vegetables than noodles.

fried rice noodle with vegetables


Fried Rice Noodle with vegetables. This is quite yummy. But it gets dull after you eat it for what seems like weeks. Everything is practically the same. It's good still though.

mix fruit yogurt


One of my favourite. Mix fruit with yogurt. Easy to make, nice to eat. Laotian yogurts are mainly very sweet, so mixing it with fruits creates the perfect concoction.

Influenced heavily by the Siamese, you can also find the famous Mango sticky rice with coconut milk here in Laos.

mango sticky rice and coconut milk - laos


However this stall made it rather differently and I find it too sweet to eat.

sticky rice


The sticky rice isn't as sticky and cooked too. I much prefer Thai sticky rice.

pumpkin egg thing


The only "odd" food I have been during my stay in Laos. Egg and yam custard in between pumpkin slice, pretty sweet stuff. Goes well with sticky rice, but comes off better as a dessert dish itself.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Lao(s) Noodles in Vientiane

Laotian food is not unexpected as it bears similarity to the Thai and Vietnamese food, and even a strong culture of the French.

Noodles and rice are the stable food in Laos, not to forget tons of baguette everywhere.

Located at one of the seaside stalls just right in front of my inn,

seaside stalls and restaurants


this particular dish was my first meal in Laos, which also left a distinct impression of Laotian food in me.

fried vermicelli with vegetables


White vermicelli sprinkled with peanuts and stir-fried with vegetables. It might look innocent but by god it is the freakishly spiciest food I have ever tasted since… I don’t know? Since since since.. since I drank that bottle of Tobaccos sauce by accident. No I’m just kidding, not that idiotic yet but I assume it would taste about the same.

It’s nice, no doubt. That is if you can handle the spiciness of the sauce.

coconut
5000kip coconut


The other very unique that sent tickles down my tummy (like really funny dish) was the fried crispy noodle with vegetables.

fried crispy noodle with pork


They weren’t joking about the crispy part.

crispy noodle


It’s like eating Twisties, without all the salty seasonings and it’s dipped in diluted salty sauce and vegetables.

I can’t get myself around to get used to this dish though.

I still prefer Twisties on its own.