Unforgettable Hakone
Hakone is a quite a popular destination with tourists in Japan due to its vicinity to Mt. Fuji and its lakes. In fact, the place we stayed in is a typical onsen that faces a lake and the mountain. But before we got to the ryokan, we made a few stops at typical touristy attractions along the way.

Lake Ashi, or Ashinoko (???) is one of the lakes around Mt. Fuji and a scenic cruise was part of the itinerary. The “cruise” was barely ten minutes long but the view was breathtaking.


We had bento lunch with chicken and udon around Lake Ashi. Tender chicken with stir fried cabbage and carrots was a good accompaniment to the fluffy rice. I have always loved the Japanese short grain rice. The fried fish was a tad cold but the hot udon warmed me up.

Another stop that we made was at Owakudani, which is famous for its kuro-tamago, or black eggs. Word has it that eating one can prolong one’s life by 7 years! Apart from the black coloured shell (due to the sulphur from the soil), it tasted no different than your regular hard boiled egg. Apart from the eggs, there are other snacks such as buns, fried fish cake etc being sold here.

We arrived at the ryokan in the evening and settled down in our rooms. During the day, the mattresses are rolled and kept away and at night, spread out for the guests. I love how the rooms were almost like a studio suite by itself, with a small seating area, complete with fridge and washing basin, and the room had tatami mats, dining table and chairs, telly etc.
Another must-do in Hakone is of course to try the onsen. In fact most ryokans here will have their own hot spring facilities. Ours was located indoors on the top floor, with a gorgeous view of Mt.Fuji during the day.

Usually dinner is served in your room at the ryokan. However we were a bigger group so we got a function room to ourselves. Dinner was also in the bento form, with many small dishes. We had a small hot pot with flat noodles and some vegetables, grilled fish, seaweed salad, squid, chawanmushi, tempura and sweets in the form of jelly and melon slice.


What’s a trip to Japan without having sashimi right? But as it was not included in our meal, it was an additional 11,000, which sounded a tad expensive initially. However our sashimi boat was fairly big and could feed 4pax, and had 12 types of fresh, raw seafood such as lobster, salmon, tuna, scallop, sea urchin, sweet prawn, prawn, squid, octopus etc. Very fresh and sweet, sashimi’s indeed not to be missed in Japan.
After our good meal, some telly, a dip into the hot spring, we had a good night’s sleep and awoke to…

this view of Mt.Fuji from our room window the next morning. It was particularly refreshing walking by the lake in the crisp morning air.

We had another simple Japanese breakfast before we set off. Rice with miso soup, grilled salmon, tamago, yasai salad and another green salad.
It was quite lovely taking this break at Hakone as one can experience all the Japanese culture we’ve come to know with the tatami sleeping arrangements, hot spring and food.


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Chinese Cuisines at Restoran City Star, Petaling Jaya
I was invited by Ken for dinner together with his friends from Tour2U at Restoran City Star in Taman Mayang, Petaling Jaya during my Kuala Lumpur trip. This double shop lot restaurant owned by Mr CM Wong has a nice and clean environment with one section of the restaurant air-conditioned.
Our meal consists of several recommended [...]
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Village Park Nasi Lemak @ Damansara Uptown, PJ
If you like your nasi lemak with extra ingredients then you gotta give Village Park @ Damansara Uptown a try. Besides plain nasi lemak, they offer various dishes as additional add-ons like ayam goreng rempah, sambal udang, sambal petai and even rendang.
Village Park is very popular and often comes in top for nasi lemak, especially [...]
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Nyonya Restaurant, SS2

This is an old establishment that has been here for years and has undergone a facelift since I last ate there. Driving past the other day, decided to pop in again to see how the changes fare.

Clean lines in the interior.

This is the Gulai Tumis fish. The fish was cooked in this sour tamarind gravy with lady’s fingers (okra) and pineapple and garnished with laksa leaves, or more known as daun kesom. Piquant and slighly spicy, this dish can be addictive once paired with white rice.

We also tried the Beef rendang. Flavourful but the meat was not as tender as I would like it.

Ordered sayur paku or fiddlehead ferns which were stir-fried with succulent prawns. Crisp and fresh, enjoyed this too.
It’s comforting to know that this place’s food has remained consistent over the years. And they do have quite an array of other dishes to tickle anyone’s fancy.
Nyonya Restaurant ()
52, Jalan SS2/24,
47300 Petaling Jaya.
Other reviews;
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10 Mouths Seafood Restaurant @ Balestier Road, Singapore
Last night I had my first Chilli Crab in Singapore at 10 Mouths Seafood Restaurant – ????, Balestier Road. The restaurant was recommended by a colleague, who has had dinner there a couple of times and found the crabs there to be good and affordable.
Only three of us were so we only ordered 4 dishes. [...]
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Kechara Oasis: New Age Vegetarian Cuisine @ Jaya One, Petaling Jaya
Kechara Oasis is a fine-dining vegetarian restaurant located in Jaya One, Petaling Jaya that serves vegetarian dishes from Chinese, Tibetan, Vietnamese and Western cuisine. Not long ago Kampungboycitygal was invited to the restaurant and we (Jason and Ivy included) got to tag along as well.
While browsing the menu I was surprised to see seafood like [...]
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Penang Food – Tai Buan Porridge
Penang has a number of stall selling porridge and one particular stall that is worth mentioning is the Tai Buan Porridge. It is housed in a shoplot on Muntri Street serving good rice porridge and side dishes. This Teochew style porridge is very popular and most of the customers are back for return visits.
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Ang Hoi Lor | Authentic Penang Restaurant
A true Penangite would definitely have heard about Ang Hoay Lor and the food that is served there. It is truly synonymous with Penang’s local delights and flavour. This quaint shop located right in the heart of Old Georgetown is famous for its oyster mee, bak khi, fried tang hoon, pork leg beehoon, fried oyster and tauhu suan na, to name a few.

Limited parking is available. We circled the area twice before we managed to get a prime parking spot right in front of the shop J. The authentic feel of olden days greeted us as we entered the shop.

It was quite clear that Ang Hoay Lor has its share of loyal supporters, people who have been patronizing the shop for years. We settled on a few specialty dishes and sat back to wait while sipping hot chrysanthemum tea.

The fried oyster was the first dish to arrive. It looked a bit dark from overfrying, but the taste proved otherwise. There were sufficient fresh oysters and the spring onions added that extra oomph to the dish.

The oyster mee came next, with generous helpings of oyster, fish meat, pork and vege. We felt that the dish was slightly on the salty side.


One thing we note is that only pickled chillies and cabai burung are provided here. We were quite disappointed when we asked for sambal, and were told there was none available.

For those unfamiliar with bak khi, this (we are told by the server) is a famed Hokkien delight. It is essentially pork meat wrapped in a layer of cornstarch flour, fried and served in a thick soup.

After our experience eating this dish, we all agreed it is an acquired taste. If you like the texture of sticky cornstarch, you will most likely enjoy it.

The other 2 side dishes we ordered were the prawn fritters and the tauhu suan na. The prawn fritters were fried to a crispy golden brown (mmmm J) and the tauhu fried with suan na was indeed flavourful, though a bit salty.


All in all, if you are looking for a taste and ambience that is reminisce of Old Penang, look no further than Ang Hoay Lor.
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Bernsy @te Melbourne
Hi guys, haven’t been blogging lately but promise to blog more often. While we have moved to Melbourne, we have also started to cook a little more than eating out, so I will post some recipes of the dishes we are trying out on Daily Rantings, and perhaps I could start posting my Cari Makan and Recipe posts on Bernsy @ Melbourne.
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Tasty Pot Steamboat Buffet Restaurant
It’s been a while since I organized any group review/foodie gathering sessions and I must admit, I miss those days. Well, I haven’t been very active in the ’scene’ lately due to my other business commitments and I do hope to make a comeback, anyway possible.
I still remember meeting fellow foodies such as , , , , , …. among others. There were many others which if I list them down, would take many pages to complete. I enjoy the company of fellow foodies simply because we speak the same lingo.
FOOD.
I mean, what more could a foodie ask for? There food. There’s company. And then there’s more food. And that is why I’ve decided to organize group-makan sessions again. The most recent one was held at Tasty Pot Restaurant, in Sunway Mentari.
Did you know that Sunway Mentari is well-known for the abundance of steamboat restaurants? At the time of this post, there are at least 5 other steamboat restaurants that I know of within this area. Last I heard, there will be another 3 or more opening soon. Good for foodies like me, I thought. So much choices, so little stomach space! But when I posted this question to Wenny, restaurant owner of Tasty Pot .. here’s what she said.
“Our restaurant has several unique elements to encourage customer coming back for more i.e. a good variety of soup flavors such as Soya Bean Soup which is their specialty. There’s also Soya Bean Curry Soup which is the 1st in Malaysia, Porridge, Chinese Herbal, Thai Tomyam and also Chong Qing Spicy Soup. Besides soup variety, we are also the first to serve barbecue dishes such as seafood and also lamb. On weekdays, serve a whole lamb while on weekends, two. You can check out our lamb being barbecued at the side of our shop.”
I did check out the whole lamb being barbecued … let’s just say I prefer to eat than look. I mean, I took a photo of it … but I guess my photography skills on dead animals isn’t exactly good yet. I must say the food variety spread is awesome. Here are just some of the food choices for you to dig in.
The choice of food seems endless … with more than 100 different types to choose from. Gosh, I think we were spoil for choices. Food aside, it’s good to catch up with some fellow foodies. Some I’ve know for years … such as while I’m glad to meet new ones like , (who turns out to be an old friend too, never knew she blogs!!!) and .
I believe it was a good session as I already have foodies asking if they could come back again for 2nd session. Soon, I hope. You should check them out too …
Address
No. 9, Jalan PJS 8/18, Dataran Mentari, Bandar Sunway
46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan.
Tel/Fax : 03-5630.1282
Website :
Operating Hours : Daily from 12:00pm to 1:00am

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