Told myself I need to feature this place after my last trip to Bangkok in Jan. (Yes I’ve got loads of backlogs… sigh) I’ve been patronising this shop since the year 2000, from the time I was savaging sharks fin soup then to the current fish maw soup. It serves very very authentic Chinese Thai seafood cuisine and the fire control is so good, it makes the dishes taste like they have been glazed over the fire before they are being served.
It is started by the old aunty who sits behind the cashier counter and now her family is helping in the whole restaurant. She is also a Teochew and when you step into this restaurant, you can speak almost anything with them from English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Burmese, Teochew and Thai of course. Check out the pics below:
Signboard in Thai...Many HK magazine reviews... that explains why so many HKgers frequent this place when in Bangkok.The Chrysenthemum drink is very nice and free flow... love it...My favourite Fish Maw Soup... Thick and tasty!Oyster OmeletteAwesome Claypot Vermicelli with River PrawnsFried Kang Kong... They call this Morning Glory... but quite nice although not sambal.This is a must try... Salted fish fried rice... after trying this, you will not eat SG ones anymore...Love this chilli dip sauce... great with the vermicelli and whatever...Old Aunty and me... She recognises me all the time since my 2nd visit... Feel the warmth when I chat with her...Stairs to 2nd floor if ground floor is filled.
Rating: 5/5.
Taste: I can’t describe anymore. Just go try it when in Bangkok. Try the steam cod fish also, very nice and fresh. You can wash it down with cold bird’s nest also. 🙂
Portion: Average.
Price: The whole meal came up to about slightly less than Baht$1000 which was about SGD$44 for 2-3 pax. Very affordable good food.
RTE: Everytime in Bangkok!
Location: At the beginning of Chinatown on the right side. Yellow signboard on the outside. 457-461 Yaowaraj Road. Tel 02223-0325 02223-7341
I was brought to this place initially by another group of friends about 2 years back. I was on free and easy for the whole day before I flew back to SG, so I decided I need to get my 猪扒包(Pork Chop Buns) fix hence I hailed a cab, and headed down to the 手信街of Taipa Island.
The shop is really old and run down adjoining another shop to their right which leads to the kitchen there. Very small and crampy if you meet a large crowd that day. Weekdays are perfect and I chose to be there after 2pm.
the shop... don't ask me how to pronounce in Portuguese...This is the inner part of the shop... there is another part with the main door.Ice Yuen Yang (Ice Tea with Coffee)Birds Nest Egg TartSeriously, nothing special... Dunno where's the birds nest also... hahaPiping hot pork chop bun... This is the part when newbies will ask,"How to eat?" Haha... I used to ask that... Just find a way to eat it lah, you'll know when you come to that situation.Chicken chop noodles. The chicken is not bad... noodles a bit on the hard side.Address to the place.
Rating: 4/5. Standard dropped a little… The pork chop has a very strong ‘old’ oil smell.
Taste: Was ok. Should have ordered the egg tart instead of the birds nest one.
Portion: Average.
Price: Came up about HKD$50+. Pretty affordable.
RTE: Maybe only… Will look for other places cos pork chop buns are everywhere in Macau!
Ok some of you might be wondering why I’m writing about such a famous and grand place in my affordable foodblog. Well for the same reason, affordability lor. Reason is I do not want any of my readers here miss out a very nice hi-tea set they are serving at a very affordable price for 2. So if you’re walking around checking out the nice decorate City Of Dreams, you may wann take a break at this very nice and chill out Patisserie at MGM Grand.
The place... love the ambience.A wide variety of pastries and bunsAnd lovely cakes! Price range is about HKD$30-$40+... A little bit on the pricey side but looking at the deco on the cakes, you know a lot of effort has gone into it.Sweets for the kids...This is the hi-tea set I was talking about... 3-tiers of assorted savoury and sweet pastries, cakes and sandwiches.Lower tierMiddle tierUpper tier
Rating: 5/5
Taste: Awesome… MGM Grand leh.
Portion: Above average.
Price: If I can remember clearly it’s HKD$169 per set and comes with 2 coffees. In fact you can share this with more people. But with me around, maximum 2! ;P
RTE: Yes!
Location: MGM Grand. Walk into the lobby from the car porch, turn left and walk through all the exhibits of the lovely artistic Chihuly vases, you’ll see it on your right.
What better way to end my Ipoh food spree with a write up on the night market or Pasar Malam of Ipoh. There are 2 different night markets… one is a lot bigger scale and caters more to the general public and it is at different location daily. The other one will be near Lou Wong Bean Sprout Chicken, permanently there and cater more for our muslim friends. So obviously I went to the former lah, and if I’m not wrong, they are always at Tesco area on Wednesday nights. Just ask around from the locals, they know which day is at where. 🙂
Entrance...Lok Lok... cook in the hot water, spread some sauce, and whack... After that they count how many sticks you ate...Only one bean curd stall and it's very good... Their bean curd all comes with ginger inside.smooth and niceRM$2 deep fried chempedakMany stalls selling tako balls and taiwanese crispy chicken cutletKeropok stall with free tasting!! The fish one has loads of fish bits inside. They close quite early cos sell very fast so maybe you wanna be there before 8.30pm.Paper wrapped chicken! This one is nice.Siew mai is also very nice. Skip fishball. Big pau is ok.Taiwnese Crispy Chicken Cutlet... many stalls... taste ok only.Apom RM$1 for 3 pieces... last time was 4 pieces...One guy cook, another old man roll with his bare hands... and collect money from the same hands... but still whack lah... don't care!Asam Laksa has a few stalls... not too bad though.Fried Carrot Cake look for this guy... he uses a lot of egg and bean sprouts. RM$2.50 only.Deep fried crabs... never try but looks good...Mini burgers in bite size like oreos. RM$2.50 I think. Interesting and nice.Yes they sell these fresh water lobsters for your fish tank and fighting fish and also some other fish tooYeah hamsters as well...
Rating: 4/5, Cannot eat in comfort but has a big variety of foods.
Taste: Not bad… don’t expect restaurant quality but it’s good fun.
When you come to Beijing Lu of Guangzhou, a shopping haven for most people except me (cannot find my size here lah), you have to try this famous roasted pigeon place more popularly known among the locals. I remembered the first time trying roasted pigeon at another place in Guangzhou, I was like why must I eat a pigeon?!?!?! I have chicken, duck and goose already, why pigeon?!?! After trying, then I know why. I thought, so small, where got meat? No lor, the meat is quite substantial when you have one whole pigeon yourself. And the best thing is, if done properly, it’s very tender and juicy.
It wasn’t difficult locating this restaurant which is on the 4th level of one really old and dirty building. Just have to ask around the locals or the security guards who are around the whole of Beijing Lu. the lift is on the 2nd floor and when you take the lift to the restaurant, the door opens to the restaurant immediately. As expected, it was crowded, so I had to share a table with a mother and daughter. I looked around for food samples and then ordered what I presumed to be good for my taste buds.
The signage inside the restaurantSee how crowded the place is... This is only on one side..First up, order the tea of your choice. I just love making my own tea in a little tea pot and small cups. So traditional.The main dish appeared first. A roasted pigeon cut into 2 halves. These are farmed pigeons btw. Not roadside ones. ;PSucculently juicy and tender... love it much much... ;PXiao Long Bao... One of the other attraction there. Skin was thin and loads of fillings.The way to eat Xiao Long Bao is, bite of the side and let the soup flow out onto the spoon, slurp up the soup, dip the bao into the black vinegar, add some of the ginger strips on top and whack the whole thing into your mouth!Next up, steamed Carrot Cake. See the amount of white radish strips inside. Quite a big serving which I had a hard time finishing it...Lastly, Chan Chun Fun with pork ribs. Chan Chun Fun is like our Cheong Fun or hor fun... a bit mix in between lah. But it does not have taste on its own. It absorbs the sauce which it's cooked in. So usually in restaurants, they cook with XO sauce and in this case, steamed with pork ribs.yummy!
Rating: 5/5
Taste: Very suitable for Asians. Cantonese cooking is usually quite heavy in taste. Hence this is pretty well done.
Portion: Above average.
Price: All that including the tea came up to RMB$66 only. Which is about SGD$13.20.
RTE: Yes, this coming November I’m bringing a group there. ;P
Location: Very near Lido Hotel. At the beginning of Beijing Lu on the right side. They ran out of cards when I asked for it.
I think this joint is worth mentioning in this blog reason is their milk tea is really good. At the same time, their Tako Balls are really good as well. Found this little joint just below the hotel when I was in Guangzhou. I believe they have many joints in the whole of Guangzhou.
Long queue waiting for your tako balls.Packed in this box instead of the styrofoam ones cos will melt the foam.Yummy!!! Tako Balls! Quite well done.Milk Tea. Very awesome in taste. Right milk used.
Rating: 4.5/5.
Taste: Very nice and good snack.
Portion: Above average.
Price: RMB$8 for a large cup of milk tea. Tako balls at RMB$8.50 if I remembered correctly.
RTE: Yes if I come across this same franchise store.
It’s been months since I last updated. Apologies as things got busier since in China. Anyways, this is one of the popular bubble tea chain of shops in Shenzhen. It’s totally affordable and taste is quite alright.
Standard Store FrontMy Order Of Wu Long Milk Tea
Rating: 4/5.
Taste: Pretty good. But don’t like the choice of milk. Look out for another review of mine later in this blog.
Portion: Big cup.
Price: RMB$10 for charcoal roasted Wu Long Milk Tea.
RTE: If there is a craving… I think the other one I’m reviewing later is a lot better.
Location: All over Shenzhen. This one is at Hua Qiang Bei.
