Myeongdong Topokki

When we were in Ipoh, we tried Myeongdong Topokki which we cannot find in Penang.

bulgogi beef deopbap, RM18.90

We all agreed that this was the yummiest. Everyone wanted this.

fried chicken ramyun, RM18.90

This was instant noodles with fried chicken.

rabokki, RM17.90

I felt that the topokki (rice cakes) was too hard, and there were not enough pieces of fish cake.

The last two sets came with kimbap. I guess the rice sets don't come with kimbap because they already have rice!

The total bill needs to have 6% service tax added to the menu price.

Found a good Vietnamese restaurant

Good, but pricey...

My mother and I had previously noticed this Vietnamese restaurant in Gurney Plaza. It is called An Viet. When we were passing it, we saw the pictures on the menu and found that they looked good. But when we proposed it to the guys, they preferred something else.

So the other day when just the two of us were at Gurney, we decided to try it.

We didn't want a too heavy lunch, so we took a snack and a set meal to try.

grilled rice paper with minced pork, RM9.90

grilled lemongrass chicken with vermicelli, RM17.90 (RM22.90 for a set)

It looks better after being mixed up, and it tastes very good too!

The set comes with three side dishes, clockwise from bottom-left: spring roll, fried wantan, and clams in soup. The reddish sauce is to be mixed into the noodles before eating.

We liked both dishes a lot. The grilled rice paper was very crispy. But we did feel that it was very expensive! The side dishes were fairly good. The wantan were very crispy! But the clam soup didn't taste that good, and it was also not hot.

(We needed to add 10% service charge and 6% tax to the prices above)

Dragon Noodle

A friend of mine recommended a rather new noodle place at Solaria Square called Dragon Noodle.

Since my father is a fan of soup noodles, I took my parents there. They were really pleased with it.

The menu is a customizable noodle menu, where you choose your noodles and your soup, then how many ingredients you want to add on. (the veggies are not counted; they are included in every bowl of noodles)

My father took 3 ingredients: fried fish, sui kow (dumplings), and fried foo chok (beancurd skin)

I took 2 ingredients: pork slices and bursting meatballs. The colours don't look so nice because the two ingredients are of the same colour!

Besides the noodles, there are other items like stir-fry on the menu. My mother ordered a spicy stir-fry served with white rice (we could also have it stir-fried with noodles).

We chose a mild level of spiciness, but it was already spicy enough for us. The taste was very good, and the ingredients included oyster mushroom and lotus root (sliced thinly) which went very well with the cooking method. I'm not sure whether I liked this dish better or the noodles.

Potsticker

A few weeks ago, we finally went to Bei Dou Squid Snack which WW had been suggesting for a long time. He would usually suggest it when we were wondering where to eat, but then we would pick another place to eat because Bei Dou is rather expensive.

But that day we wanted a light dinner, so we decided to give it a try.

We ordered the potsticker which is the most popular/famous dish.

Basically it is "sui kow" (aka dumplings), six in a pan.

This is what the bottom looks like.

braised pork on rice
This is a simple dish, the cheapest to fill up the stomach. :P

thickened soup with coated pork (aka "bak kee" but not exactly the same)
The soup is thick with a texture like shark's fin soup.

This photo is just for size comparison. The soup arrived the first, so it was almost finished by the time the other dishes arrived.

Basically the potsticker is the best. The other dishes are quite good as well, but the price is just not worth it.

Playing tourist in Kuantan

Kuantan has a new tower. New to me, at least. This was the first time I have gone back to Kuantan since it was built. There is a park at the foot of the tower (the park existed before the tower) called Laman Teruntum.

There are some information on why the park is called Teruntum, and other stuff about Kuantan.

Even the dustbins are graced with the teruntum flower.

The park is beside the river.

Not really sure what this is for.

Looking back at the tower from the green dome.

I really don't get this "Saya Malaysia", "I am Amsterdam" kinda thing. People are not a country (or city), they make up a country (or city). I think it's silliness (and probably a publicity stunt) to say that a person is "Malaysia". There is a reason the word "Malaysian" (or "orang Malaysia" in Malay) exists. *eyeroll*

Note: The sky is gloomy because I refused to go to the park when the sun was shining brightly :P

Turtle at Sri Jaya

When I was in Kuantan, we drove out to Temerloh (my father had business there), and on the way back, stopped at Sri Jaya for lunch. And yes, as the title says, turtle was on the menu.

Looks good, eh?

claypot turtle

potato leaves

steamed catfish

It was all very yummy!

More Kuantan food

It's about time I posted the rest of my Kuantan food pics.

This satay is very good: Satey Warisan Marto Pekan. I feel that it is the best satay in Kuantan now.

We also tried Mee Tarik Warisan, which is a chain that is not found in Penang. It sells China-style ramen, but some dishes probably have a bit of local twist. The owner/founder (I didn't do much research) is a Chinese-Muslim.

their signature ba bao tea

another photo to better see the ingredients floating on top

beef noodle soup, this was very good!

chicken dumplings, not good (looking at how small the dumplings are, we finally understood why they sold the dumplings by plates of twenty!)

stir-fry spicy noodles

We also went for Western food at Cherating Steak House.

braised lamb shank, RM43

fish and chips, RM33

neapolitana pizza, RM41

And on the wall was this congkak decoration, in a glass case.

I felt that the seashells replacing the playing marbles makes it look really nice as a decoration!

Lots of nasi kerabu

When I went back to Kuantan, my parents were going to take me to eat a good nasi kerabu. Coincidentally, the Firefly in-flight magazine recommended a nasi kerabu too. So we ended up going to both.

First up, Nasi Kerabu Mekla.

with beef slices

with ikan keli (catfish)

kambing bakar (grilled? mutton)

The one recommended by the Firefly magazine was Nasi Kerabu Kemira. This turned out to be a place where my mother's friend had recommended her the nasi dagang (but not nasi kerabu).

with chicken... I think it is ayam panggang madu (honey roasted chicken)

with sliced beef

nasi dagang

After trying both, I feel that Mekla's nasi kerabu is better. The veggies are very important! Kemira's didn't have much on it. Kemira also did not have fried catfish. However the chicken is very yummy! (and Mekla doesn't have that) It was so good, we went back to get another piece. We saw most people taking the chicken too.

As for the nasi dagang, it was good as well.