Genting Highland weekend drive

My bf & I idea of weekend getaway (or weekend dinner or tea) is driving up to Genting Highland. My friends and colleagues think we are crazy just to drive up to Genting for dinner! To us, why not? It is less than an hour drive, we can just go up and come down and be home in a couple of hours.

We love to walk around in cold mountain air, clean crisp air...the mist..well at least for a short drive we get to enjoy countryside....away from noise, smoke, dirty air...


Misty...unlike typical Malaysian scene huh?

Today we did the same again..he picked me up about 4ish, we drove up in a lotus...ha ha trying a new car. Went up and chuckled everytime we caught envious or admiring glances thrown at the car...half way up, we took off the roof and wow...it was really nice driving and feeling the wind and the air... clean and sweet.

On the way up we had our lunch (late lunch) at Gohtong Jaya. We had prawn noodle and bought some berangan and continue our journey up.


on the way to this spot we saw a couple of mini waterfalls....


Thick soft moss..like carpet...

We didn't gamble, just drove up and whenever we found a good spot, we stopped..admired the scenery, inhaled clean air and moved on to the next spot...:-)


Beautiful haunting view..perfect for horror movie? Behind the mist - an abandoned half constructed building.

On the way down we stopped at Chin Swee Temple to walk about..nice place to walk around and to view beautiful mountain scenery. We've been to this place many times and it never fails to impress us with its views....


Views from Chin Swee temple

We left Chin Swee temple and stopped at Awana for our tea..well he had coffee and I had tea and we shared a slice of strawberry cheesecake.



And we got home at about 7.30pm!

Food in Genting? Not bad and not that great but we love to go up there for a spot of fresh air and beautiful views......and of course spend time with each other...bliss..

Bukit Gantang lay-by south bound (hentian sebelah)

I left Alor Setar on 3/1/09 (hitched a ride with my sis and her family). On the way to KL we stopped by at PLUS highway Bukit Gantang lay-by south bound for lunch. I've never stopped here before as I always thought lay-by does not have f&b facilities.....:-)

I think PLUS did a good job at upgrading their lay-bys and rest areas. The landscape here in Bkt Gantang is actually quite beautiful....sort of mini park where one can relax after a long journey and once freshen up ready to head to next destination...

According to my niece, my bro-in-law loves to stop at this lay-by everytime they passed by because he likes to buy fresh fruits sold from various stalls here. I saw ciku, mangos, jambu air, durian menggala, guava, papaya, salak amongst other fruits sold here.


images from
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/36/79713144_f7ad7b5250.jpg
http://zbintim.fotopages.com/?entry=1480460
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarmadys/Eating#5066485765287050322
http://www.malaysia.or.kr/national/fruit.htm

As for food? Well they only have 2 food stalls and 2 drink stalls. We bought mihun sup & 2 nasi campur (total RM11) from a stall called Mak Lang D'village :-). My youngest niece bought fried kueytiaw and fried egg from Aneka Rasa stall (RM1.60). I had the mihun sup and my 2 nieces had nasi campur. My mihun sup tasted not bad at all, Mak Lang was pretty generous with fishballs, chicken etc in the soup. My 2 nieces polished off their plates too (probably they were hungry). Wasn't quite sure where did my sis n hubby bought their lunch as we had to sit at separate tables as the place was quite pack during our visit - school holiday.


Images from:
http://penyapubaru.blogspot.com/2008/08/balik-kedah-punye-gambar.html
http://biggestmenu.com/rdr/CA/Irvine/A-and-J-Restaurant-1590871/Fried-Chicken-Vegetable-Rice-39193
http://www.skolblog.com/2007/02/15/velantak/

We bought our drinks from Ina's cafe - 5 drinks at RM4.50 but my niece said the cashier had an attitude problem! Customers were queing up to pay & order drinks and she just couldn't be bothered - just ignored the customers and chit chatted with her friend (a worker from the same stall). Maybe if I were to stop here again next time I'll try the next stall Anjung Selera R'tiez.

I think the facilities offered here are quite good (surau, toilet, petrol station, wakaf, fruit stalls n eateries) though cleanliness wise the hawkers and PLUS staff should work harder at it - quite a lot of flies and the floors were quite dirty.

What others say about this place:

excerpt:

Aug 2008 - Dengan bayaran hanya RM6.90 seorang, orang ramai boleh menikmati seberapa banyak durian dan buah-buahan tempatan sempena Pesta 'Jom Makan Durian' di Hentian Sebelah Bukit Gantang (arah selatan) Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan anjuran Plus Expressways Bhd, esok.
http://jkrputrajaya.gov.my/aggregator/sources/1?page=206

this guy said nasi lemak here is not bad http://rostam.blog.sinar.fm/54636

more nasi lemak fans:
http://shw.gebang.fotopages.com/19397805/pekena-nasik-lemak-di-Hentian-Bukit-Gantang.html
http://alexzander.blog.friendster.com/category/road-trip/

this guy said one need to seek permission before snapping pictures here (hmmm from whom?) http://silmis.fotopages.com/?entry=1071618

this guy saw a taxi driver relieved himself behind bushes here! http://rotikacangmerah.blogspot.com/2008/10/jam-jam-everywhere-jam.html

and this one said nice to snooze here http://dicqnie.blogspot.com/2008/01/journey-to-penang.html

and this guys kept on snapping bus pictures! http://www.forumforfree.com/viewtopic.php?p=7394&sid=6b1d6eba8a78322ff2578476e69527ce&mforum=malaysianbus

this one just loves to buy fruits http://alifaforever.blogspot.com/

can view pictures here http://www.wayn.com/waynphotos.html?wci=photo&photo_key=19217405

http://www.hmetro.com.my/Current_News/myMetro/Saturday/Hati/20080621114521/Article/indexv_html

http://shw.nabillrifqy.fotopages.com/17455154/hentian-sebelah-bukit-gantang.html

http://www.kpdnhep.gov.my/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12191&Itemid=460

http://kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2008&dt=0918&pub=Kosmo&sec=Varia&pg=va_01.htm

Dee Nasi Kampung, Pumpong Alor Setar

Alor Star views

I came back to Alor Setar (AS) on 31/12/08; my father was scheduled for a minor surgery at Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah on 1/1/09; because of his age he was admitted to the hospital on 30/12/08 and the operation date was on 1st Jan 09. He was admitted earlier because he has high blood pressure and doctor need to make sure he's fit for operation.

Views from my father's ward

However on 1/1/09, his blood pressure was 220 and the operation was cancelled. He's still at the hospital as his bp is still unstable. They'll only release him and schedule another surgery date once his bp issue is addressed.

Food? Well I love Kedah food - prepared by kedahan and cooked in Kedah :-) Had an enjoyable dinner prepared by my sis-in-law - Kedah Laksa, sambal belacan (prepared by my niece), Ikan Masak Asam (Fish cooked in tamarind sauce), Ikan masak sambal (fish in chilly gravy), sayur sawi mustard leaves) and fried fish. Simple and tasty.

For lunch the next day 1/1/09 we went to Dee Nasi Kampung (my fav restaurant whenever I'm in AS). For me all their dishes are tasty. I packed these dishes back - fried chicken with honey (my nephew loves this so much that he asked my sis in law to cook the same dish again for lunch the next day), fried chicken, fish head curry, salted fish curry, bamboo shoot curry, fried salted fish, asam pedas keladi, vegetable soup with fish balls, grilled catfish and ulam. Only RM88 and can feed 20 hungry diners! For location refer to google maps below.


View from the back of the restaurant (left), Dee's lunch spread

Malay salad spread (ulam) - top left paku rawan, bottom left jantung pisang, bottom right kerabu daun selom and top right daun putat and lettuce.

Salted fish curry (left) and fish head curry (right)

Fried chicken (left), Ikan masak lemak cili api (right)

Our lunch for today - fried chicken with honey, fried chicken with batter, chicken curry, ulam, stir fried mixed vegetable and hati masak lada (cow's liver with black pepper sauce).

Dishes were prepared by both my sis in-laws - DELICIOUS!!! Sorry no pic, too busy eating he he.


View Larger Map

Other bloggers' view on Dee's

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g298282-d815918-Reviews-Dee_Nasi_Kampong-Alor_Setar_Kedah.html

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/3/30/sundaymetro/20757111&sec=sundaymetro

http://specialgift-emil.blogspot.com/2008/07/dee-pumpong-nasi-kampung-restaurant.html

http://asiavalley.com/MalayCuisine_Wheretoeat.htm

http://geniomalvado.blogspot.com/2008/07/pumpong.html

E san Kitchen Taman Seputih

Few days back my ex-boss texted my ex-colleague NMM, suggesting dinner with his family. He invited 5 of us and only 3 could make it as the other 2 had other things planned.

We met up at TH's house in Bangsar and NMM picked us up. It was quite fast to get to Old Klang Road from Bangsar, I know that we could cross Tmn Desa to get to Tmn Seputih but tonight we couldn't find the right turning, in the end we decided to use the 'straight forward road' and headed to Jln Syed Putera and then headed towards Tmn Seputih.

My ex-boss gave quite a good instruction and we managed to find the place - it is called E San Kitchen a Thai restaurant. My ex-boss and his family were already there when we reached the restaurant.

We were served pandan flavoured water when we sat down and the waitress kept on topping up the drinks through out dinner - I don't like it. I prefer plain water ha ha. According to my ex-boss they served different kind of food from those we normally sampled in KL.

My ex-boss then proceeded with our order - fried egg salad, grilled haruan fished (grilled with lots of salt), tempura kangkung (not sure what the menu called it but looks like tempura to me), fish cakes, green curry (beef) and minced chicken salad. I didn't look at the menu but I supposed my description is closed enough to what was described in the menu.

Well...my ex-boss was right, the food was certainly different from what we normally called 'Thai food' - the dishes were on the sweetish side, I guess E San is like Thailand's Terengganu...you know? I mean Terengganu folks love sweetish dishes ..:-). But I'm sure NMM begs to differ, she's from T'ganu and she's not a fan of sweetish food.


Fried egg salad - basically fried eggs tossed with lime juice and fish sauce and topped with tomato and coriander leaves. Pretty dish. Taste? sweet...


Grilled haruan fish - big fish! surprisingly even though it was grilled with lots of salt, the fish was not salty at all. Why? they removed the skin covered salt before serving the dish. The fish tasted ok to me but the sauce (served separately).. again on the sweetish side.









Tempura kangkung - well..deep fried kangkung in batter...also served with sweetish sauce (served separately).









Green curry - the beef slices were tender, quite nice but the gravy...you guessed it..sweetish!









Fish cakes - not bad at all, chewy and we can taste the herbs blended with the fish..so far my fav dish here.








Minced chicken salad - well the name described it quite well, minced chicken tossed with fish sauce, lime juice and sugar and garnished with thai basil leaves...



Finally dessert..basically same base ie cooconut milk but with different filling - water chestnut, cendol, tapioca, yam, pumpkin and few other varieties. We ordered 5 different varieties. Actually I like the dessert - not too rich, not too sweet...

What do I think of the restaurant? Hmm...I'm from Kedah and I like spicy and hot food (cili padi hot), so I guess for those who can't tolerate hot and spicy food this is the place for you to sample Thai food without sweating buckets......:-)

I can't find any blogging about this place except here http://preciouspea.blogspot.com/2008/11/e-san-kitchen-taman-seputeh-kl.html . Better pictures here and complete with address and map.

Seafood Stall Jalan Imbi revisit

Ha ha I just visited this place on 23/12/08 (5 days ago) and today 28/12/08 I'm back here. Last visit, I visited the place with my nephew after my visit to Dr Ting (btw the black spot on my cheek just dropped off yesterday while washing my face).

Well today I visited the place with my dearest bf. Well he was not feeling well and asked me to fetch him from his house, so I did and we drove to Jln Imbi.

We sat down and while waiting for the waitress to take our order we could here shoutings from the next table. The diners from the next table feasted on seafood and just walked away without paying! the stall owners kept on shouting after them to pay up but they just walked off! Bad bad bad men tsk tsk. I guess the hawkers should demand for payment upon delivery of food...quite a lot of opportunists out there....

As for us..Well today we ordered kam heong crabs, mussles, fried rice and spinach and for drinks we ordered coconut and bottled water.


How much? My bf paid and I didn't notice how much he paid. The mussels were big and juicy and tasty...but the sauce a bit watery. The crabs...hmm don't really like it. We can taste the curry paste (not cooked long enough) and quite salty too. I guess the cook was distracted by the non-paying customers. Poor man...We tried his sweet and sour crab before, tasted much better than tonight's kam heong.

Portion quite big and we couldn't finish the crabs and we tapau (packed) it back..

As per previous posting, I couldn't find a lot of blogging about this place...strange though I noticed lots of diners everytime we visited the place. Last night we were there about 10pm and they already ran out of prawns and siput sedut (snails)...


Update 10/3/09:
Finally found what others said about this place:

1. http://cher-ry.blogspot.com/2009/01/seafood-at-back-of-imbi-road.html
   
2. http://facekraft.typepad.com/thefacestyler/2008/07/sea-food.html (with map)

how to get there - the food court is sited between Jalan Padang and Jalan Walter Grenier. You'll not miss it, from afar you can smell good food and you can see big flame when the cook is working his magic http://maps.google.com.my/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=136,+Jalan+Imbi,+Kuala+Lumpur,+Wilayah+Persekutuan+55100+