Equatorial Themed Buffets - Countdown to Christmas and Celebrating Good Times.

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Countdown to Christmas (Please click on picture above to view clearly)

Celebrating Good Times (Please click on picture above to view clearly)

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Better known as Lang Sae Lee Thai Food among bloggers. This home based Thai Restaurant is strongly recommended by Lingzie and Allie. My first visit was a couple of months ago, when I brought my colleagues to Lang Sae Lee for dinner. All of us enjoyed the food alot despite the long wait.

This time I made early reservations by booking 2 days ahead to avoid super long wait. Although early reservation, I think Madam Lee must have scolded behind the phone for calling another 2 times to add the number of people. From 6, it became 9 then 11 :P

It was low tide on that day so the mud smell can be quite tough on the nose. After some time we all got used to it.

Try to be there early so you can pick wherever you want to sit :D The diners in the picture above were the only customers there at that time (about 7.30pm). I never knew the back area is so huge haha!

This is where they prepare the drinks and kitchen is behind. We placed our orders first while waiting for the others to arrive. Shortly after the uncle who took our orders left, 2 huge groups of people walked in. Timing is so important LOL

I like the fact that they provide photo albums as their menu. Made everything straight to the point. Either you like the dish or move on to the next. No fancy words or descriptions.
Dinner starts off with Fish Cakes. We ordered 10 pieces.

I never tried fish cakes with kaffir lime leaves in it. Definitely something new for me.

Thai Fish Cakes cannot go without Thai Chilli sauce...We all enjoyed munching the fish cake and to my surprise, next dish was served. Service was pretty swift that day...

Ok...I need to clarify something here. This plate of Belacan Fried Rice (above) is for 2 person O.o

I skipped the cili padi of course. Sambal belacan was packed with belacan flavour and chilli but too spicy for me. One small dot on my tongue was enough to make me finish half glass of ice cold herbal tea.

I just love the braised meat which came with the fried rice. Slightly sweetish savoury and soft. Not sure what herbs or spices they add while braising the meat. All I know, it just keeps you shoving the rice and meat into your mouth. So hard to find good Belacan Fried Rice these days...

Then came the Fried Kangkung and Enoki Mushrooms. A bit oily for me but it sure goes well with rice. Crispy all the way....

Sotong Kerabu is my favourite item and I order it whenever its available on the menu. Lang Sae Lee's Sotong Kerabu is not overly sour and served with tons of onions and Chinese Parsley leaves. Fish sauce provides just the right amount of saltiness. Squid was nicely cooked and not rubbery. Good for me as I love onions :D *burps...*opps...If you didn't realise, they give out generous portions of fresh sliced onions for other dishes.

Sambal Asparagus was surprisingly good. Seriously. That day, the asparagus served was tender and had no bitter aftertaste. Also, the sambal was not too spicy. Goes really well with white rice...

Next up, Green Curry. I personally find the green curry was quite salty and the herbs used in making the green curry paste wasn't sufficient. In addition to that, curry's texture was slightly watery. I would prefer Siam Express' Green Curry as its thicker, more lemak and has stronger herbs taste.

Otak was not bad but another dish which is considered spicy for me. Strong thai basil and kaffir lime leaves flavour. I would give it an A if the whole thing is filled with what you see in the picture above. FYI, the bottom layer was cabbage. There could only be 2 reasons for this. Either to keep the cost balanced or to make the dish less lemak with the greens.

We ordered 10 pieces of Pandan Chicken too. The fried pandan leaves certainly smells great when it was served. While opening the chicken wrapping, I find the leaves sticks to the chicken and its quite dry. I haven't eaten Pandan Chicken for a very long time. Are they suppose to be like that? Anyway, nothing spectacular about this dish. Thinking back on their menu, I am actually looking forward to try their Stuffed Chicken Wing.

We ordered Red Tom Yam since everyone is more used to this version. Flavourful, sour and spicy. The tom yam was spicier than the one I had previously. Spicy but I love it ;) The tom yam served in Lang Sae Lee is definitely similar to the one I had in Phuket many years ago.

We ordered alot right? We ordered an extra portion for some of the dishes since its 11 people. Total damage, RM190.50 and whatever the receipt has on it, I think we can trust them. Cheap? Not really as the portions are small. Expensive? I don't think we can get authentic Thai Food at that price with that kind of sea view.

Lang Sae Lee Thai Food
Tan Jetty, Weld Quay, Penang
97A, Tan Jetty, Weld Quay, 10300 Penang, Malaysia.
GPS: 5.411565, 100.339195
Tel: 014-907 1808 (Madam Lee)

Note by Malaysia Most Wanted: 11am-10pm (It’s better to call Mdm Lee ahead of time to check if she’s open or to book a table and pre-order some items to avoid the long wait). Closed on Tuesdays.


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For more parking space (according to Criz) is just further down the road from Tan Jetty entrance. Look out for Xer Teck Cafe or a shop selling birds with a small temple beside. Turn in immediately once you see the temple. Drive to the end and you will see an empty space for carpark. The back area is much better now.

Happy trying!

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Finally another long weekend and although it sounds kiddish, I admit that I am happy because today is only Saturday :D

I saw Cariso's post quite sometime ago and was super delighted to find out that Viva serves custard buns!

特制流沙包 (Steamed Bun With Butter Cream & Salted Egg Yolk) RM4.80 per basket.
The bun was great. I love it :D The custard filling inside was so much that it spills all over the place on your first bite. Buttery taste with hints of salted egg yolk. Perfect.

上海小笼包 (Shanghainese Meat Dumpling (Xiao Long Bao) RM4.80
Another recommended item to be tried. My friend loved it the moment she sets her mouth on it. She actually prefer this siu long bao over Dragon-i's. I can't remember how Dragon-i's taste like but I like Viva's. The last time I had a siu long bao was back in S'pore Din Tai Fung. Viva's siu long bao has more soup compared to theirs. Fresh meat, juicy and more thumbs up for being priced at RM4.80.

Other items we had was siu mai,香脆升笼卷 (Crispy Dragon Roll),古法糯米鸡 (Traditional Steamed Glutinous Rice), har gao, some porridge, yam cake and egg tarts. All those with tea for 4 person total up:  RM50.

Quite pricey but with the food standard its forgive-able. Okay maybe I am bias because they have my favourite custard buns :P

During our meal, we happen to chat with an uncle next to our table and later got to know that he came all the way from Sungai Petani to try out the dim sum. He told us that he got to know it from the net. LOL When we are about to leave, we saw boxes of dim sum (lots of it too) on the table. He likes the egg tart there.

Taste is a very subjective matter. Either you like it or you don't. So just pick your favourite and enjoy ;)

Location:
東 城 點 心 (Viva Dim Sum Delight)
Add : Lot 303, Jalan Tanjung Tokong, 10470 Pulau Pinang.
Tel: 04-890 2459
Opening Hours : 6am to 2pm daily
GPS: 5.462813, 100.305056


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For those who are not familiar with the area, just go towards Tanjung Tokong from Gurney (following the road) without turning anywhere. The outlet is on your right, so you would have to make a u-turn some where further down the road.

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I love milk but it is only when I traveled to Singapore that I learned there are actually a whole lot more options. Recently I found Sky Fresh Milk. Don't get me wrong. I just want to share with the you all what I like :D Anyway, the milk brand has appeared on the chiller shelves (Gurney Cold Storage) for quite a long time already.

Verdict? Pura (too expensive, RM15+ for 2 litre), Greenfield (not available in local stores but Coffee Bean Gurney Plaza is using it) and Farm House (also good but getting more expensive).

Can you imagine Farm House started at RM3.30 many many years ago and now they are priced at RM7.50. That's more than 100% increase!

What about local brand? Forget it lah...

Sky Fresh taste just as good as Farm House (perhaps even better) but cost cheaper. RM11 for 2 litre.

And mind you, its produce de la Aussie. If only I saw this much much earlier on. Why the heck didn't they put that word bigger???

Cheers...*with milk*

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Happy...happy weekend :D So many people to thank to...

• Thanks to Warren Tan & William Tan for organising a review at Tree Monkey.
• Thanks to Emily for extending the invitation to me ;)
• Thanks to Waco for the super SPEED ride!
• Thanks to Criz and Cariso for sharing review informations.

Great job to CK Lam (Criz too!) in co-organising the event. Haven't visited this corner of the island for ages. Time to have some good food and good fun!

Tree Monkey is located at Teluk Bahang (Penang), sharing the same area with Tropical Spice Garden (which have recently been chosen as the 'Speed Bump' place for Amazing Race).

Tree Monkey claims to be a "Back to Nature" Alfresco Restaurant. Below are some random nature shots. FYI, we have to pay for entering the Tropical Spice Garden. There is an entrail to the garden through the back door of the restaurant.

There is also a boutique for visitors to get some souvenirs. Those Sandalwood Soaps looked really classic eh?

Below are my snapshots of the restaurant. According to Mr. Patt, the furnitures were imported all the way from Chiang Mai. From what I've seen, there is a particular table that is made of whole wood. Also there are many items salvaged from old torn down pre-war houses such as the wooden doors, granite steps at the backyard and the tiles at the entrance of the boutique.

No nails were used at time of building the place. The whole area is build using the timber-framing way.

It was great to know the boss, Mr. Patt Khor and person-in-charge Ms. Wisakha has taken great care in setting up the review area. I believe any customers who walks in would be treated similarly ;)

Those glasses of drinks served on the table were our welcome drink, Sunset Paradise - RM10.00 (only available from 6.00pm-7.00pm) Interesting isn't it? Drink with a time frame? First time hearing it. Sun was setting while we had our drinks, feels great. I did not capture the sunset view because my camera will not do justice to the beautiful scene.

Judging from the deco, Sunset Paradise should be a mixture of pineapple juice and orange juice? Anyway, the sweetness was just nice and a cooling drink.

First off...

Thai Tapas (choose any types of appetizers served with sweet chili sauce)

8pcs - RM30

12 pcs - RM45

16 pcs - RM60 (max 4 pcs on each item)

There are 12 choices for the appetizers listed in the menu:

Thai Toast, Money Bag, Herbs Chicken, Spring Roll, Pandan Chicken, Otak-otak, Mussels Salsa, Lemongrass Stick, Prawn Sarong, Prawn Sabai, Thai Fish Cake & Darling Crab.

On that day, only 11 pieces were served to us as Darling Crab was not available.

The owner had mentioned that all of their 4 chefs came from North-east Thailand. Their food are well known to be less oily than their southern counterpart. This applies on their fried finger food too. Not greasy at all.

Their Otak-Otak was different from what you would get at other places. The taste emphasized more on the coconut cream rather than eggs. Its not very herb-by because they do not use Daun kaduk (Wild Pepper / Piper Sarmentosum). They used sotong for this Otak-Otak and its not rubbery at all.

My personal favourite appetizer would be Mussels Salsa. So appetizing! I can't really stomach mussels without seasoning. There would be this fishy kind of smell to it. However, the addition of salsa to the mussel makes it a whole new different story. On the first bite, you can definitely taste the strong Thai Basil leaves. Then along the way, some garlic bits and ending with a medium-spicy note to it. Lovely...

It certainly increased my appetite for next dish :D

Before I forget, it seems that every plate of tapas that were served to us had a different fruit/vege carving to it ;) Pretty...

Let's move on to the next meal...

Asian Tapas (Choose any dishes, served with 2 Tumeric Rice)

8 dishes @ RM60, 12 dishes @ RM90 (max 2 dishes on each item)

Again, there are 12 choices for the Asian Tapas listed in the menu:

Mango Salad, Satay, Nam Tok, Crispy Herbs Fish, Chili Paste Prawn, Sweet Bean Curd, Kang Kung Belacan, Son In Law Egg, Masaman Curry, Panaeng Curry, Tomyum Soup & Tomkha Soup

Not overly sour and I think there were hints of papaya?

Ms. Wisakha mentioned that the fresh herbs used in all their dishes came from Tropical Spice Garden. They have one of the best gardens in Penang as their backyard. I don't see why shouldn't they do so ;)

Among my favourites are Nam Tok (Grilled beef) and Panaeng Curry (the one that taste like Otak. if wrong please someone correct me :P) The beef are simply great. None of the beef slices were tough and dry! Nam Tok's beef has a light smokey flavour to it, seasoned minimally with ground peanuts and onions. That allowed us to taste the beef's natural taste.

Panaeng Curry on the other hand was flavourful. Imagine eating Otak made of beef. The meat was soft, smooth and tender. Cariso, Lingzie and I were happily chomping up all the beef (both Nam Tok and Panaeng Curry) from the other tables :D

Tomyum Soup was nice. Pretty close to the Tomyum I had back at Phuket. Sourish spicy but not too spicy. Very flavourful. The prawns, sotong and oyster mushroom were all cooked just nice. No signs of rubbery carved squid or shrinked prawns. I actually finished my plate of tumeric rice with just the soup alone.

Tomkha on the otherhand was much milder in terms of spiciness. The coconut milk added, cuts the spiciness to a minimum level. The chicken was definitely the highlight of Tomkha Soup. It was so damn smooth and soft that Waco would believe it's fish if we told him so :P

I am a fan of herb rice. I've tried Nasi Ulam, Nasi Kerabu and our local style Nasi Kunyit. But never Nasi Kunyit added with Coriander. Fortunately they only added a little bit to the rice giving it a different depth of flavour. Something I never thought of. The rice goes really well with Tom Yam :D

Finally the Thai Coconut Ice Cream (RM8.80) dessert was served to save us from all the heat and flavours that went on. Super smooth indeed. Topped with my favourite fruits, jackfruit and attap chee (attap palm seeds/buah nipah/Nypa fruticans). Jackfruit used was slightly overripe thus heightens the overall flavour of the ice cream.

To wrap things up, Spice Tea/Coffee with Condensed Milk (Hot or Cold) - RM8.00 were served.

Brewed with spices, thus the strong Cardamom seed flavour in both drinks. As for coffee, the Cardamom taste hits first then the coffee flavour seeps in. All in all, the hot spiced drinks did a great job in removing my bad breath after having a number of dishes with garlic.

Great outing indeed. It was like a gathering with a lot of catching up. Absolutely great way to end my weekend.

For those who are planning to have a meal at Tree Monkey, its best to call up to make reservation.

Tree Monkey @ Tropical Spice Garden

Lone Craig Villa, Lot 595,

Mukim 2, Jalan Teluk Bahang,

11100 Penang.

Telefax: 604-881 3494

Website: http://www.treemonkey.com.my/ (not up yet - refer to http://www.tropicalspicegarden.com/tree-monkey-restaurant.php)

GPS: 5.463599, 100.229199

Additional info:

• Business hours: 9.00am - 12.00 midnight daily
• 80 pax capacity
• WiFi available
• Pork Free
• Vegetarian available
• Alcoholic beverages available (RM30 per bottle corkage charges)
• 10% service charge would be applicable

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It has been a while since the last invited review. I was MIA till the point where Alan thought I have just graduated :P The last time I met him and most of other bloggers was LAST YEAR's August. Thanks to Caffe Strada and Alan for making the arrangements.

Cosy area with clean modern furnishing. A nice place to gather with friends for a chat and have a drink :) I like the water windows. Not sure why but I do feel less glare from it.

Some random shots while waiting for others to arrive.

Review was kicked off by serving appetizers.

Green Garden Salad (RM8.90)

Served with lettuce, capsicum, onion, croutons, sun flower, seed, egg and smoked chicken, served with house salad dressing.

Seafood Chowder in Bread Bowl (RM15.90)
Chunks of seafood (prawns & squid) are simmered with potatos, onions, celery, real heavy cream and a touch of butter. Served in bread bowl.

For main course meal, we had Asian Delights first followed by Western dishes.

Asian Delights
Kung Pao Chicken (RM9.90)

Stir fried with kung pao sauce, served with cashew nuts, fried egg, prawn crackers and rice.
Kam Heong Seafood Combo (RM8.90)

Stir fried with kam heong sauce, served with prawn crackers, fried egg and rice.
Salted Fish and Chicken Fried Rice (RM8.90)
Served with prawn crackers, fried egg and chicken wing.
Bao Zhiang Mien (RM11.90)
Noodle in house-blended gravy, with minced chicken and 3-colored vegetables.
Tomyam Seafood (RM8.90)
A choice of bee hoon or instant noodles.

Western
Spaghetti Bolognese (RM9.90) - Grinded chicken with tomato based sauce.
Club Sandwich (RM12.90)
Caffe Strada Roast Chicken (RM13.90)
Mongolian Chicken (RM15.90)
Cheezy Grilled Chicken (RM17.90)
Grilled Butter Fish (RM19.90)
Fish and Chip (RM8.90)
Grilled Lamb Shoulder (RM19.90)

House drinks were served. Among all the cold drinks, I personally prefer Ice Bear. Fizzy blue soda with hints of fresh lemon. As for the hot variety, I must give credits for the Coffee art. Not many people serves cappuccino or coffee latte like that in Penang.

Drinks
Fluffy Hot Chocolate (RM6.90)
Strawberry Kiss Frappes (RM8.90)
Choco Banana Frappes (RM8.90)
Chocolate Chips Frappes (RM8.90)
Mango Frappes (RM8.90)
Orange Jewel Milk Shake (RM7.90)
Ice Bear (RM6.90)
Italian Lime Soda Float (RM6.90)

Espresso Drinks
Espresso (Caffe= single shot espresso RM4.90, Caffe Doppio =double shot espresso RM5.90)
Cappucino (RM6.90 hot, RM7.90 cold)
Caffe Latte (RM6.90 hot, RM7.90 cold)

I have turned into a dessert person lately without even knowing when :P Caffe Strada offers a few selection of cakes which are kept in the chiller near beside the cafe's main entrance. Caffe Strada's Ice Coffee Slush is actually like Affogato, an italian dessert made of fresh brewed espresso topped with a scoop of ice cream.

Just when you thought the cakes wrapped up the whole review, Boss Micheal add in another snack for us, Caffe Strada's BBQ Chicken Wings. The cafe has a few tv screens for customers to watch football matches. Chicken wings seems to be the international choice of snack isn't it?

Caffe Strada BBQ Chicken Wing, served with house chicken wing sauce (2pcs RM5.90, 4pcs RM9.90)

Happy reading~

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