G for George, D for Dragon

It was last May that I managed to meet up in Johor Bahru with my friends who worked in Singapore. We watched "Shrek Final Chapter" in Johor Bahru City Square which was very meaningful and enjoyable. Next come the big question, "where to eat? "

I remember reading about a place in JB and happened to be strongly recommended by my friend, Paul who has been there once before. After a few phone calls ,a few U-turns (over and over again, because we kept missing the entry point) and a couple of JB city tour, we FINALLY found the bloody restaurant. In my mind, I thought "this has better be good, or I will slay my friend Paul!! "

The first step into the restaurant was intriguing indeed with the warm lighting and also the medieval and knightly decorations.

The very nice design on the wall.. wonder if they are real??

The atmosphere is very warm and comfortably homely

The knight plates

The unique carvings

For a moment there, I felt like a character in the "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table". =)

For the amount of ka-ching that we paid for this meal, it worthed every single cent of it and satisfaction level did nearly hit the ceiling, I suppose.... Here are our orders :

1.

Lamb in Red Wine

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

The lamb was very tender with the mild taste of red wine. Every bite brings surprise to your taste bud. Like the thick sauce..yum yum!!

2.

Grilled Sirloin Steak with Rosemary and Turmeric sauce

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

The sirloin steak was grilled to perfection and well done might be a bit too tough for those who enjoy the tender bite of sirloin steak. Medium would be perfect! Love the slight tinge of Rosemary and combination with turmeric adds to the authentic taste. Simply amazing.

3.

Grilled Fish in Butter and Tamarind Sauce

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

I enjoyed the butterly taste on the grilled fish fillet. The tamarind sauce enhance the freshness of the fish fillet (provided the fish is fresh of course!! ). Every bite is a combination of "butterly" and "tamarindly" taste... A very simple dish, but satisfying nevertheless. Not a very big portion, might not be enough for those who has big appetite.

4.

Chicken Chop in Black Pepper Sauce

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

Simple dish as it is, this is a dish I would order to rate the competency of a restaurant that I have never been to. And the dish did not fail me and in fact, passed with flying colours. The chicken chop was tender and I had to mention about the super duper pepperly sauce or I would not be doing justice to the chicken chop!! Every bite is heaven, and did I mention about the super thick black pepper sauce??!! Ten thumbs up!! (opps, I only have two thumbs, =p)

5.

Rich Chocolate Fudge in Chocolate Sauce with Vanilla Ice Cream

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Last but not least, the desert!!! and I'll let the picture do the talking... then again, I must mention about the rich chocolate fudge which is very moist and rich. My conclusion is, a rich chocolate fudge should not be served without the loyal companion---- Vanilla Ice Cream and the Chocolate Sauce (preferably hot)!!

By the way, the name of the place that anyone should pay a visit whenever they are in Johor Bahru is:

George & Dragon Cafe

No 1, Jln Glasiar , Taman Tasek,

Johor Bahru

L for Laksa!

I am very sure of this statement : "There will be time when every Kuchingites who live outside from Kuching will miss Kuching food" . This is what I did this time when I suddenly miss Kuching bery bery much :

Plan : To prepare Kuching most famous Laksa

Ingredients needed :

a) Bean sprout

b) Shredded chicken breast meat

c) Beaten egg (fried and cut into slices)

d) Prawn

e) Lime

f) Belacan (pounded Belacan with dried chili)

g) Bee hoon

h) The Laksa Soup!!! (using the Laksa paste imported from Kuching)

Results:

WAYS TO EAT LAKSA SARAWAK:

POUR THE GRAVY SOUP AND DON'T FORGET LIME AND MOST IMPORTANTLY THE BELACAN !!!

Conclusion:

It's finger licking, mouth-watering, kick-assing good~~~

IRODORI SUSHI --- Honto ni oishi neh....

When I am sick, sad or down, I would turn to shopping and eating, especially when quality food is around. This is exactly what I did this time around when I am still sick but gotten bored of resting at home.

Me and my friend drove 45 minutes to Kluang for nice dinner and movie, as a treatment to my sickness. We went to this Japanese restaurant recommended by another collegue of mine as a MUST TRY -- IRODORI SUSHI

The waitress at the door greeted us with welcoming phrases in Japanese and well, I am not very sure if that is the correct way to pronounce it, but it sounds a bit like a curse word to me... =p

We were handed the menu and OMG, the menu is full with colourful Sashimis, Sushis, Dons, Ramens, Makis......... It was very hard to make our decision, and we finally made up our mind and placed our orders. While waiting for our order to come, they served the appetizers :

Steamed Green Soybean @ 1.90 per plate

The average waiting time for an order to be served is around 15- 20 minutes which is considered acceptable if the food compensates for it.

Dish number 1:

鳗鱼烧 Unagi Set @ RM 22
(includes a bowl of rice, Miso soup, pickles, slices of scrambled egg, salad,
and two slices of fruits)

♫ The Unagi was grilled to perfection with the sauce. The fish was tender and juicy and very appetizing. Love the colour of the Unagi!! The portion is just nice and recommended for those who prefer balanced meal.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

Dish number 2 :

盐烤青花鱼 Saba Shioyaki Set @ RM 19
(includes a bowl of rice, Miso soup, pickles, slices of scrambled egg, salad,
and two slices of fruits)

♫ On the other hand, the Saba Shioyaki is grilled with just salt and nothing else. The natural taste of the fish is locked in and the lime juice accentuate it even more. Every bite will send you at least sky high if not to the heaven...The set meal is a suitable portion for those who enjoys balanced meal.

Ratings: ♥♥♥♥♥

Dish number 3:

花式卷寿司 Hana Maki @ RM 12

♫ When I ordered the Hana Maki, I was expecting something if not better at least on par with the ones you get at Sushi King, and what do you know......
The one at IRODORI is even better than those you get elsewhere. Served at a diameter of approximately 6 cm, it contains tempura prawn, cucumber, unagi, egg and crab stick!! No wonder of the size. The fish roe around the Maki adds more flavour to it. And the combination is perfect!! Would be better if it is in a smaller bite size.
Not recommended for those who are on the first date!!! Hahaha... Ladies eating the Maki might scared the guys away.....

Ratings: ♥♥♥♥

And the last order --the DESSERT!!

抹茶白玉 Mocha Ice-cream Mochi @ RM 5

♫ The ice cream was splendid. It is a bit bitter and full of the taste of green tea. Amazingly, the taste of the bitter will be gone if you eat it together with the red bean paste and mochi!!
And the blended peanuts did a good job in upgrading the taste of the ice cream!!

I felt really HEALTHY after eating the ice cream and surprisingly, my cough is gone!!! (would anyone believe me??? )

Ratings: ♥♥♥♥

The green tea is bottomless @ RM 1. Unlike Sushi King which is free, but for the quality food that you get, what does RM 1 means? And more great news, in conjunction with their 1st year anniversary , customers are entitled for 30% discount on the bill.

You want more good news?????


There is no more.....hahahaha....


Overall food rating : 8.5 out of 10
Overall service rating: 8.0 out of 10 (very eng tao waiters!!! =p )
Overall satisfaction : 9.0 out of 10
(good quality food+eng tao waiters = very satisfied!!)


Restaurant: IRODORI SUSHI

Address: 26AB and 28AB, 1st floor, Jalan Sentol Satu, Kluang, Johor

Bath for 800 times??

Well, it seems like the Apartment in Phuket offers a lot of things to "SEE" in the See View room. It must be something really " interesting"

and after you have "see" all the views, you can pay with taking 800 " baths" in the hotel bathroom.... -_-'''

忍者Ninja

Watched the movie Ninja last Saturday when we were supposed to watch Surrogate but the ticket was sold out.... So I went in the cinema thinking this is the Ninja movie starring Rain from Korea.... then the movie started....

Starting scene was at a Japanese dojo where everyone shows their skills in using different weapons. And there he was, Casey (starring Scott Adkins) showing his washboard abs and also excellent martial art skills. Then there's Namiko, daughter of the Sensei, who has a crush on Casey. On the other hand, Masazuka another student in the dojo was really jealous and full of hatred towards Casey.

Until one day, the Sensei asked Casey and Masazuka to fight each other using wooden swords, and Masazuka went wild and tried to kill Casey with a real sword, then the real story began when Masazuka was kicked out from the dojo for trying to kill Casey.

There were not many climax for the movie as the storyline was quite flat. Casey and Namiko were asked to take care of the treasure chest of an ancient ninja, the Yoroi Bitsu from the falling into the hand of Masazuka, the villain.

Though the plot of the movie was a bit oh-so boring, the martial arts presented in the movie was clearly well executed and truly worth watching!!! kudos to the martial art director of the movie!


Rating：　6.5/10

Satisfaction!!

I reached the peak of Gunung Pertawai!!! woohooo!!!

Before I started my journey, I was damn kin tio man....because the highest mountain that I have ever climb is just 750 m plus plus nia. So this time I am challenging my own record like that lor....

We traveled to the foothill and set up a camp for the night before the climb up the next day.



On the day of the climb itself, which we named as "XPDC Hari Kemerdekaan", everyone was really excited and anxious. We were told before the trip that we need to make 12 climbs before reaching the peak.

" Kena naik 12 kali, kali ke-12 itulah puncak Gunung Pertawai....kalau naik kosong kena lebih kurang 5 jam...."

My reaction was like............. (-_-)'''



So here we go....the climb was not very steep, but keep on going up and up and up....

we were so tired even Am cannot control his shaking.....

"Am, puncak ke berapa dah?? "
"Kedua "

After an hour later.......
"Sekarang ni kita kat puncak ke-berapa?"
"Tak tau lah, ingat naik je, lupa kira....."

Haha......everyone lost count after a while and then just keep on going, because we do not want to reach the camp too late at night.

and after 4 hours later...........



I get to witness this magnificent view with my own eyes!!!! such a touching moment that I nearly cried.......

All for the sake of Hari Kemerdekaan + Setting up Camera traps + Enforcement patrol!!

And we only took 2 hours to go down and reached the camp by 4.30pm. Not bad not bad at all...

Backpacking in Phuket

The best thing of travelling alone is that, I get to sleep as long as I want to, stay at one place as long as I prefer, and go to places that I would love to visit.

I stayed in a guesthouse situated just in front of the Karon beach....

a room for only 450 baht per night

The room shown to me was originally 600 baht and after bargaining, I managed to get it for 450 baht per night (which was worth my money!!) indeed. Another room was a sea-view room cost 600 baht. Here I am living just a road across from the beach, who need a sea-view room when i can save 150 baht??! =p


Below is my conversation with the guesthouse staff :

staff: hello miss, you want to rent a room??
me : yes, how much is your room?
staff: my friend's house is very cheap
me: who is your friend??
staff: my friend's house has many type of room.....
me: who is your friend??????
staff: let me show you the room first
me: I want to know who is your friend before I see the room!!

End up, the guesthouse is called " My friend's house" ....... -_-''' bugger!!

I rest in the room and slept 'til evening, just in time to see the sunset at Karon beach. So I took a long stroll by the beach, enjoying the strong wind blowing on me, as if washing all my trouble and sorrows away.

Karon beach before sunset

The next day, I rent a motorbike for 200 baht and pumped in 50 baht worth of gasoline and went around the Phuket island. I stopped at all the places that looks interesting. Hence, these are the places that I set foot on :

Wat Kata

Wat Chalong

Wat Chalong

Rawai beach

Promthep cape --- my fave... 5 stars

Notice the cape? that is the place that you should be, the southerst tip of the island..

Waves are crashing hard on the rocks

The oh-very-calm part of the island..the lagoon

My favorite part of the trip is that I managed to set foot on the most southern part of the Phuket island and man the wind is strong!! They should set a minimum weight of tourist who wish to go to the cape, if not people would be blown away easily.

Once I reached the tip, it felt like I have reached the unreachable, achieved the unachievable..and the strong wind has certainly blown away all my unhappiness that I had, and standing there, is a brand new me....all cleanse up and reborn...... (wah, so poetic all of a sudden)

In short:

I had a damn good time in Phuket!!