Wednesday 25 September 2013

Tampoi Laksa 淡杯叻沙 @ Tampoi, Johor

Tampoi Laksa 淡杯叻沙 @ Tampoi, Johor

Wondering where to get a bowl of decent laksa in late night, the famous Tampoi Laksa came across my mind. Located not far away from Plaza Angsana at Tampoi, the set up of the stall shows very typical family business, a simple stall stands next to a "New Village" house, but indeed a hot spot for supper.
This is the stall which overwhelming by its particular supporter who love their laksa, blood cockles, rojak and cuttlefish kangkung. Despite they are running late night business, their famous laksa can easily sold out about 10 o'clock, so better be catch the timing correct. My own experience is I visit them around 9pm, they actually run out of some types of  noodles.

Blood Cockles 汆鲜蛤  RM3/RM4/RM5


The fresh cockles are not offered on Monday (because fresh market is closed on Monday) to ensure the freshness of the cockles. The cockles was simply boiled with hot boiling water, live cockles are sufficiently cooks as soon as the shells open, to maintain the tenderness of the cockles meat.I would say the owner has caught the timing and render the cockles super juicy and tender, definitely not overcooked! Dip in the cockles meat into the special made crushed peanut chilies sauce, a finishing touch by adding in a squeeze of lime juice make the taste even superb. A very simple dish, yet truly satisfied my taste bud.

Curry Laksa 叻沙  RM4/RM5/RM6
On the other side, the ultimate reason I was here was to have their curry laksa. A must stress is the soup was fully immersible coconut milk, the flavour was extremely outstanding with the coconut fragrant. For the small portion, I got my goodself with a plenty of ingredient fill up my bowl. The laksa here is slightly different as they actually add fishball and meatball into it to form a premium bowl of laksa, every bite surprise me with different ingredient I found.
Kettlefish Kangkung  鱿鱼蕹菜  RM6
Last but not least, we also order their signature cuttlefish kangkung to end up our dinner cum supper. The cuttlefish was as crunchy yet juicy. Crushed peanut and the pre-mix sweet sauce was perfectly matched  with cuttlefish and kangkung.

Overall, I actually did not expect a family-running-stall can provide such satisfaction, home-cooked style of food and the friendly owner who passionate in serving good food definitely their strength and make them the hidden gem in Tampoi area. 

Address : Tampoi Laksa 淡杯叻沙
17, Jalan Dato Muthutambi, 
81200 Tampoi, Johor
GPS : N01 29.866'  E103 42.202'

Bussiness Hour : 5pm - 11.30pm 
(Closed on Wednesday)
Tel : 016-7204261

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Restoran Yi Bao 顺利 Mee Hoon Kueh @ Taman Maju Jaya,Johor Bahru

Restoran Yi Bao 顺利 Mee Hoon Kueh @ Taman Maju Jaya,Johor Bahru

Mee Hoon Kueh is one of the all-time-favourite of Johorean, a simple yet comfort food. When some of the restaurant coming out with variety of mee hun kueh, to transform the traditional food into tom yam mee hun kueh, kari mee hun kueh or herbal soup mee hun kueh to go in line with youngster curiosity to try on new flavour, Restaurant Yi Bao which located at the newspaper street in Taman Maju Jaya choose to remain with its traditional and authentic style of mee hun kueh. Even though the choices on the menu is not that much, it still attracts crowd during lunch hour. 
The old shop with its simple signature board, but definitely an established brand at Johor Bahru, no matter how simple it is, people just simply can't stop loving their mee hun kueh. 
Mee Hun Kuey 面粉粿  RM5 (S)
The traditional hand-torn mee hun kueh, with very smooth texture. There are meatballs added which is handmade, the marinade of soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper successfully get rid of the smell of pork. The traditional Johore style mee hun kueh also comes with the vegetable of "pucuk manis", crispy fried anchovy on the top of mee hun kueh is another must. Lastly, add in a fresh egg to make the soup more smooth and flavourful!
Pan Mee 板面  RM6 (L)
Flat noodles style of pan mee is another choice for eater, if you prefer your lunch looks neater. The other ingredients are similar to the above.

The limited-choices-menu is posted on the wall. Other than Mee Hun Kueh, they also offering fine noodles, mee hoon and porridge, all are in the same category of comfort food! For beverage wise, the sour plum lime juice is always the recommended, best matched with the mee hun kueh, super appetizing!

If you keen to look for dessert or snack after meal, there is also a stall which selling fruit rojak just few steps away from the restaurant. Regular customers always bring along rojak from the stall to enjoy it after lunch. SO what are waiting for? come and grab this nice mee hun kueh and also the rojak!

AddressRestoran Yi Bao 顺利 Mee Hoon Kueh
5, Jalan Maju, 
Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru
GPS : N01 28.843'  E103 45.944'

Bussiness Hour : 9:30am to 7:30pm (closed on Thursdays)

Branch at  15, Jalan Tanjung 1, Taman Desa Cemerlang, Ulu Tiram

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Sakura 樱花 International Buffet Restaurant @ Dhoby Ghaut Green, Singapore

Sakura 樱花 International Buffet Restaurant @ Dhoby Ghaut Green, Singapore 

Last few months, I was here once occasional for my buffet dinner. The location of this restaurant was quite unique as it stand alone building adjacent to MRT station. Its actually not really hard to look out for its location. Yeah, since I started my working life, having buffet in Singapore, for me, is definitely a luxury. Once in a blue moon for a Uni-mate Chinese New Year gathering, I decided to pamper myself with some good foods.
By naming it as Sakura International Buffet, so I went there with the hope to have a buffet with variety choices, but it ended as a Japanese Buffet Restaurant, rather than International Buffet Restaurant, my fat and false hope immediately burst in the air I walked around the restaurant. I still hope for some element of surprise within the restaurant anyway.
Sashimi Bar
Honestly, the food here was fresh and delicious. Despite the limited choices, the quality of food is taken care quite well, this is one of the element that I salute for, rather than putting hundred or thousand types of yesterday stuff on the buffet line. The reason there was acceptable for business concept.
Fresh seafoods are placed on the ice bed. Every bites of the seafood is a kind of enjoy, fresh, juicy and sweet! Superb!
The Sushi Bar was super crowded by people too. A very different phenomenon between buffet restaurant in Singapore and Malaysia is this, the restaurant never waste food, at the end of the day, there will be no food on the bar.No food will be wasted and go into dustbin. The management of food is good I guess, have to balance the desire of diner while avoiding bundle of food being wasted at the end of the day.
Hot Dishes Bar
Hot dishes comprises all fresh cooks to fulfill people desire of hot items, various from fresh fish head, beef, chicken, noodles, steamed taufu, cawamushi, mussel and prawn.

Beside the hot dishes, there also have some light food and handy snacks, for example, pizza, fried durian fire ball, fish ball, fish nugget, fried salmon skin, fried salmon bone, chicken wing, tempura, dimsum, seafood rice cake at all times.
Here below were all my intake for this buffet dinner. I'm quite satisfying and surprised that I still able to consume such a lot foods. The memorable food was the snowcrab on my meal, slightly regret that I only take one throughout my entire meal.


Cook and BBQ Station
The other best part that I like is their favourite BBQ station, they have few choices like steak, snapper, chicken satay, beef stay, big tiger prawn, clam soup, salmon and etc. Pick your favourite fresh ingredients and they will get ready for your the foods on the spot!





Dessert Bar
Last but no least, dessert time as last action. When the time heard that last call end at XXX from speaker, everyone was running like mad to dessert bar to take ice cream at the first place then follow by fruit and pudding. Just the time frame was too short, all the food still occupied my stomach, I cannot have too much of dessert at the last.






It cost me about SGD31+ exclusive GST. The price is definitely affordable for a buffet dinner, but the choice was rather limited despite it is called as International Buffet. Overall, I can conclude that it will be a good "Japanese" Buffet restaurant, as the quality of the food is good and indeed very fresh for sushi and sashimi. For updated price list, please check thru here

Address : Sakura 樱花 International Buffet Restaurant
10, Penang Road #01-02
Singapore 238469
(Its just located at MRT station Gate B/Gate A)

Tel : 6334 8197
Business Hour :
Lunch : Mon - Fri  11.30am - 3pm
Sat, Sun, PH, PH eve  11am - 3pm

Dinner : Mon - Thurs  5.30pm - 10pm
Fri, Sat,Sun, PH, PH eve 5.30pm - 10pm

Tuesday 10 September 2013

Bringing Ninetology Onto The Next Upscale Level

In conjunction with Malaysia’s 56th Independence Day, Ninetology Malaysia has officially launched its Flagship Touch Point at Plaza Low Yat, Malaysia’s Largest IT Lifestyle Mall, on 30 August 2013. With a concept like no other, Ninetology’s Flagship Touch Point offers consumers an experiential touch point for today’s lifestyles and culture as well as a product showcase. At the Flagship Touch Point, not only would the Ninetology products be showcased, it’s a place where consumers can learn how to use a smartphone to enhance their lifestyles and interests. The flagship Touch Point will serve as a youth and culture training hub to spread the urbanite culture that is cultivated by Ninetology. The Ninetology smartphones are not just communication tools, but a device that can advance one’s social visibility, thus opening doors to more opportunities. Eight more Flagship Touch Points within the Klang Valley will be opened this year with another nine outlets scheduled within Malaysia by next year. The Ninetology’s Flagship Touch Point is opened from 10.00am to 10.00pm daily.
A ribbon cutting ceremony was held to launch the first Flagship Touch Point. Gracing the ceremony were the management team of Ninetology Malaysia comprising of Sean Ng (Chief Executive Officer), Marco Beh (Chief Operations Officer), Shian (Chief Finance Officer), Vijian Chan (Chief Marketing Officer), and Eddy Tay (Head of Channel); Michael Lee (General Manager, Property Management and Operations of Plaza Low Yat), and celebrities such as Z-Chen, Iqwal Hafiz, and Sasi the Don.
Earlier last month, Ninetology Malaysia also launched their U9 series at KL Hilton Hotel, Malaysia. The “Unite-as-One” power-infused technology with the urbanite profile was presented in three models: The X1, Z1, and Z1+, which are new and stylish devices engineered to meet the human needs of speed, precision and high levels of engagement. For more information on Ninetology U9 smartphones, visit www.ninetology.com/u9 
“We are very proud to be in strategic partnership with MediaTek Inc, the leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions. MediaTek’s invaluable support in providing us with high performance and reliable information communications solutions, as well as highly integrated and customized solutions, has significantly shortened our time-to-market, enhanced our product competitiveness, and also bring a better overall user experience. We are currently second largest in terms of mobile device market share. With the introduction of the U9 series, we hope to further strengthen Ninetology’s position as well as to grab a sizeable share in the Premium Smart Phones category,” said Mr. Sean Ng Chee Heng (Chief Executive Officer, Ninetology Marketing Sdn. Bhd.).
Mr. Arthur Wang, Senior Director, Head of EMSM, Mediatek Inc. receiving the Certificate of Appreciation from Mr. Sean Ng, CEO of Ninetology Marketing Sdn. Bhd.

The U9 series smart phones with 16GB ROM/1GB RAM of internal memory are ideal for viewing videos, playing games and other content with super-fast connectivity, are powered by Android 4.2 and a MediaTek MT6589 1.2GHz Quad-core processor, in which would deliver a richer smart phone experience at a competitive price. Customers enjoy access to more than thousands of applications including social network, productivity and utilities, entertainment, and appstore. They have display screens of 4.8” (X1), 5.7” (Z1) and 5.5” (Z1+) respectively. They are slim and light and would be a stylish and durable companion for upbeat lifestyles. (Please click on the thumbnail below for a larger view on the specifications)

At the launch, Ninetology also revealed their newly appointed Product Spokesperson, Z-Chen, a Malaysian Mandopop singer, also fondly known as the R&B Little Prince. “As a singer and urbanite myself, I can truly appreciate the U9 series. The U9 smart phones truly understand my needs as an individualist with various interests and a strong desire for freedom. With the U9 series, there are unlimited possibilities to enrich my lifestyle and illuminate my unique personality, work and music. I feel that I am always united-as-one with my U9 smart phone in one seamless human-technology integration,” said Chen. 
 
 
Mr. Leslie Loh, Chief Digital Officer of Ninetology Marketing Sdn. Bhd. (2nd from right) introducing a gadget review program targeting all Malaysian bloggers – Tech Kaiju Arena. Along side from left is Kevin Chong TraxxFM Radio Presenter, Quah of quachee.blogspot.com, and Mark O’Dea from The London Boys.
For those bloggers who are interested to review the U9 series smart phones, you can check out more on the Tech Kaiju Arena Program by submitting your name, blog link, email and contact number to publisher@ninetology.com early to avoid disappointment. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Terms and conditions apply. This program will be ongoing until December 2013. 


Wednesday 4 September 2013

Cedar Point Food Centre 食得福美食中心 @ Taman Century, JB

Cedar Point Food Centre 食得福美食中心 @ Taman Century, JB

It was a rainy and windy night, despite the bad weather condition, we still decided to head to this famous food court around Pelangi area for our late dinner. The food court is quite hidden behind some tall buildings, is very unobvious from the main road. People always said, hidden place has more good foods. I am quite obsessed with such a say and I believe I would definitely find good local food here. If you are not local here, you are definitely unfamiliar to the area, and for your information, it is just located next to Grand Paragon hotel. Different from other food court in town area, Cedar Point Food Centre has ample space for parking in front the food court. 
We were here for the famous pork satay, but there is another stall attracts my attention too. Ikan Bakar Sin Kee is one of the best grilled fish praised highly by the local. So I can't hide my excitement when I saw the stall is also located within the food court.
While the weather was not too good on that day, the food court was not too packed as usual. The owner was sitting outside the stall while waiting for customer, I still remember he is a friendly person who first greet edus when we approaching the stall. Variety of seafood from stingray, squid, lala, prawn to vegetables are displayed for customer's selection. If you can't decide on the portion and which one the bset, please entrust it to the boss.
Grilled Stringray  烧烤魔鬼鱼  RM13 
 Stingray is the common choice for grilled fish. The boss firstly place a banana leave sheet on the hot plate, and subsequently a portion of fish on the banana leave, grilled to the perfection. The sambal chilies spread evenly on the fish is one of the key of success too, not too spicy but sufficient to open up the flavour. With a squeeze of lime, it enhance the taste. A very good dish to go with a bowl of white rice! Nom nom. I am still feel nostalgic over the taste, omg!
Mixed Vegetable  RM5
 Mixed vegetables were prepared separately from the fish, which shows their sincerity. Lady fingers and kangkung are always good with sambal belacan. The flavour is just right to my taste bud without mention much on the dish.
The food we come after since last week, and we finally see it here-- the Tampoi pork satay. It was around 9pm, but the stall seems haven't ready for business. I just worry we will be disappointed too this weekend. Eagerly I asked the foreign worker helping around at the stall whether they were operating. And, surprisingly, YEAH! They were operating, so excited man!
Pork Satay 猪肉沙爹 70cent per stick
Satay is traditional nyonya food and normally made from chicken, mutton or beef. It would be a great surprise to see and to enjoy pork satay. But pork satay is really rare, I had it previously at Tampin and Kajang, now I going to have Tampoi pork satay. The marinade is excellent with a hint of lemongrass and some nyonya spices. Out of my expectation, the texture of the meat was tender and smooth too. 

Dip the satay into the peanut sauce, a good match. The peanut is grounded into very fine and smooth, with a hint of spiciness. Definitely will come back for their satay as supper in future. 



Address: Cedar Point Food Centre
Jalan Musang Bulan 2-16, 
Taman Century, 80250 Johor Bahru
GPS : N01 28.864'  E103 45.786'

Bussiness Hour : 6pm - late nite (Open Daily)