What to eat in Melaka : Qasreena Cafe

Melaka is my hometown. And i live in KL for most of my adult life. So whenever i came back i will treasure my mom's cooking hence the almost none knowledge of good food. But my husband is from KL so i need to find somewhere to bring him. Thus the blogwalking commenced. 

Since i'm not fond of going to the historical area which always jam packed, so i wanted something near to Ayer Keroh area. And i found this place nice as a gem. 

The foods are great and the prices are affordable. I often see the drinks price as my benchmark for affordable. And the normal drinks like Milo, Tea and all that are as affordable as normal gerai. The food also nicely price as you can get the Soto at Rm5.50. The tastes are delicious. My mom ate Soto Nasi Impit and they put fried chicken in it. The combination is superb. I ate the fame Mee racun which actually just a spicy Mee Hailam done right. And their fame Cupid Rose which is Ice cream Soda Bandung and everything taste really delicious. 

The price, the portions, the restaurant itself and the taste all match up to become a 5 star restaurant in my judgement. Even my husband who really particular  is satisfied. So, just waze Qasreena Cafe if you're near Ayer Keroh or Bukit Katil area. 

Our meal that day consisted of Mee Racun - Rm5.50, Nasi Goreng Collesium Rm 8 (big portion), Soto Nasi Impit - Rm5.50, Cupid Rose Soda - Rm4.50, Coke something ( coke float), Lai Chee Kang Rm3.50, Lychee Ice and Fries... some i forgot the price but our total for this was Rm40. 

Qasreena served a lot of food ranging from western, seafood, tradional Malay fare and lots of their own combination.

Fluffy Buttermilk Pancake

Yesterday I was looking all over the net for fluffy looking pancake recipe. Since previously all my pancakes no matter how I done it always came out looking stiff. And truthfully I am not someone who can follow instruction straight on the dot. So this is kinda hard for me. My hand was itching to divert from the real cause. 

So I actually managed to prepare fluffy pancakes yesterday. Yeay!! Even my daughter eat 3pcs of it.

Let's look at the proven recipe of a fluffy pancakes.

I use

Cake flour - 1 1/4 cup
Soda bikarbonat - 1 teaspoon

Buttermilk - 1 1/4 cup ( milk + 1 tablespoon lemon juice and let it sit 10min before use)
Egg - 1 whole
Butter - melted into 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
A pinch of salt and vanilla essence 

For me I just mixed the wet ingredients first and then only put the dry one. After its already mixed you can see the mixture looks slightly thin not thick. At that point I was really itchy to add up a little bit of flour. But I managed to persevere and let the mixture sit for around 5 to 10 minutes. Then it became nicely thick and perfect. 

When you see it bubbling like that means that you have to flip your pancake already. 

 

Lunch Buffet at Kitchen Art Empire Subang

Every year our boss will treat us for lunch in honor for his birthday. For few years we have been having it at Cinnamon of One World Hotel. Since the buffet have been getting boring over there I suggested that we go and try new place instead. Since Subang consider quite near we choose Kitchen Art.

I pmed them on FB and asked what their buffet theme was and got a replied of International Buffet style. Sadly that's not the exact thing we got from them. The choices were poor and we manage to grab everything worth at one go. Their menu consist of local dishes and its also severely a limited choice.

I am totally bumped coz its my suggestion in a first place and we end up in this lurched. Cinnamon was way better than Kitchens Art hundred folds. Their menu that day consist of rice, fish, salads, chewy lamb, few dishes and mee station. Not even sate, sushi or other western dishes on sight.

So we totally won't go there anymore next time. I didn't expect it to be better than Cinnamon since the price range is different but not expect it to be that kind of worse either. There's nothing interesting at all and felt like being cheated since where in hell is this fit into international. Really not a worth buffet.

Bob Republic Menjalara

Last week we manage to sneak a bit of time trying this western style kitchen. Since its nearby our house and the review is quite good so we embark on this epic journey of uncertainty.. Hehe..drama much!

OK, so we actually have no idea where the location of this restaurant and use Waze instead. Kinda funny coz Menjalara is the  place where we often go for makan time. So get this for who live nearby but no idea where the heck of this place. Its in a housing area in front of the big mosque and beside the Sekolah Men Agama Kuala Lumpur. There's a guard post when you want to enter the housing area but they won't stop you from going in. I think people who knew this area would get the idea where is it already kan. Go inside after the guard post and take ur left and go straight until you see shop lot. Its actually a stall in front of a mamak shop call Spicy Kitchen. I think people got confuse why need to Waze Spicy Kitchen instead of this Bob..hehe

The price are quite cheap for western food. There's spaghetti for Rm6 and we tried their chicken wings with peri sauce for Rm5. There's 2 pcs cut into 2 wings which quite small and taste spicy. We also tried the rib coz they gave only one pc  along with a bit of nachos for Rm16 if I'm not wrong.. The taste was near to Tony Roma's but not quite there yet. But it won't make you full coz the portion was small. I also order their coney dog priced at Rm7. Overall the prices are affordable but some of it has small portion. Maybe its better to order its burger if you want something fulfilling.

Either way its a must try for people who looking for halal food near Kepong area.

Cell phone Novel

Hi guys..Recently I'm more into reading manga than books..lol.. Like kids I know..but I like to read and learn about lots of stuff that differentiate our culture and nation. Some may say reading fiction, novels, romance and manga useless since its not reality but for me we learn a lot about daily life of other people in different state of situation. When I read one of the manga, I learn about this craze they have in Japan call cell phone novel. I google (always do this for something interesting in my reading) it out thinking maybe its just a figment of the author but turns out its exist..

Its a platform for new author to get their creativity out there and some of it even got the opportunity to be published and made into anime, drama series or movies.

See, this is some example things you can learn and made aware of when you read. Even if it was from a manga..hehe/ teheee/lol( apparently other country who read my hehe don't understand what it stands for)..

So, check this website for some shot of cell phone novel.. Hehe.. 

Time for Change

There's a lot of things changing. My former post on foods and restaurant..so does my opinion. Lots of the restaurant change prices as well as the quality of food. So for me if you're looking at information regarding food and prices..please don't base it on past years experience..

It just ain't relevant anymore..the prices has gone up. Some of the restaurant also has close their shop. I remember just last month we went to eat at Luk Yu in Star Hill Gallery and i found it not worth the money paid. I rather have dim sum from elsewhere when i compare the price we have to pay.

Likewise eating at Sushi Mentai, Menjalara. Yeah it's still worth the save but after the gst implemented it seems that Japanese Buffet at Umai-Ya would be better.

I guess that's why i have not updated on my makan sutra in such a long time. Nowadays with 2 babies we just cooked it at house. Its rather cheaper and we both (especially me hubby) like cooking. So we tend to eat lamb, Salmon and spaghetti's at house. We made our own salad and mashed potato and its just so good and low blow to our pocket as well.

We just ate out for food like Japanese and Chinese dishes only..

New Year, New Beginning - My rambling

Wowza! I'm totally off the scene from blogging for a whole lotta year.. guess i'm in no mood while nesting my second child for the past 9 months before. Since then i've eat a lot and went around trying new restaurants.

Just the other week we went on makan time at Mid Valley Megamall. Trying mall's food while walking around the whole shopping mall. Considering my husband distaste of mall walking, he quite happy this time since we were on eating excursion. I post a lot to Instagram since its easier as my medium of kepochi while not bothering people/friends. Facebook are full of opinions to post out so many pictures of you having fun. Like it ever is their business. Just enjoy others experience and shut the hell up la if nothing good you want to say.

I can't say i'm mean jealous when i saw my friends posting all their lovelies pictures overseas, eateries or presents..i'm happy jealous and i'm excited to see all those pictures and memories they made..unless la they posted some obnoxious words along with the pictures..than i'm sure as hell wasn't jealous..just pity them wanting all the attention ;)

Gosh i got so many thing on my mind that i want to share, say and write.. it is after all my blog where i let loose of my wild ideas and it doesn't really matter to me who read this rubbish i posted out. It's just a satisfaction itself that i got to keep my mind alive online and have memories made here. So, i guess i'll make awesome memories of my mind in writing here...

Padini Warehouse Sales at Ikea

Totally worth it.. i bought black formal pants for hubby at Rm9 and also Rm19 per pc. And it helps that my hubby's size 29 coZ i can only that size and size 30 only left. Sadly no men's jean coz its finish already. I bought 1 short pant for him at rm9 and couples of shirts and work clothes at Rm13 per pc. I got myself some clothes and shirt as well at Rm6 and Rm9 perpc. You just have to dig in to the piles. Theres also kids jeans, clothes and its also around there only the price. 

Sushi Mentai at Menjalara

On Sunday we were a little bit lost on what to eat around 3pm. So we heading to Menjalara for some idea and we spotted this newly open sushi shop. It's a lot like sushi king where there's kaiten belt  with sushi turning round and round.

But they only have 2 colour plates to differentiate price. One was pink and the other red. And it's much cheaper than other Sushi shop as well. 

The overall taste was good. If you like Sushi King than this is definitely cheaper options for you. And it's located on a shop lot. So no hassle on parking and crowd. 

My husband as usual like his Soba. So this Tenzaru Soba priced at Rm12.80. 

 

One of my chosen plate. It's only Rm2.80..

 

 

Green tea not as good as Sushi King but alright la. I'm not that choosy. Anyway it's Rm1 per person for tea. 

If you happen to see one of this Sushi outlet, try it. It won't disappoint and value for money. 

For list of restaurant go to their website here http://sushi-mentai.com/our-restaurants/

Sushi Mentai

77G, Jalan 8/62A, Bandar Manjalara 52100 KepongKuala Lumpur

Easy Spaghetti with Mussels Recipe

 

Ingredients

Spaghetti - one person portion

Mussels - as much as you like ( agak2 lah bai)

Cooking oil 

Garlic - 7 or 8 cloves (depends how much your mussels n spaghetti)

Bird's eye chilli - chinese like the red colour one coz it's spicy ( 3 for mild and 5 for hot )

Ginger - 2 to 3 inches

Oyster sauce - around 4 to 5 tablespoon ( dilute it using water in a bowl )

Black pepper - 2 or 3 teaspoon ( put in with oyster sauce)

How to : -

I'm not bing on follow the rule and lots of ingredients kind of person. Often i tried to short cut some recipes or short cut some ingredients. Just big on something easy to do and faster. 

1. Boil water for your spaghetti and add it into it when it's boiling. 

2. Take the garlic and bashed it with your mortar n pestle or just rough chop it. 

3. Cut into small pieces your chilli. 

4. Cut ur ginger into small pieces as well. 

5. Mix Oyster sauce with some water just to dilute it and add in black pepper. Pur aside. 

6. When you finish setting up the ingredients your spaghetti will be about ready so drain it and set aside.

7. Use a wok or whatever you have and heat some oil up for cooking. Put garlic, stir a bit then put ginger and chilli and stir a while until it smells good. 

8. Put your mussels and stir then put a lid on it for around 3 to 4 min. 

9. Open the lid and put the mixed oyster sauce just now. Stir it well then put the spaghetti.

10. Stir some more and it's ready to eat. Yummy...

So easy. You can always change the ingredients, put some vegies or others stuff. This is just basic of the recipe. 

 

Tony Roma's Groupon Coupons

I think there a lot of Tony Roma's ribs fan waiting for deals from them. Firstly it's always worth it and they don't really cheat you. Not like some of the restaurants. They are on their class of their own. Last nite we manage to use our Groupon but past the open fasting time since i cannot make reservation at 7 o'clock. We came to the Curve around 8.10 pm like that and leave our contact number to them for empty table. We didn't wait long cause around 10 to 15 min they call us already. 

Our Groupon paid at RM40 perperson entitled each of us to get 1 set of 2 ribs + barbecue chicken ( you can choose chicken strips) + 2 sides , soup , mango breezes ( i think, very refreshing).. so it's complete and worth it. I get quarter of chicken and can't even finish my side dishes. They also gave complimentary bread.

The service was as always..very good and the food came fast. Overall it's a good deal and it Tony Roma's..'Nough said i think ^ ; ^

Dubu-Dubu Seoul Food

Yesterday me and hubby went to Berjaya Times Square for a bit of Shopping ( my part actually) and we have to eat, right.

So, i suggest that we tried some Korean food. And i'm glad i choose correctly. I just loves it here. The restaurant in the fourth floor i think. Cause we were at 3rd floor and went up another escalator. Anyway Google will always be at your service for exact location..ha ha

The first thing that i like was the Kimchi. Wow, it's totally in accordance to my taste. Better that Seoul Garden. It's slightly spicy and soury and just damn good. Cause we came on weekdays so there's lunch set with affordable price. The damage of the day was Rm35.75 only.

This is what we ordered..set for 2 person Rm24.90 add on drink Rm3.90 for Ginger Tea and Rm2 for Green Tea.

Mine was Soondubu Jigae - a bit of spice broth with some egg and tofu. Totally tantalizing your taste buds.
Came with rice and Banchan (side dish - add Rm2 for freeflow). Banchan was Kimchi, Vege and macaroni (this was weird..haha).

Hubby took Spicy Chicken Wing with rice. And their rice was mixed i think with glutinous (did i spell it correctly)  rice. 

Anyway this offer totally on weekdays only from 10a.m to 3p.m...

Tai Zi Heen at Prince Hotel Jalan Conlay

 

It's my sister in law suggestion to try out the dim sum buffet here since she saw some good reviews and it's totally halal as well plus near her house. We went for lunch yesterday and the buffet was by a la carte version. We choose what we wanted and wrote it on the form provided. As usual i let if fall to them to choose since i just ate almost everything. 

I like most if the dim sum and it's quite ok for me. I loves the roasted duck most cause it's yummy since i'm not really a fan of roasted duck. I often find them hard and not properly seasoned. Some like grouper with lemon i don't really favor cause it's sweet instead of sour and some of the weird oriental stuff like prawn wist wasabi ect ect..

Overall it's quite ok and we left full. The downside of it was the service was really slow. We got our egg tart & snow crab salad nearly at the end of the meal when we ordered that one first thing when we came. Some of the dish ordered really arrived when you're about to leave and it's hard to catch the eye of the wait staff. 

The dim sum buffet was priced at Rm 45 ++ per person

  

How to Know Cheating Petrol Station

Ha ha seriously this is just a trial & error that i & my hubby done with the petrol stations here in Sri Damansara. Often we fill up out tank and end up losing half of it cause the owner put other stuff in their petrol. It's so obvious if you use your car for works cause you can see the tank just vanish like that.

So, Petron, Shell & Petronas here is so out of question. You can tell it's wrong when you smell the strong smell of kerosene of something when you fill up your tank. The stronger the smell the less petrol actually you'll get. 

Out favorite petrol station now is Caltex owned by Haiza. Situated along the road  to Sri Damansara Industrial area. There's no smell when you fill up your tank and it lasts us long. It's proven ^ ^

Next time you want to fill just smell it and see the different between petrol station ya..

Maybank Cardless Withdrawal

It's genius. In this new millennium a lot of us have a problem with too many cards. Sometimes we forgot and left it somewhere. 

Maybank have invented something as a solution to our problem. Since we never forget our phone this cardless withdrawal system will surely be a welcome solution to the young people which more adaptive in using online/ complicated method.  

See the vid here ;)

Being Real Gets You Hated..

More like being label as cruel.. i just can't get that out of my mind..

I've never been called worse than that i guess. Well, that's what you get when you're being realistic and point blank. Most of the time i don't even bother to form a word or opinion on things. It just gets me in trouble of filtering others emotions and it bug me out to do it.

I just tuned annoying things out and make a happy ending about it. And sometimes you better be ignorance to have friends and families or they will kill you with stress plus their idiocy. That will be a tragedy then. Har har har...

Then there's the exonerate parts where you have to forgive or being forgiven. It's just awkward. Sometimes that person have become not so important anymore in my heart and the apology wouldn't matter anymore for me. I just stop to care.. 

I guess until the end i am as cruel as a human can be. We're just human after all..we love, we hate and we certainly will die. Does it worth it to take things seriously when your time never stop ticking..i guess not..

Forgiveness is a shady business..

Genting Highland & Dong Zhi Festival

Happy New Year 2014!

Seems like i've been on hiatus..ha ha..and those title already on my draft for a long time. I went to Genting Highland with my family and mother in law a day before Dong Zhi so i made some Tong Yuen for her as well..

There's not much to see in Genting nowadays and it's kinda quiet since the outdoor theme park was closed. Yup, you heard me. It's close for major overhaulin'. So it's just pretty boring and we lepak a lot inside the hotel room.

New year pass quietly this year and since almost all stuff become expensive it's just a challenging transition from past years to the new beginning. Hopefully it will be alright and prosperous for us this year.

So happy NEW YEAR even belated as it is and have a GREAT YEAR ahead ^^