Malacca Retreat

Hello (:

I went to Malacca with my CCA kids and colleagues earlier this week and I must say that this retreat is not like the rest that I've been to, but it was still great overall! (:

What's most interesting about this retreat is that I got to try food that I usually will not eat/ don't get to eat! One of these dishes is the Hakka Taro Paste Balls also known as 'suan pan'. It's this chewy almost mochi like savoury ball made of taro and flour and it's actually pretty addictive! Heh

The other dish that I got to try, which apparently is all the rage in Malacca at present, is Cheese Beehoon with Big Prawns. Our guide told us that the stall owner charges based on the number of prawns ordered, and he gives us beehoon for free! Guess the cost of beehoon is negligible. Heh. This is definitely one dish that needs to be shared because you can get gelat pretty quickly! It really taste as it looks so expect something rich and creamy (and peppery) when you eat this! (:

The last pic doesn't feature an exotic/ novel dish but it does show how small the egg mcmuffin is! I was stunned when I saw downsized my breakfast was! Hahaha Oh well, at least it tasted the same -- that's one reason why I'll always patronise Macdonalds no matter which country I go to cos I can always trust their consistency! (:

Alright that's all for now (: Have a good weekend everyone! (:

HCMC Eats: La Villa

Hello (:

It's been terribly warm these days and my body's suffering from trying to adapt to the heat =| I hope that it rains one of these days cos for once, I actually miss thunderstorms!

Anyhow, here's a continuation of the HCMC posts, and today, I'm gonna post photos of the food that we had at La Villa, which is actually a house-turned-restaurant. The setting is cosy and it has limited capacity, but I guess that's what gives it the old French charm. We were the only other guests that day, the other being a group of French men, and I thoroughly appreciated having a quiet meal indoors, away from the scorching sun.

The standard of food at La Villa cannot be compared to Les Amis' but I think it's similar to Au Petit Salut's - not as refined nor as interesting, but very thoughtful and palatable. It was a lovely languorous and luxurious meal (:

Have a good Sunday ahead! (:

HCMC Eats: Phatty's

Hello! (:

We dropped by Phatty's for our first lunch in HCMC and I was thrilled to finally be able to visit one of the usual spots where bubs usually goes to when he visits HCMC. He told me that the food and ambiance here is great - they essentially serve American food in American-sized portions! I think the staff are also friendly and helpful yet they do not hover that much, which is great because I prefer to be left pretty much alone when I eat unless I've a a request. Phatty's to me is kinda like Chili's in Singapore, except that the food that they serve is different! Great place to hang out for a good long chat (:

Come to think of it, we should have visited on St Patrick's Day to see whether the atmosphere would be a little more hyped up, just for fun, but it's alright (: The restaurant was half filled with relatively old Caucasians when we visited so it wasn't that quiet either.

Okay more in the next post! (:

HCMC Eats: Street Food

Hello (:

I'll be posting photos of food that we had on our recent short trip to Ho Chi Minh City in the next few posts for keepsake!

We stayed at District 2, which was lovely because it was faraway from the maddening crowd that is District 1. District 2 is a residential suburban area which is filled with skyscraper-like residential towers, mostly newly constructed condos, and it has a few malls and many street food shops/ stalls.

We ate at this pho place near where we stayed at and the pho was pretty yummy so we went there for two mornings in a row!

On the third morning, we decided to try something different so we walked a little more and found this street food stall! To be frank, it was my first time ever eating at such a local streetfood stall and I must admit I was slightly apprehensive. But I decided to just go with the flow since the bubs loves street food, and we had our breakfast there! The old auntie's iced coffee was da bomb - super thick and sweet, just the way Vietnamese iced coffee should be! (: Guess my first experience of authentic street food wasn't that bad, though I must confess that I am still apprehensive about trying other street food stalls! Heh we'll just take a step at a time I guess? 

On an unrelated note, I'm really thankful that we are having a longer weekend this week cos I need the time to catch up on work and to rest! Will try to update again soon! (:

What We Ate in Seoul

Hello! (:

I'm finally back from my vacation so I'll do a photo post of some of the noteworthy food we had in Seoul. We were very fortunate to have a friend who speaks fluent Korean to bring us around and basically act as our guide for the entire trip! Am very very thankful for all that she has done to ensure that we managed to try all the items on our 'must eat' food list! (:

So here are some of the places that we visited and some of the dishes that we tried:

 1. A restaurant in Hongdae. Sorry I know that's not very useful but I absolutely do not know what this place is called. Frankly speaking, I think this was one of the best meals I've had in Seoul! The food was superb and I really loved that I had many choices! Would totally go back again! 

2. Ugly Stove - Good brunch place to visit (: Their cinnamon bread is seriously good. You HAVE to try it! (: 

 3. "Holland Village" at Everland. I think their sausages were the hot favourite that day (: So you might want to try those when you are there. Personally, I prefer sitting outdoors cos there is fresh air but it can get quite cold so make sure you sit under one of these heating lamp posts (or what I call 'mushrooms') haha

4. A Korean BBQ place at Hongdae area. (Okay, basically our air b&b was at the Hongdae area so we usually went nearby to have our meals) If you are looking for quality meat, this will be the place to go to! (: 

 5. Army Stew. Okay I totally forgot to take the photo of the entrance of the restaurant but I know this isn't in the Hongdae area but I'm sure you can find decent recommendations when you google =P 

6. Ganjang Gejang (i.e. marinated raw crabs). If you wanna try REALLY good raw crabs, THIS is the restaurant to go to. My companions were literally left speechless cos the food was so darn good. I loved their crab soup too. The broth was rich and flavourful. Definitely a must visit! 

 7. Korean Fried Chicken. According to my friend, Kyo Chon serves the best Korean Fried Chicken presently so it's worth a visit. We kinda over-ordered but we managed to finish 80% of the chicken so I guess that's not too wasteful. Our regret was that we didn't pack the remaining pieces back cos apparently they'll still be crispy after you microwave them the next morning! 

 8. Raw Octopus Meal. I think you can find many good ones around but Vivian was kind enough to find a restaurant that serves dishes other than raw octopus or only octopus cos I wasn't keen on only having octopus for dinner! So we navigated through a few small alleys to find this restaurant, which really feels more like a Korean home than anything else (: 

9. Famous Bibimbap restaurant at Myeongdong area. I absolutely LOVED this meal! Their bibimbap is a must try! Would have eaten at this restaurant again if I were staying a few more days! 

 10. Perhaps the most touristy restaurant that we've been to but it still serves relatively decent hotpot/stew at ridiculously decent prices! (: We opted for the Jajangmyeon flavour instead of the usual red hot kimchi cos we wanted to get a taste of the jajang paste. Turns out that the black sauce actually made the entire dish taste like the black sauce hokkien mee we have back at home (: Was interesting nevertheless!

Apart from all these, we tried quite a few kinds of street food at the Myeongdong area so it's a good place to visit if you want to try street food. Of course, the prices are high at Myeongdong area cos it essentially is a tourist trap but I guess what the place offers you is convenience in that you can access a wide range of street food at one go! (:

We also tried other international franchises such as Krispy Kreme, Paris Baguette, Starbucks etc. and we realised that there is a distinct difference between the quality and taste of these internationally franchised products. You really have to try it to know it!

Alright that's all for my Seoul food journey! Will update again when I have the time to do so! (: Merry Christmas to all in advance and happy holidays! (: