Woon Peng Restaurant, Seremban

This is our favorite breakfast place in Seremban. Most people come here for the fishball noodles (soup or dry). You also have the option of mee suah, Hakka mee, laksa or porridge, should you prefer.

Laksa with fishballs, tofu and beansprouts

We usually order the dry lou shi fan (translated from Chinese: rat tail noodles) with fishball soup (the fishballs are made from swordfish). A must-have for us are the fried wantans.

There are 13 small tables which can seat 5-6 people and 3 large tables which can seat up to 8 people. Very busy at weekends.




Non-halal.

Comfort: Very clean (Grade A shop). Air-conditioning in the afternoons.

Food: Nice fishballs.

Price: Reasonable. Fishball noodles RM3.50 (small). Laksa RM3.50 (small). Fried wantan Rm0.40 each.

Location: Lorong Haruan 5/4, Oakland Commerce Centre, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

Win Loy Restaurant, Seremban

One of my aunts recommended this new Chinese restaurant to us. It is situated beside the S2 City Park.

For those who cannot read Chinese, this restaurant provides English menus. They have quite a comprehensive menu as well as daily specials which will be written on the whiteboard.

We tried the stir fry fish fillet with spring onion and ginger (RM12). They use 'sang yee' for this dish (snakehead fish in English). The fish was very fresh. Very big portion.

One of the specials was braised pork belly with preserved vegetable ('mui choy kau yok' - RM10). For me, this was the star dish of the night. The pork was soft, which literally melts in your mouth.

Chicken wings glazed in honey sauce (RM10). This is a favorite amongst children.

House specialty tofu - which is Japanese tofu layered on steamed egg (RM8).

Stir fried kangkung (RM6)

Soup of the day - winter melon with ribs (RM6). No MSG added. Good accompaniment to the meal.

Overall, a very good meal. Would definitely return.

Non-halal.

Comfort: A little hot.

Food: 9/10. Good home cooking-type food.

Price: Very reasonable. RM60 for 6 dishes.

Service: Fast.

Open everyday except Thursday from 4.30pm.

Location: 119, Jalan S2 D30, City Centre, Seremban 2, 70300 seremban, N.Sembilan (corner lot closest to the Petronas station)

Marche @ The Curve

Marche is a market place restaurant (pronounced mar-shay - French for market) developed by the Movenpick Group (famous for their delicious ice-creams!).

Upon entering the restaurant, we were given a 'Marche passport' which will be stamped each time we ordered from a food station. You pay after you finish your meal. For those who think they can try and get a free meal out of it, think again. Each person gets a passport which has to be handed back to the cashier or else a RM200 fine will be imposed.

We really liked the informal and relaxed atmosphere. What I liked most about the place was that their fresh produce was on display and you knew exactly what you were getting on your dish ie you could customise your own pizza.

Hubby went overboard with the drinks - he had a teh tarik, bottomless Sprite and a 'Botak' coconut. I had a strawberry milkshake - very nice. For food, we shared a wagyu beef set that comes with mash potatoes and small salad and calamari fritto which came with homemade tartare or Thai chilli sauce. The beef was really tasty. I would have liked the calamari better if the batter was lighter.

Fresh salad

The market

The meat station (chicken/ lamb chops / steaks / bratwurst)

Our wagyu beef cooked medium - yum!

Fresh botak coconut

Fish counter - grilled to your liking

Dessert (scone / muffins / cakes / brownies)

Calamari fritto

Our Marche passport

Good experience, would definitely return.

Location: Marche Movenpick Restaurant, Lot G87, Ground Floor, The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, 47800 Petaling Jaya.

Opening hours: 11am - 11pm

Comfort: Clean. Informal.

Food: 8/10. Good for sharing. Large selection of fresh juices, homemade drinks, seafood, salad, pasta, pizza, rosti, soup, grill, dessert and wine.

Price: Reasonable. Rm100 for 2 persons.

Website: http://www.marche-malaysia.com/

The Apartment @ The Curve

I was a little apprehensive about dining at The Apartment as I had previously read some bad reviews about this place. We were looking for a place to have lunch at in The Curve, and Hubby decided we should give it a go.

In here, you will find different "rooms" you may find in an apartment. We were given the option of either the 'bedroom' or 'bathroom' and opted for the bedroom. Bathroom looks a bit shabby to be honest.

The bedroom section - a daybed which was rather comfy to laze in but not so appropriate to eat in

Bathroom section

The bar

The menu comprises of tapas, seafood, salads, sandwiches, Western and also Asian style cooking. I had the lamb rack and ice lemon tea whilst Hubby had the sheppard's pie (I think the correct spelling should be shepherd). The ice lemon tea was the homemade kind 'with a teabag and lemon squeezed in'. For me, it wasn't sweet enough.

When our food arrived, I was pretty impressed and thought 'Okay, this looks like a promising start to our meal'. Hubby enjoyed his shepherd's pie - cheese on the mash potatoes and the beef mince with a hint of tomato provided complementary twists to this traditional dish.

Hubby's shepherd's pie

When I took my first bite of my lamb dish, I was impressed. The meat was cooked pink in the middle (just the way I like it). The crushed basil sauce went really well with the lamb. However, (okay this is the part where it starts going wrong...:-( ), the sauteed new potatoes were really undercooked. You couldn't even crush it with your fork, that's how hard it was. Hubby kindly offered me some of his mash potatoes.

Lamb rack

So, when the waiter cleared our plates, I mentioned the 'hard potatoes' to him and he didn't apologize or make any comment about it. To me, that is bad service. It's as though they ("the restaurant") do not care about what they serve their customers. I didn't bother with dessert. Later when we asked for our bill, it took about 10 minutes as they had some technical error with their machine.

Overall, I felt quite disappointed with the meal as they couldn't even get a basic side dish cooked to an edible standard. Cooking potatoes is not rocket science. Not worth a return visit.

Location: The Apartment, Lot 72-74, 152 Ground Floor, Western Courtyard, The Curve.

Food: 6/10. Very bad potatoes.
Price: Reasonable. RM80 for 2 persons.
Service: Poor. Their waiters can't speak English. And they have lousy etiquette.
Website: http://www.atheapartment.com/

Hee Lai Ton Restaurant, Seremban

Since it's Duan Wu Jie (Dumpling Festival) today, we decided to eat out. We chose Hee Lai Ton restaurant as the weather is a little hot lately and the restaurant is fully air-conditioned.

One of the specials for the day is roast duck (special price and freshly roasted). The duck meat was succulent and the skin was very crispy. A bargain at RM15 for half a duck.

There was also a special promotion on crabs - we opted for 'Kam Hiong' style, a little spicy but compliments the crabs very well. RM26.80 per kg.

To complete the meal, we ordered a tofu dish (in abalone sauce and pak choi on the side - RM8) and stir fry baby kailan (I was surprised that this vege dish was the same price as the duck at RM15). The tofu dish is one of my favorites here, I like the smooth velvety texture of the tofu and rich sauce.

Everyone dived into the crab dish except for me - I didn't like getting my hands dirty. I looked through the menu and saw that they had another special for Thursday - shark fin soup at RM10 per bowl. Curious, I ordered a bowl and it tasted surprisingly good considering the price.

Complimentary soup of the day is included in the meal.

Different specials for every day of the week - check out the menu.


Non-halal Chinese restaurant
Comfort: Fully air-conditioned.
Food rating: 8/10
Price: Reasonable
Service: Very good. The waiters here kept my baby amused whilst we ate.
Location: 1398, Permata Villa Club, Jalan Permata 1, Taman Permata, 70200 Seremban (near Puteri school)

Mesana, Marbella

I first came across the term 'Michelin star' when I was still working in the UK. I used to watch cooking programmes on TV such as Great British Menu, where they produced beautiful plates of food. Ever since then, I always wanted to try how Michelin food tasted like.. did it taste as good as it looked?

What does the Michelin star mean?

The Michelin Red Guide awards one to three stars to restaurants that exhibit outstanding quality, where one star means "a very good restaurant in its category", two stars "excellent cooking, worth a detour", and three stars "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey".

I had my first Michelin experience when we were on holiday at Marbella. My, oh my, it was wonderful!

Mesana is a one-star Michelin restaurant inside the Gvadalpin Marbella Hotel. We were staying in the Gvadalpin Banus and read about this restaurant in one of the brochures and Hubby decided to treat me for a lovely meal on our final night.

Upon arrival, we were asked if we would like a glass of champagne. Champagne on the house - never heard of that before!

The service was excellent, even my handbag got its own stool to sit on. How cool is that? They even had a water menu.... about 10 pages I think!

We wanted to order the degustation menu, but we arrived a little late and the maitre d' said we wouldn't have enough time to finish the 7 courser! Okay nevermind...... so I ordered a main course of fish and dessert. Hubby did the same.

So, we sat there sipping our champagne and drinking our special water from the special water menu and then this plate of 'food' appeared in front of us. Being a first timer, we didn't know what to expect, but the maitre d' explained to us that this was the first amuse bouche (appetizer) for the night. First? You mean there's more to come? (sorry I have no idea what the names to these dishes were cos they were in Spanish, and though the maitre d' was very nice, he spoke English a bit too quickly)

See how gorgeous the food looks! First appetizer for the night.

Second appetizer for the night. Veal wrapped in some thingy.

Hubby's main course. Fish dish.
Our desserts - I had the souffle while Hubby had a "chocolate ball" dessert which melts when you pour hot chocolate over it. Delish!

Yet another freebie! More desserts.

I went back to our hotel room a very happy lady. Michelin again please?

Comfort: The place is beautiful, very cosy setting.

Service: The best! So attentive.

Price: I think we paid less than €100 for both of us.

Food: 10/10 (it did taste as good as it looked)

Location: Mesana, Hotel Gvadalpin Marbella, Marbella, Spain

Website: http://www.granhotelguadalpin.com/en/restauracion/mesana.cfm

In search of best Penang char koay teow

Penang is famous for their hawker food, in particular the char koay teow. We were in Penang for a short break and I was determined to find my perfect plate of char koay teow!


Here's our verdict:

#1 - Gurney Drive (Store no. 107) - The texture of the noodles was a little wet due to the still runny yolk. The chives is still raw, more of a garnish for this dish. 4 large king prawns - yum! This is the best thing about Penang char koay teow, they always use big big prawns unlike other versions of char koay teow. Not bad but not the best.



#2 - Lorong Selamat (goggled chef) - Before we came to Penang, we did some online research and read about the aunty in Lorong Selamat who wears goggles while cooking. However, the shop was closed on that day, and a few shops down the road, there is an goggled uncle dishing up plates of char koay teow too! Since we walked all the way here, might as well give it a go. We were not disappointed, a very tasty plate of char koay teow with big juicy prawns and pieces of 'lap cheong' (chinese sausage). Very good!



#3 - Swatow Lane Hawker Centre - We came to this hawker centre following an article on The Star featuring this place. However I have to say the char koay teow here is really lousy! I ordered the special with duck egg, but this plate of char koay teow is really lacking in flavour. I was so disappointed.
#4 - Sister's at Jalan Macalister - On our last and final day, our cab driver made a detour to this stall when he heard we haven't tasted the famous Sister's char koay teow yet! Well it wasn't like we didn't want to, but we couldn't find the stall. Anyway I am so glad that he took us here, as the char koay teow was delicious with big juicy prawns, cockles, egg, chives and topped with shredded crab meat. The beansprouts still had a very nice crunch to it. Everything was spot on!

I therefore proclaim #4 as the best char koay teow in Penang, followed closely by #2! Well, at least for me.

If you do not have time to go all the way to Penang for char koay teow, I reckon the one you get from Little Penang in Midvalley is pretty decent.

Yuri Japanese Restaurant, Seremban

For Mother's Day celebration, we went to Yuri Japanese Restaurant at Klana Resort for their Sunday buffet. I anticipated that it would be busy on the 10th, so we actually went a week earlier. Surprise surprise, it was still busy! And it's easy to see why it is so busy.

Their buffet may not be as elaborate as the ones that you can get in KL (such as Jogoya or Kampachi) but the spread is definitely satisfactory.

My favorites: Sashimi (very fresh!), tempura (there was a queue for this), dessert (cheese cake was nice), chawanmushi, unagi (grilled eel)

What else can you get: Beef / chicken sukiyaki, teppanyaki assortment, fruits, salad, grilled king prawns, mussels, fresh oyster, grilled crabs, sushi, California roll

What I didn't like: Service for green tea was a bit slow as it was too busy.

Halal.

On Sundays only (reservation recommended)

Rating: 8/10

Price: RM45++ per person

Location: Location: Yuri Japanese Restaurant, Klana Resort Seremban, PT4388, Jalan Penghulu Cantik, Taman Tasik Seremban, 70100 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

Tel: 06 - 766 7888

TC Keong Restaurant, Seremban

If you're looking for a place to eat in Seremban, then try this tai chow (Chinese fry) restaurant. It has been around for a few years now, and the food there is excellent, not to mention very affordable too.

My favorite Chinese restaurant in Seremban! Where else can you get good food at these prices?

King spareribs (Chinese: pai kuat wong) (RM8)

Tofu Thai style (RM5)

Steamed fish with sweet spicy sauce (Chinese: cheong ching fei chau) - price dependant on size

Noodles in eggy sauce (Chinese: wat tan hor) (RM5)

Cuttlefish Kungpo style (RM8)

Kangkung with green chillies (RM5)

And last but not least, my favorite beef in oyster sauce, spring onions and ginger (RM8).

Non halal.

Comfort: No A/C but not too hot if you sit under the fan. Clean.

Food rating: 9/10. Homestyle Chinese food.

Price: Very affordable. RM30 for 3 person (4 dishes plus tea and rice)

Service: Very good and efficient.

Location: TC Keong Restaurant, No. 7 Ground Floor, Jalan Seri Rahang 1, Taman Seri Rahang, 70100 Seremban (near Cosway)




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