Favola - Italian restaurant @ Sentral

Kuala Lumpur - Donny and Edward joined me for lunch at the next hotel - Le Meridien Sentral on the 8th floor fine Italian restaurant - FAVOLA.

spread of bread and dips

We were tended to by a patient and good waiter.   The bread spread was perfect; crispy on the outside and hot and moist on the inside.  I asked him how the restaurant made the bread this way and he explained to me.

Ravioli with slices of truffles

Fresh ink squid pasta

My first time trying ink squid fresh pasta with prawns and pine seeds.   It tasted really good.

Fresh vegetables with Italian dressing

Seafood pizza

The seafood pizza was freshly made in firewood oven but not one of the best Pizzas I have tasted.  It does not have much flavoring and ingredients on the Pizza.   As you can see it is quite bare making the taste of the Pizza a bit bland.

Beef Lasagna

One of the best beef Lasagna I have ever tasted.   Well made from rich taste of mozzarella cheese a nice slice of pasta sheet and lots of minced beef.   The melted cheese combined with the minced beef was awesome.

The service staff was good and given told me about the UOB card promotion of 50%.  It was worth another visit to this restaurant.

Yusheng @ Dragon-i restaurant at Mid Valley

Kuala Lumpur - Had lunch @ Hilton KL newly renovated restaurant and they have a wide spread of buffet.   Nice desserts...

Fruits and Kueh

Dinner was at the Dragon-i restaurant @ mid-valley.   It was crowded as Chinese New Year is nearly and many Chinese are have festive dinners with customers, friends and relatives.   We waited for just 10 minutes and was shown to our table.   Yusheng was the first dish we ordered....

Yusheng with raw salmon

very spicy deep fried chicken

Firecrackers

Very loud fire crackers went off just within ear shot from me.....

Brindavan

Mysore - Our last destination was the Gardens of Brindavan and the Dam.

Map of Brindavan

We around the manicure gardens of Brindavan but their fountains was not clean of green slime and algae around the walls.

View of the Brindavan garden

Royal Orchid Brindavan Hotel

I was surprise to find a hotel within this garden.  A very regal building white wash and grand but looks empty of hotel guest.

Bust of Maharaja

Fountains

You can easily see the algae in the water fountain.

Brindavan reservoir

Brindavan Dam

We did not want to wait for the night display of water fountain as it will commence at 7pm and it will be very late when we arrive back in Bangalore.  We departed this location around 6pm and only arrive back at the hotel around 9pm.

I was very tired but could not sleep as I was nervously looking at the driver to make sure he does not dose off and also keeping a look out on what's going on the highway.   Some slow truck drivers keep to the left and some to the right; resulting in faster cars swerve from left to right with excessive horning.  Good road manners dictates that slow drivers keep to the left.

Saint Philomena Cathedral

Mysore - The St Philomena Cathedral is one of the largest and oldest church in India built by the Mysore Maharaja for his growing Christian population.   The architecture is very Gothic and beautiful.

St Philomena Cathedral

Walking inside the cathedral was beautiful with sun rays shinning on stain glasses.  A school boy walked down this narrow staircase and we decided to follow him and through a narrow and dark catacombs.

narrow passage of the catacombs

St Mary Catholic school

Mysore Palace

Mysore - The highlight is the magnificent Mysore Palace.  At the entrance, foreigners pay Rs 200 and local Indians pay Rs 40.  We had to hand over our shoes and pick up a number tag.   As part of the foreigners entrance we have to pick up the complimentary visitor handsets which do help in explaining the vast palace.  It was in English and was very clear and informative.

Mysore Palace

Visitors are prohibited from taking photos of the exhibits and interior of the Mysore palace, there were guards at every corner of the palace.   I was in awe at the grandeur of this palace.

Walking around the palace, I do not see the purpose of taking off ones shoes as the floor was dirty and unkept but I kept my socks on throughout the whole walk.

Chamundi Hills

Mysore - It was a steep drive up the mountain to an elevation of 3,300 ft.  A large crowd of devotees was gathering in front of the temple but an even larger crowd queuing to get into this mountain.   Again, I have no intention of entering this temple - the large crowd and also the fear of losing my shoes.  Everyone was walking barefooted on the dusty and dirty roads.   

Panoramic view of Mysore city

so many trash around the mountain

Ranganatha Swamy Temple

Mysore  -  I took photos from the outside and did not enter this Temple as we had to take off our shoes.   There were few tourist and mostly devotes were walking barefooted on the tar roads.

Ranganatha Swamy Temple

Everyone was looking at us as we stand out among them.  We walked briefly around the shops that lined the roads.

Indian artisans

The finished products

Colonel Bailey's Dungeon

Mysore - I thought it was a dungeon built by the British to in-prison Indian prisoners of war in fact it was the opposite.  Built by Tipu Sultan to house high ranking British officers and most noteably Colonel Bailey.   Strange but true, the British fought and lost in their Anglo-Mysore wars.

stairs down to the dungeons

wall of doom

The walls have concrete stubs to chain the hands of the prisoners to the left and right.

Fort surrounding the dungeon

Tipu Death Place

Mysore -  This was the resting place of the Mysore ruler - Tipu Sultan.

Tombstone of the Tipu Sultan

We stopped here for just 5 mins...

Jama Masjid Mysore

Mysore - Next, we visited Mysore famous Mosque - Juma Masjid.

Jama Masjid Mysore

The distinctive twin minarets of this mosque and is more than 225 years old.  This Jama Masjid was built by Tipu Sultan.

Pond within the Mosque compound

We did not bother to take off our shoes to view the interior afraid that someone might steal our shoes.

Mysore Summer Palace

Mysore - Our journey to Mysore started early at 7:15am; driving for more than 2 hrs to reach our destination at Mysore Summer Palace.

Pay to use the toilet

Surprisingly it was clean and the price is Rs1 (2 Singapore cents).

This is the summer residence of the Tipu Sultan as a Muslim ruler of Mysore with Hindu subjects.

corridor of the Summer Palace

Mysore Summer Palace

Mysore Summer Palace

Those are green blinds around the Summer Palace to block the sunlight.   I think to prevent excessive damage to the interiors and numerous photographs within the premises.

Nice weather in Bangalore

Bangalore - Today was the first time my flight on SQ subsidiary SilkAir was delayed by 8 hrs. Lesley flight into Bangalore was also similarly delayed and was told at checked in that Indian airport officials closed the airspace due to military drills.  

The 'bright spot' to this delay was that our flight timings was very similar and we rode the taxi to the Hotel together.   The temperature was around 19 c and it was chilling but very nice.

We stayed at Hyatt Bangalore throughout our stay and it was a memorable stay.  As there are few Singaporeans, we are easily recognizable and was accorded 'princely' service.  It was a very good feeling.

My room

The room is small and clean, with switches at the right places and most importantly WiFi.

I was hankering for Briyani; whether chicken or mutton it does not matter.  So, we hop to the Indian fusion restaurant - Lido on the 4th floor of the hotel.   The waiters and managers were excellent in serving us and tendered to our very needs.   I forgotten to bring my iPhone 5 cable and their restaurant manager loan it to me over night charged which helped me tided over my stay at Hyatt.

I don't eat Briyani in Singapore as it is very oily but here in India - the Briyani is baked or steam - perfect to the way I like it.   I love the fragrant smell of the Briyani cooked with Basmati rice and spices.

Dipping bottle

This bottle has 2 spouts for Balsamic vinegar and Olive oil, drippings for freshly baked 'hot' buns.

Tao Yuan @ Greenbelt 3 - really Good Chinese seafood

Manila - The seafood in this restaurant is fresh and very good - Tao Yuan Restaurant @ 2nd floor of Greenbelt 3.

Lapu lapu (Grouper)

One of the fishes was our dinner and that is the Lapu lapu fish.  Lapu lapu is a Grouper and this fish is very expensive in Singapore as it is one of the hardest fish to catch, always hiding among the rocks.

steam fish

The grouper was very deliciously cook and as it is fresh, steam is always best as you can savour the freshness of the fish.   This grouper was cooked Cantonese style steam with light sauce and garnish over it.   Just perfect and the way I like it.

This restaurant has 2 Chinese cooks - one from Hong Kong and the other from Singapore.  It is no wonder their food taste authentically Chinese.

Roast duck (half)

We had half roast duck and half Singapore hainanese chicken.  Both tasted succulently soft and delicious.  Adding the dish of brocholi and total bill was around SGD 86 for 4 persons.

Ascott Makati & Dekada @ Glorietta 3

Manila - Arrived at Manila and it was fine weather.   This is the first time I am staying at Ascott Makati and it is a much nicer than the other 2 Somersett 'sisters' of this hotel.   The furnishing and layout of this apartment looks much posh and luxury.

We had dinner @ Dekada restaurant near our Hotel which is a walking distance to the famous mall - Glorietta 3.   This restaurant claimed to provide historical Filipino food.  So, we ordered the following:

Bangus Ala Pobre

Bangus is Milk fish which when cooked this way, taste really good.

Laring with shrimps

The dish’s main ingredients are taro leaves cooked in coconut milk, salted with fish bagoong. 

Sizzling Pork Sisig

This is Sisig which is chopped pork face and ears topped with raw egg on sizzling hot plate.