Tasting Penang delicacies

Penang - We went to a Penang kueh chap shop for lunch.   It is basically an Innards restaurant - but this is a Duck's innards yummy....

Penang Famous Kueh Chap

A mixture of duck's innards

A delicious mixture of the famous Penang's kueh chap - you will find the stomach, intestines, meat and gizzard (a muscular, thick-walled part of a bird's stomach for grinding food).

Ching Tng

To cool it all off with a nice bowl of icy Chng Tng.....as desert.

Good Friends Seafood in Penang

Penang - Donny with his shinny black beamer drover us to this Good Friends Seafood restaurant @ No 84, Mukim 9, Pulau Pinang, 11920 Jalan Teluk Kumbar.   The seafood is fresh and reasonably priced.  We ordered a wide variety of seafood dishes.

steamed helicopters 

seafood noodles

stir fried vegetables

clams

Locals called this lala clams and this was stir fried with ginger and spring onions.

Sting Ray

Pepper crabs

Taste Paradise restaurant @ Plaza Indonesia

Jakarta - Taste Paradise restaurant is an award winning restaurant and one of Singapore's top 10 restaurant and not surprising to be at Plaza Indonesia.

Beef with French beans

The beef was marinated well and tasted very tender.  I like the french beans so much because it gives a nice crunchy bite to the taste.

Kai Lan with salted vegetables

Soft bean curd

Beef with porcini mushrooms 

The porcini mushrooms are very popular which gives an earthy taste to the beef.  These mushrooms are harvested in the wild and has to be consumed within a few days of harvesting.

Sea Bass steamed with soya sauce

A very good meal and will be coming back for more...

Lara Djonggrang Restaurant - Top 10 in Jakarta

Jakarta - We went to one of Jakarta popular traditional restaurant and without a doubt it has the most classy decor in whole of Jakarta.  The ambiance takes you back to medival Javanese era with statues and paintings surrounding dining area.  This is repeatedly recognised as one of the Top 10 restaurants in Jakarta.

Medival Javanese design

courtyard deco

Besides the decor the food is fresh and really good.  The waiter presented to us this huge oversize menu with cuisines I have never seen before.  So, we went with what was recommended and generally what we know.  Satay is one we are very familiar with.

Satay on a charcoal stove

Soto Asem Iga Sapi

IKAN Keputren Daha

Minced fish BBQ over a charcoal stove.

same IKAN

This is content of the pandan leaf wrapping opened up.  In the photo, it looks disgusting but it actually tasted very good and fresh.

Nasi Merah

Red rice in the shape of traditional Indonesian puppet.

Bobur daun singkong

This is a vegetable dish cooked with cassava leaves (Tapioca).  This was my first time tasting tapioca leaves and it was soft cooked over a long period of time.   Tapioca leaves are stiff so cooking over long period of time would break it down and make it palatable..

Definitely worth coming back to this restaurant to taste their other interesting dishes..

Friend the Restaurant

Phnom Penh - I think there were too much hype about this Friend the Restaurant by Backpacker tourist.  Though this restaurant was ran as a good cause to provide street children an income and also a  training school for cooks; the food was simple,  came in small portions and was expensive.

It was not very far from our hotel about a short 10 minutes walk.

Chicken with Pumpkin

As you can see from the pics small portion and simple home dishes....not worth going there.  But their sister restaurant Romdeng was excellent.

Kane Mochi

Phnom Penh - Just across the road, there was a Mochi shop and we pop in for another round of desert.

Kane Mochi

Our Mochi

And then for some serious Jenga game...

Why so serious?

Malis Restaurant - Phnom Penh popular restaurant

Phnom Penh - We went to Phnom Penh popular restaurant - Mali Restaurant.  The food is pretty , fresh, good and tasty.

Beautiful decor

Ready for food

Cambodian sausage

Slices of pork

Morning Glory

Moringa soup

This Moringa soup is claim to have medicinal properties of Moringa leaf and pumpkin flower consommé.

Fish Prahok

Kampot Crab Fried Rice

Coconut ice cream

Malis restaurant is also famous for their delicious deserts. Definately worth coming back again.

ILForno Italian Restaurant

Phnom Penh - Dinner was at a top Italian restaurant in Phnom Penh - IL Forno.   I had their pork ribs and it was exquisite to perfection.

Pork Ribs with spinach 

Very delicious meal and worth coming again for a good pork ribs.  

Tuoi Sieng Genocide Museum

Phnom Penh - After our lunch, we decided to visit one of Cambodian darkest nightmare with history shrouded in death and torture.   This place is Tuoi Sieng Genocide Museum (most famously called S21).   Over 20,000 people were prisoned and murdered in this old school compound.   At the end only 12 confirmed survivors.   The admission to his museum was USD 6 with the audio headphones.

The audio took me through all 32 grim stations and I left the place in a very sad and heavy heart with so many deaths in a location that once was filled with joy and laughter.

14 anonymous graves

Rules for every prisoner

elevated sight of the 14 graves

prison entrance

The Khmer rouge erected barred wire fences to prevent prisoners from committing suicide after numerous torture.

Memorial for the deaths at this former school

Vans's fine french Restaurant in Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh - The old French colonial building that house this restaurant has a rich Cambodian history that once own by the Van family for the sole purpose of the Indochina Bank.  When the revolution broke out, the Vans family fled the country and the property was forcefully acquired.   In 2003, the Van family purchased it from the elected Cambodian government to start this French exquisite restaurant.   Currently, one of the top 10 best restaurant in Phnom Penh.

Bread rolls and butter

We were the only guest during lunch and chose their business lunch set menu.    It was very nice to have the bread rolls hot and soft within.

Cheese ravioli with tomato and basil sauce

The presentation was good and the dish was even better.

Potato Salad

This dish was chosen by Lesley and Air...

Stew Pork Cheek with red wine and rosemary

An excellent dish and I love it so much.   The pork was so tender and well marinated.

scrimp and small scallop

Air Duck and potato dish

Tapioca with coconut and ginger and fruits

Van's proud culinary awards