freakZspeaks: Travel guide

Showing posts with label Travel guide. Show all posts

Sunday, 12 April 2015

Afternoon tea in a Mall @ Pastis Cafe & Dining, The Gardens Mall, Kuala Lumpur

A lovely cafe sitting at a quiet corner at The Gardens Mall. This cafe offers quite an extensive menu ranging from local cuisines, Western, desserts, coffee, and best of all, afternoon tea! Panda and I were looking for a place to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee here when I realised they also have afternoon tea set in their menu. We went for that considering it was more worth it plus we had the chance to try a few of their items at the same time.

The afternoon tea set came as a 3-tiered tea set; with savoury sandwiches, bruschetta and quiche at the bottom tier, followed by scones with cream and jam and finally the sweeter stuff; tiramisu, crème brûlée and a couple of their gourmet chocolates. It also came with 2 cups of coffee/tea. Perfect afternoon tea for a price of RM 54:) It was definitely more worth getting this rather than ala-carte coffee and desserts for each of us.

Coffee with a piece of cookie

I've always enjoyed afternoon teas although I'm not particularly a sweet tooth!

So, there is a way to eat the items on the tiers. You have to start from the bottom which is the savoury tier which usually consists of sandwiches, quiches etc. The second tier commonly is the cafe's scones with jam and cream. I love scones but usually would have been quite full by the time I reach this tier. The top most tier are the sweeter items; and although I'm not much of a sweet tooth, I personally like Pastis' tiramisu. The set is prepared for two however, three people sharing would be just perfect in my opinion (it was a little bit too much for us two as afternoon tea..lols)

Gourmet chocolates

Just come, relax and have a cup of coffee or tea or even to indulge your sweet tooth!

Address: G235-Ground Floor, The Gardens Mall, Kg-02, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur

Thursday, 2 April 2015

Not your usual Thai food @ Go Thai, SS2, PJ, Selangor

I said it's not the usual Thai food because after savouring so many Thai dishes, this was something quite new to me. This restaurant specializes in authentic street food of the Isan people, which is at the northeastern region of Thailand. Their menu is pretty simple, not that many choices but presentable enough for a decent lunch or dinner.

Panda had the khao kha moo (stewek pork leg with rice and egg-RM 9) while I had the Phad Mee Korat (RM 9) which is a version of pad thai. It was a good thing that Panda suggested a Tom yum seafood to share because it was really good in terms of thickness of soup, spiciness and taste (I'm so gonna learn how to make this in Canada!). However, I felt that there weren't much of a seafood in the soup although it's supposed to be a seafood soup. For RM 12, perhaps, they should consider throwing a couple more calamari and shrimp inside. Panda's dish looked like some typical Chinese stew pork with rice and egg. He did say it was tasty but it didn't really look that tempting to me. My pad thai tasted like a Thai version of char kuey teow (stir fried flat rice noodles) but soggier. Although it tasted good, I think I will stick to the usual pad thai and char kuey teow. This was just too soggy for me.

For dessert, we shared a bowl of tub tim krob (the famous Thai red rubies-RM 6). I love this dessert because the 'rubies' were really good. It was big, chewy and crunchy enough. It would have been better if they had more jackfruit slices inside to enhance the taste of the dessert.

Overall, a pretty decent place for lunch and dinner without costing a bomb.

Address: 187, Jalan SS2/24, PJ, Selangor

Website : Go Thai

Thursday, 19 March 2015

Visit Seoul 2015: One week travel guide

Thanks to all the addictive K-drama, I was so into Korea for the past one year. I finally made it there with Panda earlier this year. Although it was a short, one week trip to Seoul, we covered pretty much everything that I've been aiming for ;p. I might have mentioned this in my previous post, but just let me say it again that Seoul is more for the food and shopping lovers in general (of course apart from those die hard K-celebrities fans). I'll share with you the summary of my trip instead of day to day itinerary because everyone might have different preferences in mind, hence, you can adjust the amount of time according to your interest; be it shopping, eating, cafe hopping or sightseeing :)

Accomodation
Novotel Doksan

Since Panda was on a work trip, we stayed a couple of days slightly away from the city central. For those on business trips in Doksan or vicinity, Novotel is definitely a good choice. Home plus, a departmental store and supermarket is conveniently located directly opposite the hotel. Panda specifically reminded me to mention on this 24-hour dining place which is located beside the hotel. This place offers rich, beef ribs soup much to the liking of Panda. He never ever misses this whenever he is in Seoul for work. I must say the soup here is really delicious, rich and flavourful. For those visiting Seoul as tourist, stick to hotels at city central to avoid far distance transportation as Novotel is located approximately 45 minutes from Seoul Station.

L: Beef ribs soup; R: Pork dumpling in rich beef broth

Nine Tree Myeongdong

We stayed a couple of nights in Myeongdong because this apparently is where all the hype is (well, at least for tourists). We were pretty sure we are not going to be in the hotel room most of the time seeing our tight itinerary, hence, we decided to choose a mid-range place. This hotel was definitely one of the best in terms of location; approximately 100 m from Myeongdong Station. We were even given a free upgrade to a family room :)

Transportation

As it was peak winter in Korea and considering our tight itinerary, we spent quite a lot using cabs to move around. Cab prices are quite reasonable since there were 2 of us. We also purchase a T-money card, a rechargeable card that can be used in all transportation system. It's slightly cheaper than paying individual tickets and also allows easy transit (eg from one train line to another). This card is rechargeable from 1,000 to 90,000 won in ticket vending machines found in most subway station. However, not every station has the T-money machine to purchase the initial card. We bought ours from Seoul Station.

Wifi

If you cant read or speak Korean, wifi is probably the most important thing during your visit. Although there are many cafes or wifi hotspots in the city, having an individual, portable wifi will definitely be much more convenient particularly for directions. I got my pocket wifi from Wifi-Korea for USD$3.99 / day; with $100 deposit and $5 one way delivery fee (or free if you collect / return it to the office yourself). Moreover, you will receive a 10 % discount if you use the referral reservation form where they are partnering with a few guesthouses and blogs.

Things to do

Our trip was very much a food and shopping trip rather than a sightseeing trip. However, we managed to squeeze in some of the major tourist attractions such as Namsan Tower, Gyeongbokgung palace and vicinity, Insadong, and Bukchon Hanok Village. We also managed to catch an English movie in Megabox Coex Mall, Gangnam on a Friday night. The Ewha's Women University area was also a nice place to visit but preferably at daytime (to see the architectures). Don't forget the FREE hanbok experience at Myeongdong Tourist Information Centre (all-year round), M Plaza (all-year round) or Korea Tourist Information Centre (only in spring/summer). If you have time to spare, hop around the various cafes around the city~

From L to R: Gyeongbokgung palace gate, view from Bukchon Hanok Village

Insadong-A lovely, tourist-y place with various traditional items and food

Super chilly in the evening at Namsan Tower!

Ewha's Women University

Japanese food & movie night @ Coex Mall (Sushi O' and Megabox), Gangnam, Seoul

Friday night in Seoul was our date night (and also the last day of Panda's business trip). Since he was yearning to catch a movie in Seoul, I checked with my close friend who is working in Gangnam on some of the possible cinemas that have English movies. She suggested Megabox Coex, which is located inside Coex Mall, a newly renovated underground shopping mall in Gangnam. At least, Megabox Coex (16 halls) is known to show more updated English movies (with Korean subtititles). The only flaw is that, the website is in Korean, so, either you need someones help to translate, or diligently do the translation yourself beforehand. It is probably easier to just purchase the tickets on the spot as some staff are able to speak English. Movie tickets are prices reasonably even on a Friday night!

Tangy, refreshing salad and a mini bowl of Udon as starters

Since our movie was at 11 pm, we had ample time for dinner. The problem is, most kitchens in Coex Mall are close by 9.30 pm. We decided to try out Sushi O', a Japanese restaurant which was still open and accepting customers (although Japanese food was not exactly on our itinerary during our visit to Korea). We ordered the couple set because we were attracted to the presentation of sushi on the special wooden stand ;p. For starters, there was a bowl of salad which Panda loved so much because of the special citrus dressing used. The mini bowl of Udon was really delicious and flavourful..so colourful to just look at it!

The well-presented sushi set for two :)

A really friendly server helped us with this photo!

L: Breaded (not tempura battered) shrimp. Unfortunately there was no tempura shrimp in the menu; R: Salmon sushi with octopus, good stuff!

We had a regular popcorn to share during the movie. Nothing to shout about though. In fact, those that I used to have from GSC or TVG Malaysia were way better in terms of flavour. The cinema (seats, screen) were just alright, again, nothing if compared to the cinema in Siam Paragon, Thailand. We took a cab back to the hotel as it was way past midnight. It was a lovely night out in Seoul :)

Megabox Coex

Address: 513 Yeongdong-daero, Gangnam-gu, 서울특별시 South Korea

Directions: Samseong Station (Seoul Subway Line 2), Exit 5 or 6. COEX is directly connected to the station (adapted from Official Korea Tourism).

Wednesday, 18 March 2015

The best chicken ginseng soup (samgyetang) @ Korea Samgyetang VS Tosokchon, Seoul, Korea

Another must-try in Korea would be their chicken ginseng soup (samgyetang) which is considered one of the healthier way to cook chicken. Basically, chicken samgyetang is a small chicken, stuffed with sweet (glutinous) rice, ginseng, dates and some other herbs, and cooked in soup. The most famous samgyetang in Seoul is probably Tosokchon. We decided to try out two different restaurants in Seoul that serves chicken samgyetang; Korea Samgyetang and Tosokchon.

Korea Samgyetang (고려삼계탕)

This is probably a less tourist-ty place which appeared quite popular among the locals; having seen the crowd at lunch hour. Moreover, this restaurant is not strategically located at a tourist spots, hence, probably lesser recognized by tourists.

Korea Samgyetang at Jung-gu, Seoul

Convenient cutleries and awesome kimchi (pickled radish)

Stick to the basic samgyetang (14,000 won) or black chicken samgyetang (20,000 won) to try the authenticity of this dish

Pipping hot black ginseng chicken

Clear light broth with a piece of ginseng root as part of the stuffing

What we liked about this place is that their broth is clear and on the lighter side (not so starchy), which allows you to easily sip the broth as well. Honestly, the black chicken ginseng and normal chicken ginseng were not really much different taste-wise. So, you might just want to stick to the basic samgyetang and save some bucks there. Each dish also came with a little cup filled with ginseng wine; in case you prefer your soup with stronger ginseng. DO NOT pour the entire cup into soup at one go. Give it a try first to see if it fits your taste bud.

Address: 1, Seosomun-ro 11-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul 서울특별시 중구 서소문로11길 1 (서소문동)
Website: Korea Samgyetang (menu)
Directions: City Hall Station (Seoul Subway Line 1, 2), Exit 10. Go straight for about 100m to arrive at the Korea Samgyetang on the right (adapted from Official Korea Tourism).

Tosokchon (토속촌)

This is definitely the more famous restaurant in Seoul. Conveniently located near Gyeongbokgung station, frequent visits by their past president, and approval from the locals all definitely adds up to their popularity. The line-up will probably be long at lunch hours; even during winter. We were there at 3 pm and there was still a queue (but not too long).

Yes, it's cold if you have to line up during winter ;p

A really unique place, with unique, traditional Korean house feeling (minus the throngs of people)

Slightly more expensive than Korea Samgyetang; normal (15,000 won) and black chicken (28,000 won)

There's the traditional floor seating and normal chairs.

The extra ginseng on the normal chicken soup (21,000 won). Not much of a taste, really

Obvious larger chicken compared to Korea Samgyetang but not as tender

Spotted; chestnut as stuffing and super huge ginseng root

Please no stinky feet ;p

Maybe we were still full from our late breakfast earlier; but Panda and I thought that the broth was a little bit too starchy (probably from the glutinous rice). Also, although the chicken seemed bigger (more worth eating?), it was not as tender as Korea Samgyetang's. In fact, it was a little bit hard to chew. Perhaps there are just too many people, that the dish when served was not pipping hot as well (just tad warm). Stick to the normal chicken ginseng soup and forget about paying for the additional ginseng (extra 6,000 won!) because it was really not much of a difference. Again, the difference would come from how much ginseng wine you will be adding into your broth.

Address: 5, Jahamun-ro 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul 서울 종로구 자하문로5길 5 (체부동)

Website: Tosokchon

Directions: Gyeongbokgung Station (Seoul Subway Line 3), Exit 2. Go straight about 170m and turn left onto Jahamun-ro 5-gil Road. Tosokchon (토속촌) is located 10m ahead on the left (adapted from Official Korea Tourism).

Verdict:

Overall, if you have the chance and if you decide that you loved this dish, go try both of them! I, personally am not a herbal/ginseng fan, but I definitely felt that this was probably one of the best Korean dish. Even my mum agreed on that! Panda and I preferred the Korea Samgyetang's because it was at least served hot, lighter broth and perfect size chicken. Tosokchon will definitely be a good place to go as well (since its so conveniently located) and the chance to experience a Korean traditional house without the need to pay extra. Again, it would be of personal preference :)

Tuesday, 3 February 2015

Café hopping in Seoul @ Seoul, Korea

After 2 failed attempts to visit some unique-themed cafes in Hongik University area and another at Ewha University area (found the cafes but apparently they are no more in business), I decided to forego the idea to visit more of these cafes due to my limited available time. Although the unique-themes cafes are interesting, as majority do not offer attractive menu, I felt that they are not able to last long (it's more of just a trend). Hence, I decided to visit cafes that are more well-known in Seoul (majority with a few branches) and offer not only good ambience but good food and beverages as well.

Korean Dessert Cafe Sulbing(설빙) - Myeongdong stores (cafes are on 2nd floor)

Patbingsu (red beans with shaved ice) is a famous summer dessert in Korea. New cafes however have created modernised versions of this dessert with different toppings. Sulbing is a trendy, Korean dessert chain cafe originated from Busan, that offers various bingsu, toasts and drinks. Their best recommended items are the Injeolmi Snowflake Sherbet (Injeolmi=a type of rice cake) and Injeolmi toast. Currently, they have set menus which are well-worth it if you plan to try a few of their items at one go.

Set A: Injeolmi Bingsu + Injeolmi toast + Korean sweet rice drink (12000 won)

The thinly shaved ice with sweetish Injeolmi powder, chewy cubes of rice cakes and almonds topping is definitely a unique, tasty treat that one must try in Korea. The shaved ice and Injeolmi powder practically melted in the mouth. To make things even better, sweet milk (a more diluted version of condesed milk) is provided in case you prefer it sweeter. The Injeolmi toast was just as good; toasted bread with chewy rice cake filling and Injeolmi powder topping. They have quite a variety of bing su and toasts on their menu, so, if you have the chance, try the other variations as well such as the mango and cheese cubes, and strawberry bingsu.

One of the branches in Myeong-dong; close to the Myeongdong Tourist Information Center

Another Sulbing cafe branch in Myeongdong

On our last night, we headed to this cafe again (but another larger branch in Myeongdong), to try the sweet red bean porridge (danpatjuk), a Korean cuisine commonly eaten during winter. Compared to the usual porridge that contains chewy balls made of glutinous rice flour, the Sulbing version had the chewy rice cakes separated from the red bean soup which I thought was a splendid idea. The porridge is a little bit too thick to my liking, and one can easily get filled up quick (sharing it with a friend would be better idea).

Sulbing's cafe menu

O'Sulloc Tea House - Gangnam store

O'Sulloc Tea house is a themed cafe specializing in authentic Korean traditional teas particularly green tea. I met up with my school buddy who is currently working in Seoul for a Gangnam night out. After dinner, we headed to this tea house for some dessert. We ordered the green tea ice cream, green tea tiramisu and a cup of hot green tea. The green tea ice cream definitely topped my list of green tea ice cream - for its pureness of the green tea (without overpowering the ice cream) and smooth ice cream (next best I've ever tested would be Häagen-Dazs'). While my friend loved the ice cream, I actually prefered the tiramisu green tea which was really good as well. Instead of having coffee powder topping, this was topped with green tea powder. A small portion dessert that can be easily finished by a single person without feeling sick of it at the end:). We had a great night of non-stop chatting and eating!

Beans Bins Coffee - Hongik University branch

This chain cafe can be found all around Seoul and boasts an array of specialty coffee and waffles. I skipped breakfast that day in order to try out their signature ice cream waffle. Thick waffle with generous portion of fresh cream, 2 scoops of Häagen-Dazs ice cream of your choice, strawberries and banana as toppings. While the ingredients used are nothing special, the combination was brilliant. The warm thick waffle melted the toppings a little bit which gave the 'oomph' when you're eating it. Something else quite common in Korea is the used of sweet potato in their desserts and beverages. I also tried their sweet potato latte which was awesome. Frothy milk with sweet potato flavour (something like green tea latte but with sweet potato instead). Unfortunately, I was unable to finish everything…what a shame. Nice place to hang out with friends and to share a waffle:)

Signature ice cream waffle and sweet potato latte

Hongik University branch on 2nd floor

Hollys Coffee - Ewha Women University branch

Caramel macchiato

This cafe very similar to Starbucks / Coffee Bean and can easily be found around in Seoul as well. Ewha Women University area generally has less cafes compared to Hongik (Angel-in-us will be opening soon though). I finally spotted this coffee place on one of the narrow streets off the main street. Again, this cafe is on the 2nd floor so just look out for their signboard. I only had a coffee here as I actually wanted to just take a break from walking outside in the cold. A nice coffee place to hang out in the afternoon and people-watch (lols).

Paris Baguette Bakery Cafe

This was at 10 pm!

You will find this bakery practically everywhere in Seoul. A cafe cum bakery which opens until late night. Best of all, despite it close to closing hours, there are still plentiful selections available. I usually get something here for my breakfast the next day:)

Ok, I definitely had more than this but I forgot to take some photos of them though..lols..

Sanmotoonge Gallery and Cafe - Buam-dong

Perhaps some of you might recognised this cafe (the filming place of k-dramas Coffee Prince and My Princess). I've decided to blog this cafe on a separate post (blog post here) because of its uniqueness which puts it on top of the rest of the unique-themed cafes in Seoul.

freakZspeaks

freakzspeaks