Wonder.Food.Travel

Perching on an upper floor in a quieter part of Bangsar is Zoe, a casual fine eatery that has won me over with its fusion food, especially the starters. I made a reservation for Sunday dinner and was more than glad that they attended to my request. The staircase leading to the restaurant was vibrant; its wall decorated with catchy posters and media reviews. The interior was relaxing, although its deco is a confusing mix of country themes. As my family and i sat, the friendly waiter distributed menus and carefully took our orders. We even had some from the lunch menu (because they seemed appetizing). Low lighting (tricky for photography here) and gentle background music, we later occupied the entire place. There is an open kitchen bar in which you can watch the chefs work their culinary skills then dine. Muhammara with Flat Bread was one of our favourites that night. Frankly, i first heard of this here. This red pepper dip was tasty and whet appetite. It was easy to eat that w...

My lil' brother invited me to go on an island getaway with him. Where? So we looked towards the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. He wasn't interested in Pulau Tioman or Pulau Rawa in the southern region, and we contacted several sites in Pulau Perhentian but they were fully booked on our preferred dates. Peak season. Hence, we picked Pulau Redang and yay, Redang Beach Resort had availability and reasonably priced snorkeling packages too. Lo and behold, it was the same resort we went to 13 years ago with the family! Same, same. For our resort, we needed to board a boat from the jetty in Kuala Terengganu. Instead of taking an overnight bus from KL, i decided to drive in the morning a day early to explore this eastern city. Maps estimated a five-hour drive. We took frequent breaks to rest our eyes (and the car) and refill our stomachs (and the car). This added an hour to the estimate. The music-filled drive was smooth as we cruised along the quiet East Coast Expressway (...

Occupying an arc on a circular shoplet in Mont Kiara, this small but homey eatery serving Chinese cuisine caught my attention. Neighbouring its sister (Fat Fish), i was quickly welcomed by the warmth of its decor. Service was friendly and attentive too; however i felt some were a little shy probably being junior. That said, the senior waitress that attended to us knew the menu by heart, recommending and taking in our requests, and mentally wrote our order. Kudos! It took us awhile to flip through the pages of menu though. Plates and bowls on wall. Totally Instaworthy! Notice the baby fishes following the parents? We had the shredded chicken with jellyfish under Appetizer section. The jellyfish was springy and thick. The shredded chicken lent a meaty texture. It was re(fresh)ing with a nutty taste. Surprisingly not in the menu (the waitress mentioned it was an old menu item but can be ordeded; i saw this online), the pumpkin with buttermilk was a winning dish. Sweet thin...

Means Hello, Mandalay. The official language of Myanmar is Burmese. I didn't even know how to say the simple words of Hello and Thank You then, or how the language sounded until when i was in the country. Written, it looks circular and curvy. Bluish white or whitish blue? In a sea of mini pagodas. I liked Mandalay most. The bus journey along the highway from Bagan was smooth. Suddenly, the bus halted by the road nearing Mandalay city, at what appeared to be a bus station. Another JJ bus was already on stand by. An attendant came onto our bus and asked for our destination. He directed us to board it. Like a feeder bus to the city, it was packed with passengers when we got up. The attendant informed us of our stop and we got down. Instantly, we felt transported back to city life with plenty of vehicles on the road and taller concrete buildings. Mandalay city was well organized and structured in a grid with numbers as road or street names. We gingerly crossed the road and...