Nando's + Hard Rock Cafe, Penang

We touched down in Penang in the middle of the afternoon.  Having only had a pathetic salad for lunch before taking off from Changi Airport, I am ready to gorge on some substantial food!

We ended up at Gurney Plaza, because the place where we wanted to eat at was already closed!  But no worries, as I'm more than happy to eat Nando's at half the price in Singapore and Australia!

 

Me want drinks!  I was so thirsty and quickly ordered a jug of iced lemon tea...aaahh...

Chicken galore!  I simply love the peri-peri sauce in Nando's chicken.  It is dangerously addictive and make you feel like eating more of it!  I bought back a bottle of their Garlic Peri-Peri at like MYR10.50, and I'm as happy as a lark!

The sides were not too bad, the fries were decent.  The coleslaw was ok.  There was also a serve of butter rice, which I didn't like too much because of the frozen peas and carrots in it.

It was a happy meal alright!  And the price makes me even happier and there was NO queue, unlike the Nando's in Singapore.

After resting in the hotel for awhile, we set off to Hard Rock Cafe Hotel.  It's always fun to go to a Hard Rock establishment.  

This mosaic of The Beatles on the wall is freaking awesome!  Wish I can do something like this at my new place.

These lights changes colour every so often and it's a real pretty sight to behold.  The band was playing some music when we reached there, and it was a nice place to chill and have a nice glass of cocktail or beer.

I should book a room here for my next trip to Penang!

Sakae Sushi

Sakae Sushi is a place that we go to when we are very hungry, and when there is not much other choices around, and of course when there is no queue.

We were in such a situation not too long ago at Bishan Junction 8, after a super long day in church.

Sakae was empty, and we quickly grabbed a booth seat and ordered food!!  But my rule of thumb here is not to eat anything raw from the conveyor belt.  How fresh can it be after going through several rounds round the conveyor belt??

But first, a glass of cold green tea to quench the thirst!  

And grabbed the next plate of tobiko gunkan to quell some of the hunger pangs.  Ok, this is raw, but I made an exception this time round.  As usual, the seaweed has lost it's crispness and it's stale and "wet".  

Sakae didn't have lobster salad until they copied it from another sushi place...which I shall not name here.  But what's not to like?  Chunks of lobster meat with mayo...yummy.

J's all time favourite is the fried soft shell crab, but he placed the wrong order this time, and got the softshell crab sushi!  I find the rice is superfluous...you can just enjoy the fried crab on it's own.

A meal at Sakae is not complete with their Sakae Chawanmushi.  All the soft, eggy goodness in a cup. Not the best, but comforting nonetheless...

J had the chicken teriyaki don - he needs rice to quell his hunger!  It was ok, nothing fantastic.  I pinched some of his gravy soaked rice though.

I was craving for something hot and spicy and decided to order the beef kimuchi soup.  It was salty, spicy, and hot alright.  But I think there were only like 3 slices of beef inside!  Totally not worth the $13.80 price tag.

I was very full from the big bowl of soup, and didn't order anything else.  It was a quick meal to just to fill our stomachs, but it's a reliable place to go for a decent meal, just don't expect too much out of it!

Macarune

Finally, got my hands on a box of Macarune's macarons.

Can't wait to try it...so devoured two on the way home already!  And it is delicious!

I like simple designs with no fuss.  Just like the Macarune logo of 3 simple dots.

The treasures within...with 2 missing pieces :)

I clustered the macarons together for a group shot....but they don't look that photogenic.

So I arranged them in a long plate...aaahh...looks better...

The pics turn out a bit "greyish"...but I couldn't be bothered to adjust the lighting because I couldn't wait to devour the macarons!

What I like about them is that they have the chewy shells, and the fillings are more generous than the commercial ones you get from patisseries.  

You can really taste the flavours, without having to discern and contemplate whether it's passionfruit or bergamot or...what??  I like "what you see is what you get" kind of taste!

My favourite so far is the cookies and cream, and coconut and passionfruit!

Preserving some of the stash for tomorrow night.  Must spread the happiness! :)

Ippudo Tao

Ippudo has a new branch in UE Square called Ippudo Tao.  Ok, I'm too lazy to explain the Tao part, but you can see Camemberu's review here.

It was a coincident that we were on our way to UE Square when W called me and ask me where is Ippudo Tao.  After telling her the direction, I realized she is on her way there too!

So we met for lunch...a double date!

Trying to take an artsy shot of the cutlery...but fail! :(

This is some grapefruit drink that W ordered...at least I think it's grapefruit...my memory fails me.

We ordered the potato salad...which I found it to be ok only based on my previous visit to their other outlet in Mandarin Gallery.

Wasabi and prawns...two combination that I cannot resist!  But the addition of chunky avocado somehow doesn't bring out the taste of the prawn wasabi.

I ordered the original Ippudo noods for J...again the name escapes me.  I must remember to write it down the next time!  The soup base is as usual excellent - full of flavour and umami kick.  Sort of regret not getting this for myself.

They don't have the char siew rice here, so I ordered a serve of this roast pork rice with tobiko, seaweed, shredded egg, raw cabbage and mayo!  It is delicious but not as good as the char siew rice in the other Ippudo branch.  But I ordered this to supplement J's food intake!

I ordered the Tao noodle - the in house specialty which is only served here.  The stock used is fish stock, so the flavour is not as robust as the pork base soup.  It is a little bit spicy, but I don't find the kick with this soup.

We wanted to order the grilled stuff - but they only serve it at night.  But I think I will stick to the

Ippudo in Mandarin Gallery, as I couldn't get over their black garlic oil ramen!

Ippudo Tao

207 River Valley Road
#01-55/56 UE Square, Singapore
6887 5315

新旺香港茶餐厅

This is our usual supper place if we need an air-conditioned dining area.  Since 新旺香港茶餐厅 opens until 2am, it's a popular haunt with the night owls.

There is a Queue sign outside the restaurant with the arrow pointing to the left, but strangely, the queue always forms on the right side!  

We waited for awhile to get a table, and I started snapping some shots as soon as we were seated.

I think Tabasco sauce placed on the table just make it look so old school :)

The French Toast is J's favourite.  It is delicious, but not as delicious as the Crystal Jade one. It is so sinful that I think only permanently skinny people like J can afford to eat it!!  I usually just take one or two bites, and I make sure it's the portion of the bread where it's soaked with butter and syrup! :)

This is another of J's favourite - black sesame paste with dumplings.  I like black sesame paste and dumplings, if they are served separately!  Somehow I don't think they go together!  The thick consistency of the paste just doesn't complement the chewy and heavy dumplings.

I wanted to have something light, so ordered a Luncheon Meat "N" Egg sandwich.  You can hardly see the fillings in between the 3 slices of bread!  And the bread was chewy!  This happens when you don't toast the bread enough, and it's an in-between texture of toasted and soft white bread?  You have to try it to know what I mean.

Anyway, I had to deconstruct the sandwich to see if there really is an egg inside.

The egg is there alright, but it's so much thinner than the bread! :(  Very disappointing indeed. And they used some mayonnaise that was so sweet that it tasted like jam!

This is another of J's favourite - fried wantons.  Hmmm...I don't like the fried wanton skin, because they just scream carcinogens to me!  So I will just eat the small pocket of fried meat and leave the fried skin.

The food here is not fantastic, but I think they have a good variety and you are bound to find something to satisfy your hunger.  We will be back - when we next feel peckish at night and have nowhere else to go.  And I think I should stick to their popular "char chan teng" dishes :)