KIM's Korean Food at Tavoy Lane, Penang.

After many weeks of hawker Asian food, my mom's friend Aunt Teresa decided to give us a treat at nearby Korean restaurant- KIM's Korean Food. This restaurant is tucked behind the corner of 2 Tavoy Lane, Penang- Malaysia. Since the 3 of us are Korean drama addicts, this would be a good opportunity to try out this new restaurant.

The old house has been renovated nicely and interior looks splendid. The Korean boss hired local and foreign serving staffs. The menu was quite expensive and the food was very spicy.
Every dish that came out literally looked RED and spicy. Oh well I guess we ordered too much as well. For the 3 women, we ordered like 5 dishes.

Teresa has seafood stew (sondubu jjigae), I had spicy rice cakes (tteokpoki), Mom had bibimbap (rice hotpot). All of us also shared the stir fried spicy squid and Korean fried chicken with special sauce.

The fried chicken was a super let down- filled with lots of batter and too sweet sauce for my liking. No good! There wasn't much chicken meat in it so it was a disappointment.
There were better Korean fried chicken that I've eaten so far... sighs... 

The rice cakes were alright, the bibimbap was nice, so was the seafood stew. The stir fry squid was spicy and was filled with lots of onions too.
I don't know the price for the total dinner but I don't think it was cheap.

Review on Ah Chui Seafood- Paya Terubong Penang.

I was requesting to have seafood for dinner since I was on a long break in Penang. Often people tell me to go to Bukit Tambun and it's so freaking far. We don't know our way there so we opted to have fresh seafood at Paya Terubong- mostly recommended by my mom's friend. Ah Chui Seafood Restaurant is located at Taman Indah, 1238 T, Jalan Paya Terubong, 11060 Ayer Itam, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. 

If you are coming here, you will bypass Ayer Itam district and the famous Kek Lok Si Temple where you can see the Goddess of Mercy statue towering at the nearby hill. 

And here's what we ordered for dinner for 5 people- freshly grilled stingray (ikan pari) with the special onion sambal sauce. Steamed tofu topped with spicy sauce and green spring onions. Yum! The tofu is the cheapest around RM8.00-RM12.00

Their famous signature dishes consists of Hokkaido style ramen cooked in a earthware pot along with groupa fish, home made fish ball soup- it has herbal taste and goji berries in it and white wine. There's also a smaller plate of prawns. Yum! Then we ordered 2 plates of deep fried sotong (squid) We also ordered again the fish noodles as we didn't eat with any rice.

 

 

Altogether 8 dishes (as we ordered double for sotong and fish noodles), I paid RM240.00 and it includes drinks as well. It was all well worth it and we dished it all down less than 2 hours. The place often gets packed after 6pm so make sure you head there early to get a spot and car park. Most people who lived around the area knows this place very well. The boss and his son who manages this restaurant are pretty friendly and cheerful.

Food quality- 8/10

Service- 8/10

Price- 8/10 (reasonable and good)

Ambience- 8/10 (Clean and bright too)

Review on Jade Palace Seafood Restaurant, Paragon Gurney Penang.

During my recent visit to Penang in Oct-Nov, we saw a newly opened seafood restaurant in Gurney Paragon shopping mall. 

The first ever restaurant- Jade Palace was originally at Aboo Siti Lane inside Wisma Chocolate. It is famous for catering weddings and luxurious banquet dinners. Now it has opened its 2nd branch at Gurney Paragon S/C at the corner far end beside Padini store.


My brother has decided to give us a treat for nice lunch on a Saturday noon as we were contemplating to whether Japanese food at Rakuzen or chinese banquet. So we finally headed to Jade Palace. 





The place is brand new and well litted. It was only 11.30am so the staffs were only getting dressed up and also having their quick lunch since there are only 2 tables of customers. Mom did all the ordering for the food. We had salted egg prawns, stir fry scallops with vege, sweet pork ribs topped with almond flakes, steamed red snapper in their special spicy sauce & ginger and lastly braised japanese tofu in crab meat.

The dishes turned out to be quite good and delicious. Although we had to wait for a while for the cooks and staffs to officially get dressed up and started cooking, it was alright. Full blast air-con, warm tea served and nice comfy seats in new environment- we didn't mind it at all.
And what's the damage? My brother foot the bill and it was RM270.00.

 

The whole steamed red snapper costs RM80 (market price since seafood is expensive).
The scallops were also expensive but most of all is the 6% GST and service charge, braised peanuts and tea that costs the most! Tea, wet towels and peanuts were like RM10+ over.
Recently with the introduction of GST, it costs havoc everywhere as the public were literally cursing the useless Govt for imposing and feeding the PM's wife expenses. How true!
No doubt I don't agree having GST in Malaysia since its economy is so weak especially the Ringgit is nothing compared to major currencies.

Anyway overall the food experience at Jade Palace Paragon was satisfying.

Ambience- 8/10
Food- 7.5/10
Price- 8.5/10 (Expensive though)
Service: 8/10

Try it for yourself as a little treat for some occasion and you can order cheaper dishes if you don't feel like splurging out a lot. 

Yoo Seung Ho cute with his co-partner- a scottish fold cat.

Actor Yoo Seung Ho has a line up of movies and dramas for him. He has filmed Joseon's Magician with Go Ah-Ra. And then he's lined up for the 8 special episode of Imaginary Cat.
The drama is via MBC Every1. 

Webtoon writer Jong Hyun lives alone. He has stubborn personality and self centered so he finds it difficult to mix with everyone. That is until he meets Bong Gil the cat and takes him in. Bong Gil has then became his companion and friend.
Jong Hyun could not open up to anyone except to his cat.

Other characters were played by Cho Hye Jung, Park Chul Min, Solar, Kim Hyun Joon, Kim Min Suk and Lee El. 

I have to give credits to the furry 4 legged friend as he's just cute as ever.

Watch the teaser or trailer on line and you will fall in love with the scottish fold cat.
Bong Gil reminds me of fat Garfield the cat.

The drama runs on Tuesday from 24th November until 12th January 2016.

INFINITE's World Tour 2016 dates.

Boy band INFINITE will be starting its first leg of World Tour 2016 on January.
Their world tour will begin from Vancouver, Canada and then venturing down to Los Angeles, Mexico, Santiago, New York before wrapping up the last stop at Hong Kong.

The boy band has confirmed their hot popularity ever since they finished the first world tour last August from Seoul, Taiwan, China -covering 12 countries around South East Asia including Europe. 

The agency has mentioned the boys has promised to deliver a better show for their 2nd world tour.

Good luck to the boys! 

Nara and Hiroshima Trip 2015

One must never miss these two important spots in Japan- Nara and Hiroshima. Once you are in Osaka, these two places are never too far away. With the JR Pass, you can utilize the bullet trains as much as you can. We reserved the seats for our shinkansen train. As for Nara, we boarded the Shinkansen and reached at JR Nara station. From there, you can board the bus straight to Todaiji Temple where its listed as UNESCO heritage featuring the huge bronze Buddha. There were many tourists and local students visiting the place. 

From there you will see tons of deers roaming around the area asking for food. There are various street vendors selling the

senbei (deer crackers) to feed them. A pack costs JPY150. The deers will come swarming towards you, head butting you for more food. It was quite an experience and you will see some of their horns were saw off to prevent injury towards visitors. The Kasuga Shrine is not too far from Todaiji and you can easily walk there to visit the many Japanese stone lanterns lining up the area.

      

Hiroshima is one city that suffered the massive blew up from the nuclear bomb dropped by the US soldiers as a revenge for bombing their Pearl Harbour. The only building that survived in the WW2 was the A-Bomb Dome. It was designed by a foreign architect but now its old dusty looking Genbaku Dome is one that survived where the rest of the city has been flattened out and generations suffered from the radiation. Local school students were brought to visit the place to remember those who have died and the Cenopath was build with a flame to seek for all nuclear weapons to be destroyed. 

We were on a super amazing race from Osaka to Hiroshima as the most important tourist spot was the floating torii gate at Miyajima Island. The big floating torii gate is the iconic spot at the island where one needs to board the subway to Miyajima and then ferry to the island. The island is also famous for its oysters. 2 big oysters grilled costs JPY450. We even ate the seafood okonomiyaki topped with oysters. Hiroshima has its iconic cookies and biscuits filled with custard or  cream in a shape of maple leaf.

Osaka, Kyoto trip 2015

Konnichiwa from Osaka.....

After spending 5 days in Tokyo, we boarded the early Shinkansen (bullet train) from Shinagawa station to Shin-Osaka station. It took nearly 3 hours from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka. Before we realized, we have already passed Kyoto and next was Shin Osaka. Upon arriving at Shin Osaka station, we changed to another subway line to our accommodation- Hotel Consort which is a door step away from Nishinakajimaminamigata station.OMG...the station name is so bloody long but it's easy to recognize if you board the main line in Osaka subway. 

We ventured to Namba station which is around 5 stops from our station. Namba is one of the most popular icon in Osaka with the crab restaurant serving delicious crab lunches or dinners but it's expensive. Osaka is famous for its cuttlefish balls (takoyaki) and okonomiyaki (Jap pancake). It everywhere you see on the streets selling them. If one is brave enough you can try the puffer fish (fugu) but eat at your own risk since it's dangerous. 

The Don Quijote building featuring its mascot Penguin has everything under one roof. It sells lots of food and sweets such as Kit Kat with various flavours, everything in green tea (matcha), Hello Kitty stuffs, costumes, electronics, toys, cosmetics, travel items and souvenirs. Pocky chocolate coated sticks manufactured under Glico is one junk food you will be tempted to buy. We were basically stuffing ourselves with food and snacks along the way at Shinsabashi Shopping Street (covered) from sun and rain. Good, eh? Love the shopping streets concept in Japan. You can find anything in this country. We were amazed to see the barber shops which was shiny, sparkly with the hair cutters dresses so professionally.

One thing, we loved the coupon vending machine that will dispense out the ticket when you buy food. Nobody touches the money so it's pretty convenient to use the vending machine.

From Osaka, one could easily reserve Shinkansen tickets for day trips to Kyoto. Kyoto is filled with historical castles, temples and UNESCO shrines. We were fascinated with the traditional houses and architecture in Kyoto. Though it was my 3rd time, I never get bored with Kyoto. 

We visited the famous Kiyomizudera Temple by boarding the 101 bus from JR Kyoto station. Kyoto is also famous with locals and tourists renting to wear the traditional outfit- Kimono. I reserved at one of the shops and went in for the earliest session 9.00am. It took a while for the Obasan to dress me up in the Kimono and had my hair styled up too. All for JPY50,000. You can rent the Kimono for the entire day and must return by 6.30pm. It was not that difficult to wear the geta sandals and walk to the temple in a Kimono though there were many layers underneath. 

Next stop was Fushimi Inari featuring thousands of orange torii gates donated by rich businessmen and people asking for blessings. Inari station is one you need to get off from JR Kyoto station. Fushimi Inari has been a shooting location for the movie Memoirs of Geisha. We spend a few hours climbing up the steps and seeing tons of huge torii gates. Love it! Don't worry there are plenty of shops again selling food and souvenirs to buy!

Another thing to take notice is one would see tons of manga or cartoon figures in Japan. The country has almost everything sketched in cartoon cute looking characters. I was so into the Miyazaki's creations- Totoro! Hayao Miyazaki is the creator for the famous anime movies Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle and Ponyo. 

 

The Pagodas in Japan are important structures in the temple- it represents past, present and future. 

Japan Trip 2015 (19th Oct- 30th Oct)

It was my 3rd time to the Land of the Rising Sun...Japan. We took off via KL to Tokyo and arrived the next morning at Narita International Airport on 19th October.
Upon arriving, we bought the JR Narita Express train to Shinjuku. It took an hour and it was fast but it shows the airport is so far from the CBD. When we arrived at Shinjuku station, we checked into our IBIS Shinjuku Hotel which was closeby. Next we went to activate our 7D JR Pass at the nearby exchange station and we got lost rounding around various exits! The station was so huge and we had to ensure we took the right exit to get towards the Odakyu Shopping Mall. 

The first 5 days at Tokyo was merely shopping and sight seeing around the nearby districts such as Harajuku, Odaiba, Shibuya, Asakusa, Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo Skytree tower...etc. I could remember the tiny restaurants were so packed with

tourists in front of Tsukiji Market. I couldn't be bothered to queue up so we went to another sashimi restaurant and had fresh sashimi set. It came with a hefty price tag for the freshness of the tuna and salmon. Odaiba is purely on Aqua City and Diver City where big Gundam robot statue stood and looked great with the majestic Fuji TV station's background and replica Statue of Liberty and Rainbow Bridge. 

Tokyo Skytree was a highlight because it was one of the newest attraction. Tokyo Tower

used to be the tallest building in Tokyo until Skytree stepped in. With its attraction Tokyo Solomachi building consists of shops and restaurants, it was definitely a new spot to visit. The elevator to shoot up to the top was expensive so we gave it a go. And how could we forget Asakusa Kenon Temple as it was lined up with tons of shops selling rice crackers, souvenirs and ice cream. We started buying souvenirs and ice cream. Sunny as it is and it was cooler at night since it's early Autumn.

And it's a must to visit Meiji-jingu Shrine near Harajuku area since it is free of charge to visit the shrine and if you are lucky you get to witness a Japanese wedding ceremony. The place is filled with serenity, shaded with tall trees and nice walk to ring the bell and asked for good health and prosperity. Nearby the Takeshita-dori Street, one can savour the beautiful crepes made fresh for your palate, more souvenirs, jewelry, cosplay costumes, ice cream and Daiso is almost everywhere! 

One thing you will see a lot in Japan is the famous pachinko parlour. They are some kind of gambling den- very noisy inside with the game sounds and people smoking inside. One can easily spot a Pachinko parlour with its colorful ads and LED displays outside the shop. 

And not to forget Mount Fuji- the main icon of Japan. Fuji-san is an important landmark in Japanese history, paintings and in souvenirs. Even companies have Fuji including the fruit Fuji apple. We boarded the KEIO Highway Bus from Shinjuku to Lake Kawaguchi. There are 5 lakes surrounding Mt. Fuji. Lake Kawaguchi is one the largest lakes and provides the most beautiful scenery to Mt. Fuji. However luck was never on my side whenever I visit the place. I have not once witness the mountain before my very eyes. Though it was sunny but the clouds were hindering the mountain so we couldn't see it. We took the Mt Kachi Kachi Ropeway hoping to catch a glimpse but no luck. 

Since it was quite warm up in the mountain area, we bought some icy poles (ice cream) that looks like Mt. Fuji. Whatever....I couldn't be bothered to hang around any longer as there was nothing much to do unless one stays overnight at the hotels to enjoy its hot springs/spa (Onsen).

Lee Jun Ki debuting in Hollywood's Resident Evil.

Actor Lee Jun Ki (33) will be making his Hollywood debut in the movie Resident Evil 6 The Final Chapter.

On the 17th October, the South Korean actor is shooting the film in Cape Town, South Africa along with the main heroine Milla Jovovich. Milla has expressed her interest on how good Lee Jun Ki as he is good in martial art since he holds a black belt in taekwondo.

More details will be released as nothing has been confirmed as yet.

The series began in 2002 and has raised more than $ 1 billion in revenue from around the world. Lee Jun Ki began his fame since he was playing as the hero of an action movie for a long time and to have him featured in this continued series is very rare. The film went on last August shooting in South Africa's Cape Town, Johannesburg and elsewhere and is scheduled for release in January 2016.

China's Alibaba investing in Kim Soo Hyun's new movie.

It seems these days the fame and popularity of Hallyu star Kim Soo Hyun hasn't died down at all. Ever since starring in the popular drama My Love from Another Star, Soo Hyun's popularity just sky rocketed to nowhere. His face is almost in every ads in South Korea, almost every woman has watched his dramas and gone nuts over Do-manager's character.

Now China's biggest investor Alibaba who has recently invested in the Hollywood film Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation has taken a keen interest on the Hallyu star.

According to Kim's agency KEYEAST, the rep has mentioned Alibaba Pictures is a subsidiary of China's largest e-commerce company, they have signed in to invest in Kim Soo Hyun's latest movie 'Real'.

The official signing took place last 3 days ago during the Busan International Film Festival.

Alibaba Pictures in China in return will have distribution rights for the upcoming film Real.
In Real, Kim plays Jang Tae Young a troubleshooter in the criminal world and he later meets a reporter at the later stage.