Seafood dining delight

Our friend only stayed for a night in Kuching so we brought him here for a taste of seafood for dinner.

Photo credit here

The famous halal seafood restaurant is still as famous and much sought-after for its delicious and fresh seafood and dishes.

I love looking through their fresh seafood and frozen section to see what they have to offer for the day.

After placing our order downstair, we proceed to our table upstair. I believe they have done some renovation and the place looks new. Still dimly lighted as before but the place look more modernised than before. I like the current look.

Luckily we made a table reservation as it was a holiday and we did not want to take chances. Soon the place was packed to the brim.

While waiting we were served with this prickled cabbage which reminded me much of kimchi.

We did not waited that long as we were the first few tables. The first main we ordered was this oyster pancake (o chien). Our friend enjoyed it very much. He never tasted a crispier and drier oyster pancakes as those in West Malaysia are wetter and different version. 

Oyster pancake RM18

Then the waiter served us our lo han chai (vegetarian dish) into individual serving bowls. Slightly salty for me. Taste-wise, it was fine.

Lohan vegetarian RM18

Initially we wanted midin but the vegetable has been booked by others, so we ended up with stir-fried yew chai. Nice and simple stir fried with garlic.

Yew chai RM15

They have tapah that evening so we choose a big slice of tapah and request it to be steamed Cantonese style for our friend. May not taste as great as how my MIL does but I like it.

Steamed fish RM46

This got to be my favourite dish of the night. Stir fried lokans in ginger and sweet sauce. Not much to dig in though but everyone liked it very much.

Fried ginger lokan RM25

The texture is like lala but bigger shells.

When I were a kid, they used to serve this baked cheesy seafood in crab's shells but now no more. Instead they serve in a pie tray.

Seafood pie RM24

It is a lot sweeter and moist than what I could remember. Taste like lokan from this restaurant but I think I prefer the lokan than this baked seafood pie.

Lastly, we have this kay-si mee (noodle) especially for the kids. Like the lo han chai, the noodle was salty and I hardly could finish my serving as by then I were full.

Noodle RM29

We actually paid the bill and left before they called hubby telling us that we missed out on one dish!! Roasted duck with buns! Gosh. How absent-minded was hubby since he was the one who ordered the food. So, we got to go back and collected the duck.

Overall, it was a sumptuous and enjoyable dinner although a couple of dishes were "over-whelming with msg". Total bill was RM250++ inclusive of drinks. The kids were well-behaved and eat their food. Even Jamie also warmed up to our friend and he was happily to be carried by him. That was something as Jamie is not so easily tricked to be hugged and carried by someone he is not familiar to.

Animal tracking

Our initial plan was to go to Semenggoh Nature Reserve but it was closed on 1st day of Hari Raya. So we decided to go to Jong's Crocodile Farm instead.

It has been a while since we were here and it does have some upgrading done to its facilities since our last visit. It was Jamie's 1st visit here and he was enjoying himself there amidst the heat.

My brave girl

I know someone was ecstatic for holding a baby crocodile for the very 1st time. I were surprise myself that Jan was not afraid at all. Jay ran away when asked him to do so. Lol.

Do you know that crocodiles are the reptile from the dinosaur family that survive all these years???

Now I felt like walking in a Jurassic World with all those "mini" but dangerous dinosaurs!!

Baby crocs

Iguanas

Monitor lizards

Birds

Porcupines

An adult croc

Monkeys watching monkeys

Free gifts

Maybe it was a public holiday so we got some free gifts when we purchased our tickets. A wooden croc and a gold coin chocolate candy in a Hari Raya packet for children.

If you are wondering about the tickets, it is RM12 per adult and RM6 for children aged 3 to 12.

Right here waiting

We have a weekend guest flying from KL on 1st day of Hari Raya. So we woke up early yesterday to pick him from the airport. He is a college classmate of hubby and has been a good family friend.

His flight delayed for more than 30 minutes when we reached the airport. So while we were right here waiting for him, we walked around the arrival hall to kill the time. 

I have to applause KIA for a wonderful replica of Malay house in conjunction with the Hari Raya.

After our friend arrived, without further ado we brought him to Padawan (10th Miles) to have breakfast. Or I should say, brunch because by the time we were there it was almost 1030am.

This old Hakka coffee shop is the corner shop right next to the council building.

When was the last time I were here? I could not remember but what I did remember was it was as crowded as ever!! Count our blessing, we did not need to wait so long for our food.

We ordered few bowls of cheng soup to share among us. Of course, we have to eat with kolo mee kosong as that was what our friend came here for.

Look at the prawns. Big and fresh. I like the soup with those yummy goodies in it. 

With full tummies, we continued with our trip itinerary. Going further up to the sub-urban of Kuching.

Irresistable tea break

After all the food posts by my friends and our beloved Sibu food ambassador last week on prawn fritters and ang tau peng, I have been craving for them. Blame on the power of food (and social media! @_@)

So how happy I were when a friend asked me whether want to have a tea break with her few days ago. How could I resist! So I jumped the wagon and hit the road without second thought. 

Reason being I do not come to this part of the town that often and it is not so near from my place. I would not come here if not so something good or in a good company of friends.

I do not normally do afternoon tea. Hardly munch on anything in between my meals. However, I love this kind of tea break. Not tea literally. Who could resist tasty and crispy fritters and fried lok lok and some more with a bowl of cold iced dessert??

We went to Old Rex Cafe in Rubber road. Just when we reached there, it started to rain pretty heavily. That did not dampen our mood and glad we were able to find a vacant table. Talking about afternoon tea, the place was packed to max! Those people no need to work???

Soon our delicious plate of fried fritters came. Oh boy, we have fried prawn fritters,  fish balls, sweet potatoes and beancurd.

Prawns fritters and fish balls

Sweet potatoes and fried beancurds

I love its chilli dipping. My friend went for 2nd serving of its chilli sauce. Lol. Prawn fritters still tasted good after all these years. Not oily at all. Crispy and great to go with the chilli sauce. Remember when I were a child, I used to eat prawn fritters in Old Rex on Sunday afternoons before the old cinema was demolished and the fritter guy moved to current location.

Chilli sauce with crushed nuts

And to quench our thirst, we ordered a bowl of laicikan each.

Laicikan (ngoh mee thng)

Underneath the shaved ice, hide all the delicious and sweet desserts such as barleys, jellies, orange peels, and white fungus. I liked it because it was not too sweet.

RM2.50 per bowl

It was a satisfying tea break and we enjoyed the chatting as well. By the time we finished our food, the rain has stopped.

Hope we have more rain in the next few days. A much cooler holiday as it is going to be a long weekend. And I would like to wish all my Muslim friends, "Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri".

Dried up

It has been a very warm climate over here and almost everywhere I go, I could see dry grasses and hazy sky.

It is so dry that some bushes caught fire. Like this one near my parents' house. Hard to put the fire off as the ground is too hot and easily heat up.

My dad spraying water on the dry bushes

It feel like autumn here with leaves falling everywhere and causing brown blankets on the ground. 

Thankfully we had a heavy rain yesterday afternoon so it did cooled the temperature.

And my boy found something interesting in the porch the other day. A dried pine leaf.

Her desk

This is Jan's study table in her bedroom. Bought it last month. Jay also has his own in his room.

Last week the dad was commenting that her desk was very untidy. Oh well, what to expect when you let a 9-years old girl to be responsible for her stuff and her room?

So I decided to do a bit of arranging and clearing today while she was in school. Cleared her last semester test papers since it was done and she would not be referring to them anymore.

And re-arranged her stationeries as well. It was messy and scattered everywhere.

And not to mention papers! Jan still loves to draw and do craft with papers so there was tons of papers on her desk.

At least there is something tidy here like her colouring tools. Everything is in order.

Now, after all the tidying, I think this looks better. Don't you think so?? Wonder how long it will last..... *wink wink*