Fixing the Puzzle Pieces

Last Thursday, one of my best friends treated me for dinner at Puzzle, the restaurant attached to the latest 5-star Pullman Kuching Hotel. There was a Cambodian Cuisine Festival for the buffet but we opted it out due to 'body weight management'.

For starter we had a Salade de Saison. It was almost similar to a typical Caesar's salad but with different dressing. I prefer this dressing to Caesar's salad dressing.

Salade de Saison (RM16.80)

Salade de Saison came with diced capsicum, onion and bacon

The main course that we both wanted was not available on that evening due to the problem with the fridge. We were told that most of the fish fillets had turned bad, so we couldn't get our fish and chips served.

Alternatively, I ordered the Carne Tritata which is Puzzle's version of lasagna. I like the minced beef which was aged for 21 days as according to the menu. The pasta layers were too hard to my liking. I prefer softer pasta personally.

Carne Tritata (RM38.80)

My dining partner's alternative order was Puzzle 'Tai', which is grilled red snapper. This was quite nice as the fish steak was grilled to perfection.

Puzzle 'Tai' (RM35.80)

After the main courses, we wanted the Apple Crumble for dessert but was told that it wasn't available. We didn't get our first choice for the main course, and we missed our first choice of dessert too!

We then settled for the Brownies Cheese Cake which has nothing to shout about.

Brownies Cheese Cake (RM17.80)

Does the Brownies Cheese Cake look like a mouse to you?

Another thing to mention about Puzzle is the healthy drink series. We ordered the Avocado, Banana and Milk and the drink did not have a hint of avocado in it. For RM12.00 per glass, we expected something better. We commented on the drink to the waitress and she promised to convey this message to the bartender. I hope they will improve on it.

More Gastronomic Journalism with My iPhone

Sarawak Club Golf Resort is just several stone throws away from my office, so I go there for lunch quite frequently. I pretty much like the setting of the restaurant which has an open terrace overlooking the vast green golf course. Most of the food there are quite nice.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Beef Burger

Terrace Fried Rice

In Kuching, an eatery can survive very well by just specialising in one type of food and doing it well. Ayuke Fish Chef (阿魚哥) is one of the more successful examples. The name of the shop is self-explanatory; everything is about fish here.

Fish head bee hoon in milk-based broth

Another successful example is Shan City Kopitiam (山城板麵), specialising in just pan mee or ban mian; a type of hand-made noodles.

Traditional ban mian

Another shop similar to Ayuke Fish Chef is 魚之香, selling only food associated with fish.

Special mixed seafood with bee hoon in milk-based broth

A specialised food outlet can be run from home as well. This kueh chap place at Bintawa is very prominent. Even people from abroad knows about it!

One big, two medium and one small kueh chap

Last but not least for this blog post, my favourite food at Causeway Bay; the cha siew puff. I can eat two plates of these puffs and crave for more!

Cha siew puff

Gastronomic Journalism with My iPhone

I have been using my iPhone 4 for about 8 months and had snapped loads for food pictures with it. I uploaded them to my Facebook page regularly and I have decided to compile them into a blog post for the first batch of food photos.

The first place that I snapped food photos was at Next Coffee Shop (formerly Min Joo), a notorious eating place located at the junction of Carpenter Street and Bishop's Gate Street. If you ask the Kuching people for the best noodles in town, probably 9 out of 10 will point you to this place. Despite the rude service from this family-run coffee shop, Kuching people still swarm to this place. Getting a seat is hard at the peak hours, and sharing a table with strangers is not uncommon. The waiting time for your food ranges from 30 minutes to an hour.

Plain noodles garnished with deep-fried shallots

The pig-organ clear soup that comes with the plain noodles

Let's move on from street food to something more up market at Delizze. It it located at a relatively new commercial centre called Premier 101. I quite like the western food served there, and the bread there is something worth a mention.

Roasted Beef Sandwich

Reuben Sandwich

From the west, we move on to the land of the rising sun. Although Sushi King is not an authentic Japanese establishment, it serves 100% Japanese food. However, the sushi there is nothing to shout about as its sushi quality is only equivalent to those ¥99 eat-all-you-can sushi shop in Japan.

Unagi Sushi

Salmon Rice Burger for a limited period of time only

One of my favourite eating places near my workplace is Resto Galleria which serves Malaysia-Indonesian food. It is located at the new commercial centre at Desa Ilmu. My fovourite food there is the Ayam Bakar Solo. The deep-fried tofu that comes with it is worth a mention too.

Ayam Bakar Solo with rice

Ayam Penyet with rice

Have enough of the main course? Now let's have some dessert! Sunny Hill has been my dessert heaven since my young age, and it still is. Nowhere else can beat the soft-cream served here. There are only two flavours available: vanilla and chocolate. I prefer the former.

Sunny Hill Special

Banana Split

Whenever we talk about Kuching food, Sarawak laksa is never left out in the list. There are too many nice laksa places around Kuching and everybody has his/her best laksa place. It is not uncommon for Kuching people to argue over the best laksa place in town, but it is just a matter of individual preference for spiciness, savoury level or herbal fragrance. Madam Tang's is one of the well-known places for Sarawak laksa in Kuching. At the moment, it has 3 outlets; with the founding shop at Jalan Petanak. The second outlet is at the Spring Shopping Centre's Food Bazaar. The third one is literally next to the Next Coffee Shop.

Madam Tang's Sarawak Laksa

Madam Tang's Fish-ball Noodles

Fulfilling the Pizza Craving

There are not that many places in Kuching for authentic Italian food. However, there is one that is right in the heart of the city called Ristorante Beccari. It is one of the restaurants of the Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites.

The reason we were there was to ease my friend's craving for pizza. As a result, we had an all-pizza lunch. Ristorante Beccari emphasises that all the pizzas are baked in the wood-fired oven, thus adding the authenticity.

The first that came out was the Quattro Formaggi (RM34.00++, regular). It has four types of cheese but the cheesiness was just fine. It didn't taste greasy at all. We loved this one so much!

Our second pizza was Siciliana (RM27.00++, regular). The topping contains anchovies, capsicum and eggplants. We liked this one too.

The crust of the pizzas here is the thin type which is very crispy and crunchy. I prefer this type to those with thick crust that tastes more like bread.

To cap it all off, we ordered our coffee from Seattle Coffee just outside the restaurant, for the sack of satisfying our gastronomic journey further. I had a cappuccino (RM9.50++) whereas my lunch partner preferred a latte (RM9.50++).

Back to Tarot Salmon

I was very impressed by the food quality at Tarot Salmon during my first visit, so my friend and I decided to dine in this new Japanese restaurant down town again recently.

The menu

We wanted to try some new dishes, so we ordered a Chukka Idako (baby octopus) as our appetiser.

Chukka Idako (RM6.90)

We also had temaki hand rolls instead of the nigiri sushi for a change. My friend had the Ebiko Temaki (shrimp roe hand roll) and I had the Tobiko Temaki (flying-fish roe hand roll).

Left: Ebiko Temaki (RM6.90). Right: Tobiko Temaki (RM7.90)

Close up of the Tobiko Temaki

Being at Tarot Salmon, there is no excuse for not ordering salmon. Therefore, we had the Sashimi Mori Toro, a mixture of salmon, red tuna and octopus. There was no white tuna being served, so it was replaced with salmon. That explains the extra salmon slices on the plate.

Sashimi Mori Toro (RM29.90)

The Agedashi Dofu (deep-fried beancurd in dashi sauce) looked nice on the menu, so we ordered one. It was indeed as good as it looks.

Agedashi Dofu (RM6.90)

We loved the Okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza) during our first visit, so we didn't miss it out during our second time. The taste was still the same - excellent!

Okonomiyaki (RM11.90)

Close up of the Okonomiyaki

Lunch at Tarot Salmon

This was the first time I have been to Tarot Salmon as it is a relatively new Japanese restaurant in town. I have seen the food photos in my friends' Facebook pages and the food there seemed nice. So, I finally made it for my first meal there today!

The setting is quite pleasant for a nice meal with a couple of friends. Due to the limited space, there is no big table to accommodate for a large group.

There was lack of maguro (tuna) in our plate of Sashimi Mori Zen, so they gave additional sake (salmon) as substitutes. Those Norwegian salmon slices were really fresh that I should rate it as the best that anyone can find in Kuching!

I like Okonomiyaki very much. That's why I ordered this dish. I already like the one in the other Japanese restaurant that I usually patronise, but this was even better! I will definitely go back for more!

I have not had shishamo fish for a very long time, so we ordered one prepared in shioyaki (grilled) way. This was quite nice.

We also had the soft-shell crab tempura. Nice, but nothing to shout about.

The last dish served was the special unagi maki (eel sushi roll). The unagi was really fresh. I would recommend this dish for any time of the day!

If five star is the highest rating, I would give a three-and-a-half star to Tarot Salmon. Please do not misunderstand that I am giving a low rating, as I am comparing it to the food quality in Japan. This is probably the best Japanese restaurant that you can find in Kuching.

Highland Nuts

A few weekends ago, my sister bought some nuts at the market from the native people. According to the seller, these nuts only grow in the wild on the highlands. The name is repi.

It was the first time I have seen and tasted such kind of nuts. The shells are very thin and brittle, so they are very easy to break just but hand. The thin membrane draping the nut is a bit hairy but can be eaten together with the nut.

The colour of the nuts is greenish white. They taste like green peas mixed with walnuts, quite an interesting taste. The texture is chewy rather than crunchy and they come with a bitter after taste. They are something that you should try if you happen to see them in the markets around Kuching.