Japan Trip - Day 1

CAT: After dinner, we needed to make our way to the Tune Hotel @ LCCT. Deciding not to give good money to bad taxi drivers, we decided to try the new KLIA Transit, which takes you by train to Salak Tinggi, at which point you transfer to a Shuttle Bus to LCCT. The combination ticket costs only RM12.50 per person, which is very cheap compared to the RM80 - RM100 that taxi drivers would charge you. The entire journey takes just under an hour and was quite comfortable. We definitely recommend it.

At LCCT, I dumped Bear at Coffee Bean while I went to check out the Plaza Premium Lounge, since my Citibank Premiermiles card gave me complimentary access. The normal entry fee to the lounge was a shocking RM118 for the 2 hour package, which is highway robbery since the lounge isn't particulary good. They only served a few dishes like Mee Goreng, Hard Boiled Egg and Butter Cake, all of which were pretty terrible. Luckily I didn't have to pay for it.

Plaza Premium Lounge @ LCCT

I grabbed a couple of apples from the lounge's fruits basket and smuggled them into the plane, since AirAsia doesn't allow outside food. Thinking to myself that I was such a smart Cat, I promptly regretted it when we took out the apples to eat, as they were the worst apples I've ever eaten.
After 6 hours on the plane, we were very happy to finally arrive in Japan. Bear was starting to lose her mind from boredom - I could see the glazed look in her eyes and the impending signs of serial killing.

After passing through imigration, we headed to the JR ticket counter. The standard fare for the Limited Express Haruka train from KIX to Kyoto Station is around 3000 Yen. However, tourists can purchase a special JR  West Kansai Pass for 2000 Yen, which is a pretty good deal. You do need to show your return trip plane ticket and fill up a form though.

JR West Kansai Pass

Incidentally, you can check train timetables online at www.hyperdia.com, a great site that makes planning your Japan trip a lot easier.

When we reached Kyoto, we started looking for the Kyoto 1 Day Bus Pass. You can find it in most convenience stores (we found ours at a Family Mart), and you can buy as many as you need in advance. It costs 500 Yen which is a really good deal since a single bus ride already costs 220 Yen! In Japanese, it's called a "Ichi Nichi Jou Sha Ken"

Kyoto 1 Day Bus Pass (Ichi Nichi Jou Sha Ken)

We also manged to buy pocket warmers from a 100 Yen shop. These are simply amazing. Without them, we would start feeling cold within 30 mins of walking around outside. With them, even after 2 hours of walking we were still feeling fine. A must have!

For dinner, we dropped by Yayoi Ken. Yayoi Ken is a pretty decent chain of cheap eateries. You decide your order, insert your money into the vending machine, which spits out your receipt. The waitress will collect it and bring your food within 5 minutes.

I had the Katsu Don, and it's easily better than any Katsu Don you can find in Malaysia. Price for this dish was a very reasonable 630 Yen. The best thing about Yayoi Ken is that you get unlimited rice and tea refills when you order a set meal.

BEAR: Bear has always heard about the vending machines but this was her first time. Bear was very impressed. The entire menu was unfortunately in Japanese and considering the fact that Bear can't even write her name in Chinese, Bear had no chance.

Fortunately Bear has pretty good eyesight, quickly spotting her favourite food of all time. Mackerel. One of the cheapest sets there is at 590 Yen.

Within 5 minutes the food was in front of Bear. Hot steaming rice and miso soup, cold weird tasteless toufu and Le Mackerel.

No desserts but we're allowed endless supply of rice and hot tea. Not a bad trade off since the mackerel was huge and halfway thru the fish, you can happily get yourself another bowl of rice.

Eating the mackerel here made me appreciate the ones in Isaribi Tei's better. The fish here is not de-boned like the one in Isaribi Tei. Thank you, grumpy old man for always de-boning my fish!

But it taste almost as good, not bad for the price you are paying in Japan.

P.S: The fish looks over grilled and bad but it still tastes better than most places in Penang with the exception of Isaribi Tei.

Japan Trip - KL and El Cerdo

CAT: Before we could fly to Japan, we needed to travel down to KL since we're living in Penang and AirAsia X flies from KL LCCT. We decided to fly by Firefly since it's A.) Cheap at RM130 return per person, and B.) flies to Subang instead of LCCT which gave us an opportunity to have dinner with my older brother before heading off to the airport.

Big Bro took us to El Cerdo for dinner, having heard about it before but he's never actually been there until recently, since he was sceptical as to how good it could be. Turns out it's REALLY good.
El Cerdo means "The Pig" in Spanish, and every dish here contains pork in one way or another, so it's definitely not a place for Muslims and Jews.

Right off the bat, El Cerdo impresses with excellent service and free flow of delicious bread served with pork liver pate. Particularly impressive was the fact that my 2 year old niece got her own little menu which also served as a colouring project, complete with a brand new set of colouring pencils. The dishes on the kid's menu are all free of charge, which is rather nice.

On the other hand, the prices in the adult menu are also quite impressive, as you can see from the picture below.

 The first dish to arrive was the Pork Shoulder Steak, which was incredibly tender. It's so tender that you won't believe that it's pork, and it's delicious to boot, with a very aromatic, smoky flavour.

Second dish was the Smoked Whiskey Ribs, which should be picked up and eaten with fingers for the full experience. Again, it was incredibly tender and juicy and smothered with a tasty Whiskey sauce.

Last dish was the Suckling Pig. The Spanish have a tradition of cutting the pig with a plate, which shows off the crispyness of the skin and the tenderness of the meat.. Also, any bad luck will be transferred to the plate, which is why after we cut the pig, the plate is dropped into a basket, so that it shatters and releases the bad luck. Unfortunately, I must have dropped the plate wrongly because only a small piece chipped off. Hope that's not a bad omen.... *fingers crossed*

As for the taste, the skin is really crispy and the meat is really tender, but somehow I feel that the Cantonese way of doing Suckling Pig is still the best, as we've grown up eating Chinese-style Suckling Pig. On the other hand, the gravy that was served with the Suckling Pig is way better than the Hoisin sauce you get served in typical Chinese restaurants.

By this time our bellies were already bursting with pork so we regretfully skipped dessert. Total bill came to around RM80 per person, so it's pretty expensive.

BEAR: To be truthful, I'm more of a cow person than a pig person. I do love bacon of course but a nice juicy steak beats everything else.

In El Cerdo, our first dish the Pork Shoulder Steak was so amazingly tender it was hard to believe it was pork. Grilled to perfection and every mouthful was an amazing experience by it self.

The Smokey Whisky Ribs was again, amazingly tender. To be truthful, it wasn't my favourite, I still can't get over the beef ribs we had on our first trip to Singapore together on November 2009. I had forgotten then name of the place but it was within walking distance from our boutique hotel, The Scarlet.

It came with a small bowl of shredded french fries which was delicious and best of all a bowl to wash your hands with before tearing into the ribs like the hungry carnivours that we are. Rawr!

The Suckling Pig came with mashed Sweet Potato with Bacon Bits and a small plate of salad. Since Big Brother Cat ordered half a pig, I sat there wondering if we were going to get the top half or the bottom half. There was a debate going on in my head whether getting the head and having to stare into its eyes were better or having to eat the 'butt'.

The piglet came cleaved in half. So you still get one eye and one side of the butt. *D'oh, stupid bear*
This has nothing to do with the food but the server asked Cat to make a wish and to choose between 'Money or Love', without hesitation Cat replied 'Love' which took me by suprise.

Shamefully, I would have chosen 'Money'. When Cat smashed the plate, a small splinter ricocheted off the floor and hit me on the eyelid. It was lucky I had my eyes closed at that split second. Phew, Bear nearly became Pirate Bear with an eye patch but it was okay, no one was injured and this Bear is happy with Cat.
Lesson Learnt : Cat and plates = dangerous. Cat deserves only plastic plates from now on.

Warning: Disturbing Insight

I was a little grossed out when the server, after telling us the tradition and all, took a plate and chopped  off the poor piggy's head in one clean chop. It was almost enough to make me not want to eat it. I don't have a problems with those Suckling Pigs in chinese restaurants cause there is never any beheadings happening right in front of me.

Safe:

All in all, it was a good experience, the servers are heplful, fast and efficient, the restaurant filled with the sound of plate smashing and 'Happy Birthday to you, Oink Oink' s. Not somewhere Cat would take me since the price would have outright scared Cat away, so Bear is thankful for the treat.
Thank you Big Brother and Big Sister Cat!

Japan Trip - Planning

CAT: Firstly, Cat must apologise for the lack of updates. With the busy new year and Chinese new year holidays, we haven't had much time to try out new restaurants. The exception was Sushi Zentou at the newly opened Precinct 10, which will be posted soon hopefully, but basically boils down to "Never again".

So what have Cat and Bear been doing? Cat's been busy planning for our trip to Japan! We've managed to scrounge up enough money to pay a snakehead to smuggle us aboard an Airasia plane to Osaka International Airport, and I've been busy with making reservations at pet hotels and planning the itinerary.

A lot of our friends and family are surprised when we say that we are flying to Japan, as the perception is that Japan is a very very expensive place. The purpose of this post is to breakdown our costs so other would-be travellers can get an idea on how to travel to Japan without selling a kidney.

BEAR: I have a sneaky feeling it'll most probably be bear's bile rather than Cat's kidneys...

1.) Airfare:

- KL (LCCT) to Kansai International Airport (KIX) return

- reserved Seats (not Hot Seats)

- 25kg luggage allowance going, 50kg coming back

- travel insurance

- no meals (we'll smuggle in some KFC or McDonalds)

- all taxes included

RM1,518.00 for the 2 of us (RM759.00 per person)

You could save some money by not reserving seats, but Bear would probably kill me if we ended up separated and she had to sit next to a fat smelly stranger for 7 hours.

2.) Accomodation:

- 4 nights in Kyoto Royal Hotel & Spa (RM200 a night, booked via Hotelclub.com, accessible only with Citibank PremierMiles Visa. Agoda.com and Hotels.com give similar, but slightly more expensive prices)

- 1 night in Nara Komachi Guesthouse (RM265) via Agoda.com

- 2 nights in Osaka Chisun Hotel Shinsaibashi (RM175 a night) via Agoda.com

- 1 night in Mt. Koya Shojoshinin (RM900 a night for 2 people. This one is expensive, but you could safely cut it out of your itinerary if you're on a budget. The price does include dinner and breakfast though)

RM2,496.00 for 8 nights. You could reduce this to approx RM1,800.00 if you spend an extra day in Kyoto / Osaka instead of going to Mt. Koya.

3.) Food

- A typical meal in a cheap restaurant will cost 600-1000 JPY per person (RM24 - RM40). We are budgeting RM80 per person per day, so that ends up at:

RM1,440.00 for 2 persons for 9 days.

4.) Travel

- Train from KIX to Kyoto with JR West Kansai Pass 2000JPY (RM80) per person

- Kyoto Bus Pass 500JPY (RM20) per person per day

- Train from Kyoto to Nara on JR, 690JPY (RM28) per person

- Train from Nara to Osaka, 540JPY (RM22) per person
- Osaka One Day Pass 800JPY (RM32) per person per day

- Mt. Koya Heritage pass, 2780JPY (RM111) per person

- Train from Osaka to KIX, 890JPY (RM36) per person

RM802.00 for all travel expenses.

5.) Grand Total:

Airfare : 1518

Accomodation : 2496

Food : 1440

Travel : 802

Total : RM6,256.00

And there you go. Add in an additional couple hundred ringgit for admission tickets to the various shrines and castles, and the total cost would be around 6.5k. Pretty good considering that it includes all transport, spending 8N/9D in Kyoto, Nara and Osaka. We're hoping to keep a running diary of our holiday in Japan, so keep a lookout for that.

Never Again - Chocolate Lava Cake @ Spasso Milano

This is going to be a quick review. We popped into Spasso Milano at Straits Quay to try out the place, and decided on a Chocolate Lava Cake for dessert.

Well, that's one dish I'm never going to order again.

Ridiculous pricing - RM18.80++ (RM21.80 in total)

Tiny portion - take a look at the pics below

Compare the size of the fork and you'll see how small this cake is. You can also see that there is hardly any chocolate in the cake itself. Where's the river of chocolate that should be flowing out?

Very dry - Chocolate cakes should be moist and soft, this one was dry and hard, just look at the following picture.

You can see the dryness of the cake here.

Not enough chocolate - a Chocolate Lava Cake should be practically bursting at the seams with rich, dark, molten chocolate. This cake had a pathetic amount of chocolate that didnt taste particularly rich or special.

Cat gives 4 thumbs down!

BEAR: It's really not often that Bear can see Cat this agitated over a cake. Then again, I think this may be the first. 

I suppose Cat had high hopes on this restaurant only to be bitterly disappointed. I must admit though that I rather walk a few steps and right into Delicious for desserts instead.

The Chocolate Lava cake was nothing to scream about and the only time you'll scream is over the size. Maybe some might argue, all good things comes in small packages. They just may be right. This Chocolate Lava cake is about the size of a Tiffany & Co. box and probably taste about the same. Haha, just kidding.

It was a real disappointment, the cake was small, dry, not enough chocolate filling and worst had a weird garlic-y after taste. Seriously.

For the life of us, we couldn't figure out what it was, Cat suggested that it was some herb since it's a little spicy but to me, it was garlic-y. Then again, Bear is no expert on herbs other than to bathe in them.

Well, this might get Cat's 4 thumbs down but we will be back to try out the other dishes and give a thorough review then. Fingers crossed that it'll be much much better than tonight's.

Karaikudi

Best in town for: Chicken Tikka Makhani, Aloo Palak, Naan, Kulcha etc etc
Worst in town for: nothing

Opening Times:

Monday to Sunday

11.00am - 4.00pm

7.00pm - 11.00pm

Frontal view of the restaurant

View of Market Street, with the MPPP multi-storey carpark in background

From the official website:

Deep in the south of India's southernmost state, Tamil Nadu, the Land of the Tamils, is Chettinad, the land of the Nattukottai Chettiars. Karaikudi is its chief town. Karaikudi is about 425km from Madras (chennai), the capital of Tamil Nadu and the gateway to South India. Karaikudi derives its name from the famous plant "Kara" which abounds in the area. Chettinad's parched terrain may be some of the most inhospitable land in India, but man is at his most hospitable here.

Chettiar hospitality is legendary. A stranger is welcomed, a guest is fussed over and any occasion is reason enough for a feast to which he is invited. A feast is an occasion for a wide veriety of daily fare and an open-hearted hospitality. Perhaps the tastiness of the food has something to do with the traditional way in which it is prepared. Chettinad cuisine is spicy and full of flavours. South Indian restaurants the world over offer Chettinad dishes. Chettiar hospitality is legendary, hence our motto "our privilege to serve".

Here at Karaikudi Restaurant, we present you with the best of North and South Indian cuisine in a brilliant blend of flavours, seasonings, nutritional balance, fragrance, taste and visual appeal.

CAT: Karaikudi, is in my opinion, the best, and the most underrated Indian restaurant in Penang. It really is a shame that so few people have heard of this wonderful, wonderful restaurant. Located on Market Street on the outskirts of Little India, this shabby restaurant serves some of the most amazing Indian cuisine.

If you have never visited Karaikudi before, just follow the simple steps below and you won't go wrong!

Step 1: For each person, order a bread, either Naan, Kulcha or Pratha.

Naan comes in Butter/Garlic/Cheese flavours, while Kulcha comes in Onion/Masala flavours. The Cheese Naan, Onion Kulcha and Stuffed Pratha are all highly recommended

Cheese Naan

Step 2: Order some meat dishes.

My favorite dish here is the Chicken Tikka Makhani. Unbelievably tender Chicken Breast cooked with lots of butter in a rich curry sauce, this is a must try dish. The Prawn Masala is another favorite, with fresh, chewy prawns in a spicy Masala curry. We have to apologise for the poor quality of the pictures, it's hard to take appetising pictures when the lighting is poor and everything looks like goo.

Chicken Tikka Makhani

Prawn Masala

Step 3: Order some vegetarian dishes.

Being a carnivore, cats aren't big fans of vegetables. However, the curries in Karaikudi taste so good that even a meat-loving cat like myself can fall in love with their vegetarian dishes. Our favorites are the Aloo Palak (Potato in Spinach curry) and Mushroom and Peas Masala.

Aloo Palak (yes we know it looks like vomit, but it tastes amazing)

Mushroom and Peas Masala

Step 4: Eat like greedy bears.

BEAR: ... *growls*. I'm going to ignore that. Bear will find other ways to get back at Cat for that. anyway to me

Worst in town for: nothing Parking. People walking on the street like they own the damned road.

Ladies Finger Masala

Bear orders nothing but the Cheese Naan everytime we go there. It's delicious! The cheese naan doesn't have as much cheese as the one I once had in KL but that also means it doesn't smell like old socks cause the one in KL definitely smells of old socks after a while.

Kashmiri Naan with (from left) Butter Chicken Makhani,

Ladies Finger Masala, Aloo Palak, Prawn Masala

Bear's favourite dish of all time has to be the Prawn Masala. I can eat just that with the Cheese Naan and still be a very happy bear. Beside that, the Mushroom and Peas Masala is a must. It's really strange considering that I dislike button mushrooms and I hate hate hate peas but love the Mushroom and Peas Masala. Weird.

Peas are one thing where I could spit out each and every individual pea from a dish or spend the next 10 minutes sorting out the peas from my fried rice etc. but with the mushroom and peas masala, I'm always happy to get a second helping.

Onion Kulcha (delicious!)

We unfortunately never tried the desserts there considering Cat has a tendency to over eat about 99.99% of the time there and complains of tummy ache. So there's never any room for desserts with him around.

While the pictures looks like bowls and bowls or goo of baby food, Bear can give you her personal guarantee that it tastes better than goo.

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Cheers Restaurant and Bierhaus

Best in town for:  Pork Knuckle
Worst in town for: Nothing

Opening Times:
Monday to Sunday: 3.00pm to 1.00am

*EDIT* 29/01/12

The Citrus Smoked Duck Breast appears to have changed. It is no longer as tasty as it used to be. However, it might just be a poor batch of duck. The Pork Knuckle is excellent.

CAT: An uncle of mine mentioned to me that a new Bierhaus had opened up in Tanjung Tokong, and that the Chef had migrated there from Berlin Bierhaus (in Straits Quay). Having been impressed by the food at Berlin, we decided to try out this new place, Cheers Restaurant & Bierhaus.

First impression: the staff seem rather blur. Most of them have a poor command of English and take a while to process whatever you say, kinda like Google Translate on a laggy connection.

Anyway, my uncle had strongly recommended the Imported Smoked Duck, so that was a given. For our second dish, we ordered the Steamed Pork Belly with Mantou and Mashed Potatoes, which sounds like a really odd combination but hey, it sounds interesting and unique.

Braised Pork Belly with Mantou (RM27.80)

The dishes arrived quite promptly, and we were not disappointed. The Smoked Duck had the most amazingly sweet and tasty skin; I can't really describe it well, but imagine honeyed bacon / pork crackling and you sorta get the idea. The meat was tender and juicy and was perfectly complemented by the orange reduction sauce. A really amazing dish and a must try for anyone. Even Bear who's not a big fan of duck loved it.

Citrus Smoked Duck Breast (RM35.80)

The Pork Belly was decent, nice fatty chunks of Pork Belly served with fluffy Mantou and Mashed Sweet Potato make a tasty and interesting combination, but unfortunately it's overshadowed by the Smoked Duck.

The only disappointing dish was the Cheesy Bacon Bread, which sounds really good, but is let down by poor quality bread (tastes like the cheap baguettes from Gardenia or something)

BEAR: Hmph, a lot CAT seems to know about Bear. Bear is actually a fan of ducks. It just so happen that ducks are expensive and Bear is poor. On our first visit to Cheers, we were greeted in Mandarin. Not something I am accustomed to especially since I’m not exactly in a Chinese Restaurant but thankfully service was good.

We headed upstairs for dinner and as usual greedy Cat did all the ordering. He ordered the Smoked Duck and also the Pork Belly with Mantou and mashed potatoes.

So la dee da, the food arrived and it smelt like bacon. I looked all around but there was only the Smoked Duck. One bite later, I can vouch that the Smoked Duck was amazing. It tasted a bit like bacon too but it was so good it was a little indescribable. I was never a big fan of sauces to be truthful so I didn’t really care if they gave me the orange reduction sauce, soy sauce or whatever. The meat was so good and that was all that mattered to me.

Look at the fat on the skin!

The Pork Belly was pretty good too but it wasn’t as amazing as the Smoked Duck. I enjoyed the mantou though..

The prices are reasonable but judging by the menu, the appetizers were on the expensive side with side orders like spicy potato wedges going for RM9

Overall, the food is good, service is good and waiting times does not include you falling asleep drooling onto the menu.

A big thumbs up from me. Oh wait, does Bears have thumbs?

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Sri Malaya Heritage Restaurant

Best in town for: reasonably-priced set lunches, coffee

Worst in town for: lack of parking space

Opening times:
11.45 am - 3.00pm
6.00pm - 10.30pm

Closed Tuesdays

CAT: I love Nasi Lemak. In fact, I would pay RM17++ for a Nasi Lemak set lunch, but only at Sri Malaya. That's because Sri Malaya serves reasonably priced set lunches that have huge portions and great taste. You might call me crazy for paying RM17++ for a Nasi Lemak, but it's worth it!

The set lunches come with a dessert and your choice of drink, and we recommend that you choose the Illy coffee instead of the juices, as you can get juice anywhere but few places serve coffee as good as Sri Malaya's.

Illy Milk Coffee

The Nasi Lemak here is served with a big piece of chicken in Thai curry, which is rather different from the usual rendang sauce, giving it a unique flavour. The shredded Poppadums sprinkled on the dish is crunchy and tasty, but very very oily.

Nasi Lemak (RM17)

Dessert is a slice of chocolate cake with chocolate sauce drizzled on it. Taste is just right, not too sweet, not too rich, but it can be a struggle to finish even this small slice after the humongous meal.

Chocolate Cake

BEAR: There is a bit of a waiting time but they have free wi-fi so you can entertain yourself on the ipad or something. I usually order the Nasi Lemak as well but this time, I opted for something different. I got the Chicken Teriyaki Burger. It came surrounded by an army of chips that we couldn't finish.

It is extremely rare to see that the filling between the burger is actually bigger than the burger itself. Besides the huge piece of chicken, there was a little mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato. By the time I was done, Cat could just roll me out of the door. My dessert ended up packed for later - much later.

Teriyaki Chicken Burger (RM17)

I super love the Illy coffee that they serve. Priced at RM6 per cup or included in your set lunch, it is fantastic. I've always been a coffee addict and Illy coffee ranks high in my list of favourites. In my personal opinion, it tastes better than Starbucks' Cafe Latte - the drink I order a good 98% of the time I'm there. My only advice, drink it while hot. It's delicious!

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