Tai Hwa Pork Noodle

The first time I heard about this place was many years ago. Most of the time, people would refer to this place as "Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle" or "Hill Street Pork Noodle" because this stall was once located at Hill Street. It is now located at Crawford Lane. I don't know how to go to this place via bus (I used to prefer to travel via MRT because it was faster but I told myself to travel around Singapore more often by bus on my next visit to enjoy the scenery) because usually, I went here via taxi or somebody drop me off at the very entrance of the building. Typical Indonesian motto or slogan: "lazy to walk then hail for a cab lor!" According to google map, this place is near EW11 Lavender MRT and also there is a bus stop at North Bridge Road (around 5-10 minutes walk). For better direction, please refer to google map or this link (here).

Don't, don't, don't, be skeptical when you saw the old and run-down building. A lot of places in Singapore which served good local food was located in the old building. Being skeptical is not good. This place is one of my must-eat whenever I am in Singapore. They served really good bak chor mee (pork noodle).

There are two kinds of noolde here: dry or soup noodle. I personally prefer soup noodle because I love the taste of the rich soup broth (being cooked with large pork bones) which was less oily compared to the dry noodle (being poured with pork oil). The amount of meat are a lot and normally, I would not recommend this place to people who dislike oily and meaty food, but this place is an exception. The meat they used are not oily, the texture was rough. I personally prefer meat with more fats but this stall is an exception.

A little tip for you: PLEASE ARRIVE AT THIS PLACE AROUND 11:30AM IF YOU DON'T WANT TO QUEUE FOR AT LEAST 45 MINUTES!

Once, I arrived at the very doorstep of Tai Hwa Pork Noodle around 12:03PM and I have to queue for around 1 hour 15 minutes. Can you believe that?!! My companions and I took turn in queueing. It was tiring but worth the wait. Besides of the pork noodle, the gyoza (third stall from Tai Hwa) and chicken steak (two stall from Tai Hwa) were good too but unfortunately, I don't have the pictures :( I will take the pictures on my next visit.

Blk 466 Crawford Lane #01-12

Tel.: +65 62927477

Mon to Sun: 9.30am - 9pm

Closed on 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month

Singapore, 190465

http://www.taihwa.com.sg/

Writer Says: Rants #1

Hi!

Recently, my emails are acting strange. The email accounts in my phone doesn't seem to synchronize well with my emails. It caused many pending emails. There was an email dated from a month ago but I did not receive it until today, there were some emails which were not sent, and many more. Due to this issue, I was late in replying many, many, emails and hence, I would like to apologize. Speaking of my phone, I think it's an omen for me to change my phone as soon as possible. Sadly, I couldn't and wouldn't because it is only one-year-two-months-old and it was a gift from a person I truly honoured.

Lately, I have been busy learning how to use wordpress. A person was kind enough to give me suggestions of several blogging platforms and make me agree that wordpress would be a wise choice to ease my life. I am still struggling at managing my wordpress account (I truly am), but I will let you know if I had decided to move permanently to wordpress (since I am fed-up with the so-so-same-old-nothing-new blogger).

I've noticed that my blog views have reached 1,700++ but I wondered if half of the views is myself?

Cheers to good food and good life,

yours truly

Pepper Lunch

Sizzlin' Cookin'! Whenever I asked people what they ordered at Pepper Lunch, most of them will tell me: blablabla Rice with blablabla. Well, actually that's not quite true. Everyone that I asked answered blablabla Rice with blablabla. As always, as yours truly is an anti-mainstream (just kidding), hence, I prefered pasta.

Anyway, before you start reading, you should know that the food below was purchased with coupons except for the drinks. I felt that the amount of the meat was not generous. In fact, too little! But I will order the same food again in the future without coupons for comparison. Just because I am curious.

Beef and Salmon Pepper Rice

Beef and Salmon Pepper Rice was ordered by my friend. I would prefer more amount of salmon and beef. Just look at the picture above.

Honestly, I don't consume ordinary beef/ mutton because I was allergic to them. My throat would swell if I consume beef or mutton or food that contain either beef or mutton. Except good beef. My throat never swelled whenever I consumed Wagyu or Kobe or Matsukasa. Not that I was saying that ordinary beef was no good to me, no! I had tried them several times before and I absolutely loved them. But, what can I say? This body constantly rejects le beef. But for mutton, I hate mutton. Period.

Seafood Aglio Olio

I love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love the olive oil which was separated from the pasta but I spread them around the hot metal plate. And the result? Yum, yum, yum! Finger-licking good! Some said that the pasta needs more seasoning. But, stop comparing this pasta with the pasta you had in cafes/ restaurants. The main goal of Pepper Lunch is to serve fast food. Hence, it took lesser time to prepare the food. To me, the pasta was purr-fect for fast-food category. If this is a cafe/ restaurant, I would have written an essay full of complaints.

I tried the ice cream that I avoided (due to the amount of fats) too because it was included in the coupon. There were three flavours for the ice cream: chocolate, matcha, and (I don't remember). This is how the ice cream was supposed to look like:

Eww...nuts!

 And...this is how I prefer my ice cream:

YUMZZZ!!!

Anyway, do any of you guys know that PHP means? I bet any Indonesians who are reading this blog know what PHP means. Yes, Pemberi Harapan Palsu (read: the giver of fake hope). Want a good example? The ice cream above!

Judging from the appearance, it looked full and many. I was very happy but worried that I might not be able to finish them. As soon as I dug in, I found out that the inner part was empty. It broke my teeny-weeny heart a little.

Hole in the middle

The overall was good. I personally think it didn't differ much with the one in Singapore. I don't really recommend the wagyu. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Once I ordered the wagyu and it tasted so heavenly that I decided to go back and ordered wagyu again, but the wagyu was disappointment. For the salmon, sometimes it stinks (although this rarely happens). I would suggest you to order chicken (for safe bet) or salmon or both, but umm...not the beef.

Personally, I would suggest anyone who wanted to eat wagyu to buy the meat and cook by yourself. The wagyu will usually taste better, juicier, tenderer, and softer. I had no idea where to buy Wagyu meat at Medan (if any of you know, do let me know), but I know where you can get it at Singapore. Although you can get them at Fair Price, I prefer to buy them at Huber's Butcher (with a small bistro) or Culina (serves as restaurant too). Both of them were located at Dempsey Road and it took around 5-8 minutes walking from one to another. Wagyu at Fair Price usually don't really look good. Colour is not appealing. Some friends told me that you could get some good wagyu at Zac Meat (red line and around 10 stops from Orchard MRT) or Angliss (way too far *sniff*), They said the wagyu was good and thick and stuffs, but for safe bet, I prefer to stick to Huber's or Culina (because they are too pricey)!

Pepper Lunch

Jln. Letjen. S. Parman No.:217 

#LG-B02 Cambridge City Square

Tel.: +62 61 4521810

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Pepper Lunch

Jln. Jawa No.:1

#LG-20 Mal Center Point

Tel.: +62 61 80501749 / 80501750

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Pepper Lunch

Jln. Setia Budi Indah II Ring Road Blok:XI No.:24 

#GF Medan Focal Point

Tel.: +62 61 

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Mie Tiong Sim

This review has been sitting inside my draft for at least 6 months. I am terribly sorry for the lack of update. I lose all of my pictures, again. This time, my phone suddenly messed up and voila: everything was gone. There is nothing left!

The store may look empty, but they have a lot of takeaway customers

It was quite late at night, so the empty table were quite understandable. But look at how busy the workers were around the stall. Apparently, many customers prefer takeaway that day.

I had just went there for late supper (typical Medan lang). For those who wondered, Mie Tiong Sim is one of the most popular noodle stalls in Medan. It is located at Jalan Selat Panjang, a street filled with some of the oldest Chinese eateries in Medan. It is a must-go place for tourist to taste great food. Moreover, it was located near Jalan Semarang (one of the food district). So, you could visit both Selat Panjang and Semarang at once. (For more information, please refer to Directory page).

Let me explain further about Mie Tiong Sim. Mie means noodle, and Tiong Sim is the brand. It was also known as Mie Pangsit Tiong Sim. Pangsit means dumpling. According to the story I heard, previously, Mie Tiong Sim didn't have any brand name. It was just a small stall located at a coffee shop called "Tiong Sim" at Jalan Semarang along with the other stores. After some while, the hawker decided to move away but his noodles had gained popularity in Medan. Since it was nameless, people would refer to the noodle as "the noodle at Tiong Sim". Hence, he decided to adopt the name "Tiong Sim" into his brand name as he moved away. I heard that there was a lawsuit filed by the owner of the coffee shop towards the hawker because the coffee shop owner had registered the name previously. But I never knew or heard about how it ended.

Due to my curiosity (and unable to sleep), I decided to do some research regarding the conflict. According to this thread (link), as quoted from Bentam:

"Ane pernah coba dua tempat bakmi tiong sim di medan. Yang satu di jl. semarang (buka sejak th 1933 kalau ga salah baca) dan Selat Panjang (buka seja 1940). Spanduknya miriiiiiip tapi ga sama. Yang di selat panjang lebih maknyus.. tapi dia ga buka cabang di jakarta..."

"I have tried both of the Mie Tiong Sim in Medan. One was located at Jalan Semarang (since 1933 if I read it right) and the other one was located at Jalan Selat Panjang (since 1940). The banners were same, but they were different. The one at Selat Panjang tasted better, but it didn't have any branch store at Jakarta."

FYI, there were three Mie Tiong Sim at Jakarta according to this article (link) which was contributed by Bondan Winarno (one of Indonesia's most popular culinary expert). According to him, the three restaurant owners were brothers but they didn't join their business. Hence, there was no standardization in the quality and taste.

Please correct me if I was wrong.

Mie Polos - IDR 20,000

The thin and fine handmade noodle (as seen on the picture above). It is usually served with pork dumplings, shredded chicken, or thin slices of Chinese barbecued pork (char siew), but I decided to order the plain one because it was too late to eat something heavy. Well cooked noodle (very soft, and thin) combined with rich pork broth were good enough to spoil my taste bud.

Pork Broth

Mi Pangsit will never be completed without this one bowl of pork broth. The hawker would served you dry noodle and you have to add a few spoons (or even all) of the pork broth to your noodle to make them more savory and taste better.

As I mentioned before, Jalan Selat Panjang is a street filled with some of the oldest Chinese eateries in Medan. Along the very-short street (around 80-120 metres), there were stalls selling all kinds of dishes, loads of noodles, satay, chicken rice, and last but not least: kue-kue (read: snacks/ cakes).

There were around three stalls which sold snacks. One of them was SP 22 (link). It is totally okay to order dishes from another store and asked the seller to deliver them to the restaurant you were dining at.

Chee Cheong Fun/ Rice Noodle Roll (read: tʃɪ tʃɪəʊŋ fʌn) - IDR 14,000

This one stall is my dad's favourite. The chee cheong fun tasted very different from the one being sold by the hawker on bike. The price gap may be too far (IDR 14,000 compared to IDR 6,000) but the price paid was worth the taste. The cheong fun was thin, soft, and a little bit sticky. Though they were not as chewy as the cheong fun sold by the hawker on bike.

Mie Tiong Sim

Jln. Selat Panjang No.:7

Tel.: +62 61 4157517

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Mon-Sun: 2pm–11pm

Empek-empek Ahong (asli Palembang)

If anyone asked me: who sell the best empek-empek in Medan? I would definitely give them one answer only: Empek-empek Ahong. I have other empek-empek, but no matter which restaurant/ hawker center I went to, not one can beat Ahong's. And you will get to know why.

Lenjer

I have known this place for almost 10 years. It all started when a friend of mine who lived around Jln.Singa told me that there was a stall that sold the best empek-empek he had ever had. I was skeptical because I have eaten empek-empek in any of the restaurants in Medan that served them but none of them tasted good and fresh. Even the one that claimed itself serving the best empek-empek in town failed to satisfy me. I was reluctant to try. I thought it would be wasting my money and my time, but my friend, knew that I was a heavy eater (still am), kept on nagging me and demanding me to try. Feeling annoyed, I decided to give it a try. And with a hidden agenda: to stop him from constantly annoyed me.

Ever since then, I was more than thankful to my friend who have dragged me all the way to this place. Empek-empek Ahong did served the best empek-empek I have ever had in Medan.

When I first went there, there were only two people taking care of the stall. The uncle and the aunty. The uncle passed away around November 2013 (may his soul rest in peace). Now, there was only the aunty with some workers.

Keriting - very crispy!

Their empek-empek was homemade and very, very, fresh! I once went there at 8 AM and the uncle told me they're not open for business yet because they were still making them. There was once when they were not open for business for around a week because the fish they used were out of stock. When I asked the uncle why not substitute the fish with another fish, the uncle told me that the reason why their empek-empek tasted so good because they were made of carefully selected good and fresh fish. Back then, they didn't have fixed supplier yet, so they had to rely on the fishmonger on the market. The number of empek-empek they made everyday were also limited to ensure its quality and texture. More over, they were both quite old and they believed that it was not wise to push themselves too hard. Oh, have I mention that they were both from Palembang too?

Menus that I remembered and loved: Ikan Pindang Patin (not always in stock), Lenjer, Keriting, and Adaan (Fish or Shrimp). Oh, the kerupuk was good! Must try!

Keriting was like a curly ball which would be divided into six parts before being fried. There were two type of lenjer: the small and the large one. I would always ordered the large one because the meat was thicker (obviously duh!).

I urged myself to blog about this place because I believed they deserved attention. Their food was great but the business was not so good. Around January 2012 (if I remembered correctly), they had almost moved to Bandung because they believed that the market would be better there. Unfortunately, they had to cancel the plan because the uncle fell from his motorbike and he was too weak to move. Too much for two good souls like them.

Now that the uncle had passed away, the aunty had to make all the empek-empek all by herself. Sometimes, I saw her workers helping her, but when the uncle was still alive, he told me that he and the aunty prefered to make the empek-empek by themselves (although it was tiring) because they didn't want to disappoint anyone. The uncle even worked although he had to walk around with crutches and after he had some surgeries on his knees.

Even though the uncle had passed away, the quality was still as good. So, please give them a try. You will like it. I have recommended this place to practically everyone who asked me, and all of them agreed that this place served the best empek-empek in town.

Here's a map that I made via Paint to guide you to this place. Please don't mind the lame map. At least, I tried!

Empek-empek Ahong

Jln. Singa

Dae Bak Korean BBQ

With all the K-pop waves, it was not a surprise to see a number of Korean food restaurants popping up here and there in this town. The number of Korean food restaurants in Medan are not more than the fingers on both of your hands, but will this number increase, remain the same, or perhaps, decrease? I would list out the restaurants here for you: Angry Korean BBQ, K-Pot, Zing Do, Dae Bak Korean BBQ, and Itcho Sushi (Itcho Sushi maybe a Japanese restaurant but it served Korean food too. You have to request them. Many of the Korean food were not on the menu.).

The first time I knew the existence of this place was when I saw a congratulatory column on the news paper. The sender (the one who put up the advertising) was a friend of mine. Because of my huge curiosity, I called my friend and asked him about this place. He told me that this restaurant was a joint venture of his friend and his friend's friend. His friend's friend was a Korean. My friend told me that his friend said that the dish served in this restaurant would not be modified (fusion-ed) to suit the taste of the people here. The restaurant would serve authentic Korean cuisine.

As soon as I heard the word authentic, I was intrigued. I wondered if the business will survive because authentic Korean food...authentic Korean food are not as tasty or do not use as many seasoning as Indonesian food. You might feel tempted when you watched Korean dramas or variety shows where the actors or actresses eating Korean dish but trust me, they were not as good as they look. Most of the Korean food were mainly sour and a little bit smelly. But as I try not to be cynical or skeptical, I asked two of my friends to accompany me to eat here. Mainly because they were my only friend who were willing to get fats with me (read: eating barbecued meat = fats).

Terribly sorry because I have totally forgotten the name of the dish. BUT they were serious when they said "authentic Korean cuisine". Except that they used more chili than average Korean food. I think this was the only difference between the food served here and the authentic Korean cuisine.

Really, really, love the kimchi! Very sour and the spiciness was perfect. This was by far my most favourite Korean BBQ restaurant in Medan.

We tried the soju (which I have forgotten the brand but there was a poster of the drink). You should try them too. The soju was good. It tasted sweet yet mild. Not too sweet that made you worried of getting diabetes. Usually, in winter, people would drink that to warm their bodies. The soju has low percentage of alcohol, so worry not!

Dae Bak Korean BBQ

Jln. Timor

Komp. Jati Junction No.:T1-T2

Tel.: +62 61 80501700

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/daebak.medan

Bel Mondo Café

I think this was the first café with premium beef imported from Australia, U.S.A, and New Zealand. I still remembered when my Mom brought me here to eat. I would always order Chicken Maryland and Lumpia. Their Chicken Maryland was by far the best in Medan (until today, the day I typed this post. I don't know if "the-best-Chicken-Maryland-in-town" title would still be given to them in the future when any of you were reading this post) that I've ever eaten. The crisp of the skin, the tender meat, everything was purr-fect! Right the way I wanted it. Since then, Chicken Maryland has been labeled as the food that I would recommend to my friend whenever they asked me what to eat at Bel Mondo. I think I was not the only person to recommend this dish to their acquaintances...or was I?

Anyway, I had to ransacked my laptop looking for the pictures of Chicken Maryland (since I enjoyed snapping pictures of food since I had my first mobile phone with built-in camera) but I couldn't find them, so I had to google the picture for you. Here are some food that I have tried before but I couldn't find the pictures on my hard-disk/ laptop/ mobile phone:

Cheese Bruschetta - photo credits to: Bel Mondo Café Facebook Page

In my opinion, this was by far the best cheese bruschetta I've ever had in Medan. The mozarella cheese smelled soooo good and alluring. Not to mention the bread itself was quite thick but still crispy. Please give it a try when you visit here, you will not regret it.

Blackened Salmon - photo credits to: Bel Mondo Café Facebook Page

Blackened Salmon was one of a kind. The stewed potatoes were good but I think it would taste better if they sprinkled more salt on it. I don't know if the way they served the stewed potatoes was supposed to be with or without salt, but again, that was my two cents.

Here is what I quoted from Bel Mondo's website:

Bel Mondo Cafe has been presented with the prestigious American Beef Club Award by the United States Meat Export federation (USMEF). This prestigious award is only awarded to the world's top restaurant for the highest standards of U.S meat served to their customer. Bel Mondo is the first and only restaurant in Medan, and the second in Indonesia that has been presented with the prestigious award.

Wasn't that amazing? The first and only restaurant in Medan! I don't know if this was valid (being the only restaurant in Medan to have received such prestigious award) because the way I see it, it has been a long-long time since the last time the website was updated, but hey, that was awesome!

Finally, pictures of food I have tried and yes, I could find the pictures:

Totally forgotten the name

The food shown above tasted HORRIBLE. The tomato sauce was tasteless, the pasta was tasteless, and the only food I could eat was the french fries. Even the taste of the chicken was horrible. I really regretted ordering this food. 

the Legendary Lumpia

Mouthwatering lumpia with thick mayonnaise sauce all over it...this is a good treat for anyone who is in for good food.

Anyway, on the day of my visit to Bel Mondo @ Teuku Daud, I was more than disappointed. The service was terrible, and that was not the first time I encountered bad services at Bel Mondo @ Teuku Daud. I waited for more than an hour for my the main dish (which were the three food on the picture above) and when the food were served, they were cold. I complained to the manager in charge, but she just smiled and apologized without any proper explanation. Come on, was that how you handle complain? Please, if I was her boss, I would have fired here for being impolite and ignorant. 

Bel Mondo Café

Jln. Haji Zainul Arifin No.:122B

Tel.: +62 61 4518846

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Bel Mondo Café

Jln. Teuku Daud No.:9

Tel.: +62 61 4514697

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Bel Mondo Café

Jln. Jawa No.:1

#1F-17A Mall Center Point

Tel.: +62 61 4518846

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Website: http://www.belmondocafe.com/

Email: info@belmondocafe.com

Gelato Bar

All Day Club

Located at Jalan Kapten Pattimura, this place were quite spacey and has spacious parking lots. All Day Club remarked itself as lounge, cafe, and bakery. I bought quite some numbers of bread from the bakery (50% discount until the end of May 2014, except: patisseries) and they were not bad.

The only thing lack with its cafe is concept. The food served were various--Western, Chinese, Indonesian--you can ordered one food for one, or even one dish for all (like in typical Chinese restaurant). I am not sure if this place served as cafe or restaurant or what. The way I see it, this place was all-in-one with ambiguity concept.

Spaghetti Aglio Olio with Chicken - IDR 45,000

Spaghetti Salmon - IDR 60,000

The overall of the spaghetti is good, although I personally prefer thinner spaghetti. I think they should put more ingredients (red pepper, green pepper, onion, chili pepper) to the spaghetti and more seasoning (salt, pepper)to the salmon. The salmon was tasteless.

Fried Kway Teow Penang - IDR 35,000

Spaghetti  Tuna - IDR 45,000

Another restaurant serving canned tuna. I don't mind canned tuna, but please learn the proper way to serve them.

Cheesy Pizza - IDR 60,000

I really loved the cheesy pizza that I ordered! The crust was thin but the overall was great.

Onion Rings - IDR 25,000

The onion rings were tasteless. T-A-S-T-E-L-E-S-S. Disappointment at its peak.

The service was bad. As I entered the main entrance, nobody greeted me. At the right side of the main door, there was a desk for the cashier and when I went there, there were about 3 people + 1 captain at the cashier but none of them greeted me. None of them asked me how many people were coming with me or where I would like to be seated. Nobody even looked at me. I waiter around 8-10 minutes before the menu was brought to me. It was not crowded when I visited there (I've went there before, this place was never crowded during my visit) hence, this kind of treatment was unacceptable.

All Day Club

Jln. Kapten Pattimura No.:421

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Mon-Sun: 11am-12am

B Café

The first time I heard about this cafe was around a year ago...when twitter and foursquare were still in trend (not instagram). A group of my friends kept on talking about this new place and kept on posting on twitter about how good the Chicken Maryland was. But I don't know why I've never ever (not even once) came to this place regardless of how many good words I heard about this place. Only until recently, I decided to come and give it a try.

This place looked tiny...and homey. Somehow gave you the impression of "not too pricey" feeling. There were books and games prepared...although sadly, many of the games were broken.

The snack was good. It is not hard to make one...but it might be hard to roll all of the into one, as shown on the picture above. All you need is a slice of bread, a slice of cheese, and a piece of sausage. And then, fry it! Easier said then done---this plate of snack was unbeatable.

Grilled Chicken Steak

This menu was my major disappointment. I ordered grilled chicken steak. Grilled is not the same with fried. The chicken served was totally fried, NOT grilled. I wondered if this place understands the meaning of the word grill.

LATEST UPDATE:
I had just went to B-Cafe again recently and ordered Grilled Chicken Steak. What was served to me was a true grilled chicken steak, a total opposite to the one on the picture above. I asked the waiter about it and he said their grilled chicken steak has always been like that.
It seemed that on my previous visit, the waitress served me the wrong food. I did asked the waitress why my grilled chicken steak was fried instead of grilled BUT she told me the grilled chicken steak has always been like that, which caused the whole misunderstanding. Bad, bad, waitress!

B Café

Jl.n Haji Misbah/ Jl. Multatuli

Komp. Multatuli Indah Blok:CC No.:36

Tel.: +62 61 4574676

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

The Thirty Six

One of the coziest cafe in town...The Thirty Six is becoming one of my favourite destination, not only because of the tasty food & desserts they offered, but also because of the spacious reserved parking lots. A lot of cafes in Medan caused mass traffic jam around them because they didn't provide spacious parking spaces like The Thirty Six. This is what I loved the most about this place. I don't have to waste my time looking for parking spots!

That was just me being random taking pictures...but that was the ceiling inside the toilet. I know, who the hell brings their phones into bathroom, right? Like I said, random!

Apology for the blurred pictures...crappy mobile phone camera. The chicken was good. Very crunchy and tasty. Not too dry (which will hurt the throat), the chicken was just perfect. I loved the salad! Cafes in Medan rarely served good side dish, but this place is an exception.

Fish and Chips

I highly doubted that the tartar sauce was homemade (the waiter told me it was) because they tasted average.It it was homemade, the taste should be different from the bottled one in the supermarket, don't you agree? If it was truly homemade, yours truly have a suggestion for you: try Mark&Spencer's tartar sauce. Their tartar sauce is so far the most acceptable bottled tartar sauce in the universe.

Quesadillas

Finally, another good quesadillas in town! Crispy skin + tasty mozzarella sauce = totally loving it! Highly recommended!!!

Lastly, the tea. I've never heard of any tea brand called Pyrmont before. The only thing I knew about Pyrmont is that it is the name of a suburb in Sydney. The tea I had was good, but the smell and the taste is not as strong as T2Tea or TWG.

The Thirty Six

Jln. Multatuli No.:36

Tel.: +62 61 4530970

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Mon to Sun: 10am-10pm

Website: http://www.thethirty-six.com/

Bangi Kopitiam

A few weeks after the grand opening, a friend told me this place was nothing good compared to its original place (Malaysia). I decided not to come here for a few months because 8 out of 10 people that I knew told me this place was bad. I was not skeptical, because typical Medanese--they don't really care about the service they received, they mostly care about the taste of the food. Another typical Medanese, "let's sit/ hangout at wherever as long as we have place to sit" meaning they don't care about the restaurant (food and service), they are just looking for some place to sit down and talk.

Nasi Lemak

I've heard that Malaysian franchised restaurant were usually specialized in Nasi Lemak. I've tried it before at Malaysia, but I think the one served here was nothing compared to Malaysia's. Apparently, my friend was right. Maybe they were trying to suit the taste of the people here, but I personally think the Nasi Lemak tasted strange. The chicken was too oily (yuck!).

Kwetiau Goreng Penang

 Sorry for the blurred picture. Eating kwetiau goreng penang was torturous for me because the dish was too oily! I didn't finish all of my food because I felt disgusted. I think it would be wise for the chef to use lesser oil when cooking.

So far, this is the only acceptable food. I think it is safe to conclude that Bangi Kopitiam is suitable for those who wanted to eat small bites and drink. I wouldn't suggest any of you to have your heavy meal here (based on my tongue). But, I think I would come back and I hoped on my next visit, the taste of the food will improve. It would be such a waste to see another well-known franchised restaurant going far lower than expectation.

Bangi Kopitiam
Jln. Letjen S. Parman No.:217

#GF-G08 Cambridge City Square

Tel.: +62 61 4561715 / 4561716

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Osteria & Pizzeria Mozza by Mario Batali

Will you believe me if I told you that I came to this restaurant thrice and during all of my attempts to get a table in this restaurant, I was told to wait for at least 3 hours? Thankfully, at my third attempt, I only had to wait for 2 hours. From 6 pm to 8 pm. Will you believe me if I told you that after I've finished my dinner (around 11 pm), there was still a long queue in front of the restaurant?

I was telling you the truth. Located at the B1 floor of Marina Bay Sands, this restaurant is always crowded (weekdays and weekends). It was always difficult to get a table during weekend, and you have to reserve at least one week in advance.

As you arrived at this restaurant, you will notice that the restaurant was divided into two parts: Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza. I was lucky enough to get a table at Pizzeria Mozza after queuing for 2 hours because if I wanted to get a table at Osteria Mozza, I have to queue for about 3 hours. CRAZY!

The thing is that the menu on Pizzeria and Osteria are different. During my visit (crazy weekend), my server told me that we are not allowed to order food from Osteria because we were sitting at Pizzeria (I don't know if the same policy was applied on weekdays or non-busy hours).

Chicken Wings alla Diavolo - SGD 18

One piece of chicken per person, because our stomach is a bottomless pit hole. Chicken Wings alla Diavolo was very good. The skin was thick and tasty, while the meat was juicy. It was well-roasted and every single bite of it will makes you feel like heaven. One piece of chicken per person was not enough.

Bacon, Salami, Fennel Sausage, Pancetta, Tomato & Mozzarella - SGD 37

I loved how every unique ingredients (pardon my French!) can be put together perfectly! All of the food are fresh and good-quality.

Pizza alla Benno: Speck, Pineapple, Jalapeño, Mozzarella & Tomato - SGD 35

Some of the pizzas that we ordered. All of the pizzas have unique flavour, mainly because I was get used to Pizza Hut's pizzas. This is what they called "authentic Italian pizza". The bacon was so soft but tasty. The chefs put generous amount of cheese on the pizzas. Not only cheese, but other ingredients as well. The crust were thick and the meat were thick. Overall, I was very satisfied with what were served.

Calamari al Forno with Fagioli & Oregano - SGD 18

The best calamari I've ever had. We ordered 3 portions because it was too delicious to eat only a small bit. Like I said, every single bite of food will make you feel in cloud nine!

Prosciutto di Parma & Bufala Mozzarella - SGD 32

Prosciutto di Parma & Bufala Mozzarella OR in short: bacon with mozzarella cheese. The cheese was FATTENING but the taste is worth the pain I will have to endure (guilty pleasure). Look at the amount of the bacon and the two big scoops of mozzarella cheese!

Nancy's Chopped Salad - SGD 20

A lot of people told me this place served the best Pizza in Singapore. So far, I've tried only a few pizzeria, but I think I couldn't agree more.

Currently, Daniel Boulud's DB Bistro and Mario Batali's Mozza are the only restaurants in Marina Bay Sands where you can enjoy eating in a celebrity chef restaurant without burning a hole in your pocket. In fact, dining in this restaurant did burned a hole in my pocket if I had to convert each SGD to IDR, but the food themselves were worth every single cent.

After trying this restaurant, a friend told me that there's Jamie's Italian in Vivocity. I was like "okay, I will try Jamie's Italian next time and compared it to Mozza and see, which celebrity chef served the better Italian cuisine." Just in case if any of you wondered, Jamie's Italian belongs to Jamie Oliver (James Trevor Oliver). He is a British celebrity chef, cooking show host (my favourite shows are Oliver's Twist, Jamie's 15-Minutes Meals), restaurateur, and cook book author.

Osteria & Pizzeria Mozza

2 Bayfront Ave

#B1-42/46 The Shoppes @ Marina Bay Sands

Tel.: +65 66888522
Singapore

Website: http://www.osteriamozza.com/ and  http://pizzeriamozza.com/