Noodles: Ban Lee Sang Mee @ Taman Ehsan, Kepong

The restaurant is just right front of the secondary school, SMK Taman Ehsan.

And in fact it's MY secondary school.

This restaurant is somehow famous in the area of kepong, and they have a really huge number of fans.

First, this restaurant is selling noodles, so if you're looking for rice, then you are in the wrong place.

Normally it's crowded with students and also office workers nearby, but during weekend you will even wonder where does these crowd come from- everybody is craving for the same thing.

So introducing their signature, one and only 'Sang Mee'

( I don't know how to translate it because if you translate it it will be 'Raw Noodles' and it sounds weird)

They normally are selling them in 3 ways, either in clear soup, curry, or dry (kon loh).

Here are some of the pictures:

The Kon Loh Sang Mee. With minced meat. NICE!
Rating 4.5/5
[Priced around RM5]

The Sang Mee in Clear Soup. With minced meat as well with Fucuk.
*their fucuk is the best in the area!
photo credits to http://klchin.blogspot.com

Comes with clear soup with fucuk and meat balls. It's served with the Dry Sang Mee.

If you love curry very much, try their Curry Sang Mee.
This is the curry soup with Fucuk and Meat Balls, served together with Dry Sang Mee.
(They normally give you clear soup, but you can request for curry)

Their another signature dish- Chee Cheong Fun.
Served with dried prawns, fried onions, scallion, Tao Fu Pok, and curry.
Rated 4/5
Photo credits to http://klchin.blogspot.com

Overall Rating:

Food: 4/5

Service: 4.5/5

Choice of Menu: Not applicable

Tax: Not Applicable

Budget Per Person: Around RM5-6 without drinks.

Definitely Try Out!

Nyonya House 1 Borneo, Kota Kinabalu

Another food spot I tried in 1 Borneo, KK.

[Photo Credits to sabahvacation.com]

So if you love belacan-nyonya kinda stuff, you must try this!

The Menu
[Photo credits to irresistable89.blogspot.com]

Below are some food review:

Kong Pao Chicken with rice
[Priced at RM6.80 as per lunch set:Original Priced at around RM9]
Review: 4/5
Quite nice in terms of their flavour.

Chrysanthemum Tea- free with each lunch set 

Belacan Fried Rice- notice the love shape! With keropoks and fried egg.
[Priced at RM6.80 as per lunch set]
Rated 4.5/5
Nice! With fresh prawns inside. Quite satisfying with their sambal belacan sauce
DEFINITELY try their sambal belacan!

Charcoal Tofu with salted fish,chicken and mushrooms.[Small]
RM12 [Small], RM24 [Large]
Rated 3.5/5. Quite nice, but not worth the money in terms of their quantity.
The tofu is in dark colour, so if you easily get disgust with these kind of  dark-sticky stuffs, don't bother ordering.
Still, it's nice for me.  

Overall Rating:

Service: 4/5

Food: 4/5

Choice of Menu: 4.5/5 

(*lots of things you can order, but I can't find any petai =/ Maybe it's hard to find petai in Sabah? O.O)

Tax Charge: 10% Service Tax

Their set menu is available from noon to 7:30pm.

Budget Per Person:

Lunch Set RM7.50/person after tax

Normal Order ~RM15/person [depends on what you order]

Chatime Malaysia

It's now expanding and expanding- the HOTTEST drinks in town- Chatime!

Chatime is originated from Taiwan, featuring Taiwan drinks, especially well-known Pearl Milk Tea, and Chatime is one of the international franchise- and it's now quickly expanding in Malaysia.

It's getting nearer and nearer to everybody- from Damansara, they opened one in Selayang, and opened one in 1 Utama, opened one in Midvalley Cinema, and one in Solaris Mont Kiara... the news updating very frequently about new outlets opening soon; and it's been the hottest common topic among drinks lovers!

Chatime featuring lots of variety of drinks- from the very traditional tea- even 'Tie Guan Yin', but they make it new- and make it suitable with the taste of the modern drinkers. 

They've got lots of series; Mango Series, Milk Tea Series, Smoothies, Coffee, Hot Drinks, QQ Series, even Yogurt drinks, Juice, and their very own Chatime Mix.

Even the menu makes you excited- but it's extremely hard to choose if you have some difficulties in making choice:

Chatime Menu- Lot's of drinks! (Click to expand the view)

And here are some drinks recommended by me; some by my friends, and hopefully helpful to those who are making some hard choices about what to drink.

Strawberry Pudding Au-Lait (RM6.90 Regular) - Girl's Favourite- Ice blended with pudding with the flavor of Strawberry.
Quite good in taste but depends individually. Some finds it 'milky'.

(From left) Matcha Green Tea Latte (RM5.90 Regular) If you like Matcha and Latte- try it out- but  lots of people think it's 'weird'
Mango QQ (RM5.90 Regular) - generally accepted by public- simple mango drink, nothing special
Strawberry Pudding, and Mango QQ

Grape Smoothie (RM5.90 Regular)- Just a better version of Ribena.

Signature drinks- (from left) Iced Plum Tea, Red Bean Milk Tea, Pearl Milk Tea, Japanese Matcha Red Bean Smoothie.
All are generally quite popular.

These 7 drinks are their recent signature drinks. All are worth trying out!

My nearest Chatime outlet- Selayang Mall. So crowded when they were having buy 1 free 1 promotion.

Also here are some friendly note from me:

ALL yoghurt drinks they sell is quite nice- as i love the taste of yoghurt- Lemon Yoghurt Smoothie, Strawberry Yoghurt Smoothie is nice!

Yakult Green Tea is another nice drinks- but some people find it 'sips of hell' and extremely weird.

Though Chatime is well-known and expanding- giving the public a very good image- but the quality of the drinks they made is very 'unstable'- The taste of the same drink may be different every time you order- sometimes it's OK, sometimes it's too sweet, sometimes it's tasteless.

But if you want to buy some drinks on the go- to work- or shopping- and if you ask me where to buy- then it will be definitely something like this- and Chatime is on the top of the list.

Here are the website of Chatime if you are interested in looking for more details of the making or menu etc, kindly check out http://www.ichatime.com

UPDATE: Chatime is now offically certified HALAL. 

UPDATE DATED 29th September 2012

HUGELY recommend the CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT MILKTEA.
It's a sip of heaven. <3

UPDATED DATED 17th January 2013.

Newest flavour in town. With the tasty Horlicks!

for limited time only! 

Upperstar Suria Sabah, Kota Kinabalu

It's quite well-known in KK as it provides a huge variety of fusion foods, varying from western foods to spaghetti  even the local nasi lemak. 

Finally have some time to try it as the distant for me to go there from my place is not that near. *haha

They have a lunch set menu daily from 11:30am-5:30pm. Imagine the crowd. They have so many seats that not even enough. People have to sit-queue and wait.

The normal menu (click to see full size)- they have steaks, lamb chops, chicken chops, fish and chips; even spagethi and pizzas! Some of them are new. Notice the kebab. Seems nice! 

Decoration inside- with many pictures and drums on the wall- the ceiling is another beautiful view- a very nice portrait before the chandelier.  They have Astro TV for customers, even some seats equipped with desktop!
It's not Sakae Sushi where u use the computer to order your dishes- but this desktop is for you to do whatever you want- you can facebook, youtube and stuffs, even reading blogs! *lol 

They have this on some of the seats. A quite romantic decoration indeed.

Another view of the restaurant.

Upperstar cheese cake. Not bad! But still prefers cheesecake from Secret Recipe or Starbucks.
Rating 3/5
Lunch set priced RM5.95

My friend ordered this from the lunch menu. Quite worth the money! The chips and even better than the main dish =-=
It's Fish Fillet Burger rated 3.5/5
Lunch set priced RM7.95 (add on RM1.95 for ice lemon tea or soft drinks)

If you love sourness and pineapples, lemons and stuffs, definitely try this!
Yellow Jacket priced at RM5.95
Rated 4.5/5 

 My friend ordered Chicken chop too, priced at RM12.95, but it was incredibly dissapointed.

It's kinda over-fried. Too dry and not juicy enough. Is it meant to be like that? =/

My friend said the chips is very good but the chop is dissapointing. 

Rated 2/5

The lamb chop with black pepper sauce (you can choose other sauce as well: mushroom sauce, or special mixed sauce from Upperstar.)
This is quite good. Priced at RM15.95.
Rated 4/5

Overall it's a quite good place to hang out and have a meal. The surroundings are very good equipped with wifi and stuffs. The service are friendly too. 

Hope to have a meal there in the near future again. 

P/S: It's a halal place but they do sell beers and cocktails. And the price is quite OK for me too! Try it out!

Overall Rating:
Food: 3.5/5
Drinks: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Environment: 4.5/5

Wifi: YES

TAX: 16% (10% Service + 6% Govt)

Lunch Set available from noon to~3pm.

Budget:
Lunch Set: ~RM15
Normal Order: Depending on what you order, normally around RM25 with food and drinks(normal drinks)
Alcohol Lover: ~RM50-RM200

Karamell Almondo: One Borneo, KK

Looking for another ice cream spot?

 Introducing the Karamell Almondo: located near Harris bookstore, first floor, One Borneo.

The signature recipe: Karamell Almondo.

The summer cone ads.

if you are to ask me the taste- then I should tell you it's not the normal taste you can find in the McDonald's soft ice cream. This just tastes better. 

It is quite famous among students in my campus, given the strategic location.

The soft ice cream they are selling is homemade, made by finest quality ingredient, milk powder, natural vanilla bean and LESS IN SUGAR.

The LESS IN SUGAR thing may not be the one you care, but it is certainly the headline they want to stress on. Some say that McD icecream is way too sweet- well then, you know where to find your ice cream next time.

Though it's a little bit pricey compared to other ordinary soft ice cream, but it's just taste better. 

And it is in NETT price, no tax will be charged. 

Visit their website for more information

http://www.karamell-almondo.com

or their FB page,

https://www.facebook.com/karamellalmondo

UPDATE:

Karamell Almondo 1 Borneo is having a promotion exclusively for UMS Students-

they will give 10% discount* voucher for purchases above RM10.

Promotion til 12/12/12. 

ONLY AVAILABLE IN ONE BORNEO OUTLET.

*Promotion and discount quota is limited

Sabah Food Explore: Part I: Sabah Korea Restaurant One Borneo

It's near my campus, so basically it's easy to go 1 Borneo.

Many restaurants available there, ranging from western to chinese, even to japanese and italians, 1 Borneo has nothing less, unless you are some kind of a Greek-Roman-or-France guy, then sorry to say, no restaurant's available for you. 

But there's only one notable Korea Restaurant available there- and you can spot the shop lot right infront of the largest lifestyle mall in Sabah and Sarawak.

Introducing the Sabah Korea Restaurant, located in One Borneo, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

The entrance. Image credits to everydayfoodilove.co

Interior Design

The normal menu

The set lunch  menu, from RM9.90 per set, with one free glass of green tea. 

 The most notable one thing among students- is the set lunch. 

This restaurant offers great deal of choices, available from 11am to 2.30pm, Monday to Saturday (exclude Public Holiday).

From rice and soup, to even Kim Bab (something like sushi), or Bibim Bab (Mixed Rice), fried noodles, even fried rice cake (the very traditional Korean dish)

with RM9.90, you are in heaven. 

and the last thing you want to forget would be the tax- there's no tax here. 

So it's RM9.90 NETT, no extra charge needed.

Here are some foods we ordered and captured:

The soft tofu soup with rice- notice the beautiful egg yolk floating.  Ha! nice! the set comes with the side dishes and a bowl of rice. Ofcourse there's this green tea, but I don't think the tea needs to be captured =/

Kimchi Soup- my ultimate favorite Korean dish. 

LOVE THIS! =D

the side dish- ladyfingers, eggplants, peanuts, pancakes, and kimchi. NICE! *Can't request for refill though i tink, it's a set lunch, don't be too greedy! xD

Kim Bab- the rice roll. with lettuce and sausages, eggs and carrot rolled inside with a fine rice and seaweed- dip it with soy sauce and wasabi! another dish I recommend. 

Though not many information I can give to you since it's my first time in this restaurant; hopefully I will keep update it after my next visit. Peace! >=)

Meet Fresh Malaysia

Another Taiwanese dessert franchise booming in Malaysia.

Lots of people comparing it with the well-known franchise, Snowflakes, and received some supports from their customers. 

Finally have time and chance to try it in One Utama (G floor, Old Wing), and I'm here to share some thoughts. 

The interior design @1 Utama. Just beside the famous Candylicious shop. Quite clean environment, with WiFi available.

One of their wall features.

Their menu on the counter. This pic is not taken by me. Credits to kokcheehou.blogspot.com 
CLICK TO ENLARGE

Similar things to snowflake. With one dessert entitle you for one chop.  But what's bad is they've got the expired date where Snowflakes offer the card for the whole year.

Another familiar thing. Just that the design is different. It vibrates and flashes when your order is ready. Go and pick it up at the collection counter! =)

 And then here comes some desserts we've tried;

 Little Taro Balls in White Gourd Tea with Cream.

It was OK. A refreshing drink non the less with those mini taro balls. for those who loved taro balls can definitely try this. Priced at RM5.90. Dessert coded 801.

Lemon and Vegetarian Gelatin Shaved Ice- My favorite- if you like the sourness and the Gelatin- you can definitely try this. More or less the same with Snowflakes, but this tastes even more- but sometimes the sourness can be discouraging.

The signature dessert (I mean, which Taiwan dessert shop does not signature this? lols)
It's Meet Fresh Signature Herb Jelly (COLD)- with Taroballs and cream. The Taroball taste less than Snowflake- but maybe healthier. Overall a good dessert but not a memorable one.

So if you have love these kind of desserts, do not miss this shop! It's spreading fast in Malaysia, possibly the largest competitor for Snowflakes. If you liked snowflakes, try this, maybe your favorite dessert shop will change. At least give it a try, it ranked No.1 in Taiwan for its originality and taste (or so they said).

For more information you can surf on their website, they have full coverage and picture on their menu there.

http://www.meetfresh.com.my 

or their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Meet-Fresh-Malaysia/280167468667830