Experience Authentic Japanese Fine Dining at KOKU by RIYAZ International in Langkawi

RIYAZ International has unveiled KOKU Japanese Restaurant and Zen Garden at The RIYAZ Lavanya Langkawi, marking the arrival of Langkawi's first authentic fine dining Japanese restaurant.

[Food Review] Manhattan Fish Market Golden Cheese Treasures

Okay, it has been a long time since I've done a food review so bear with me as I dig out my rusty culinary describing skills.

I was recently invited to try out Manhattan Fish Market's Golden Cheese Treasures dishes. Seafood is already a sign of prosperity during Chinese New Year. So how else better to add more prosperity than a dash of cheese with its golden hues to mirror gold, a symbol of wealth and fortune. 

The Manhattan Fish Market Celebrates Ramadan and Syawal with Kampung Kat Sea-Nie Spread

Ramadan and Syawal are just around the corner and The Manhattan Fish Market is making the celebration a memorable one. Starting from March, The Manhattan Fish Market is launching the Kampung Kat Sea-Nie campaign with an array of tasty and local inspired spreads to better celebrate this festive occasion.

Malaysians often look forward to large groups iftar with loved ones and planning various gatherings during this season of fasting and celebration. The Manhattan Fish Market is embracing this tradition by coming out with a new variety of seafood offerings that patrons can dine-in for an amazing dining experience, take-away to be enjoyed in the comfort of their homes or have the delicious meals delivered right to the doorsteps. This menu is suitable for individual orders, big families, and everything in between.

30 in Japan: Tokyo Michelin Star Shinjukukappo Nakajima restaurant [Day 3]

When it comes to good food, Japan has plenty, possibly due to the attention to detail and care the locals put into the preparation. But more often than not, good award-winning food is often associated with expensive.

Not at Nakajima. Located in an obscure road/alley in Shinjuku, this unsuspecting basement restaurant is the winner of one Michelin star for one simple ingredient. Sardines.

International Buffet Offerings @ All New Lemon Garden, Shangri-La Hotel KL

The Lemon Garden restaurant in Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur has always boasted one of the best buffet spreads in the city with a wide array of international and local cuisines. But the years has worn out the interior of the restaurant and seeing that, Shangri-La KL decided in Nov 2016 to have its signature restaurant refurbished and renovated to a dining venue befitting of its name and its guests and customers.

[Hokkaido 2016] Day 2 - Otaru Day Trip

Otaru was known to be quite a picturesque seaside town, just an hour's train ride from Sapporo. It was also known for its reasonable generous portions of delicious fresh seafood.

And it was with this in mind that I scheduled in majority of the day for us to spend in Otaru, starting with brunch at the Sankaku seafood market located next to the Otaru JR station. It was unbelievable close to the station. Just exit the station, turn left and head up a flight of stairs and voila, we were at Sankaku market.

Tokyo 2015: Daikokuya Tempura, Asakusa

Daikokuya restaurant offers the yummiest and biggest prawn tempura I've ever seen. I kid you not, the tail and head of the prawns were poking out from under the bowl lid when it was served.

I first learnt about this place from Night Owls Cinematic's vlog (link here) and since I was staying in the neighbourhood where it was at, Asakusa, it warrant a visit from us. Daikokuya was located very near the famous Sensoji temple and just off the shopping row of Nakamise. It has two branches,the original and the new bigger branch which was just a row over to accommodate its growing popularity amongst the locals and tourists. Google maps took us to the old branch which was closed during lunch when we visited but there were clear signs directing us to the new branch nearby.

Get true blue Japanese at Zipangu, Shangri-La KL

The Zipangu restaurant of Shangri-La Hotel has a new face and that is the award-winning Chef Hiroaki Karasawa. Previously the Chief Chef of Nadaman Japanese restaurant at Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Chef Karasawa strives in traditional Japanese cuisine.

Guests and diners of Zipangu can get a whiff, see and taste Chef Karasawa's delectable culinary skills and creations that has won him the Japanese Cuisine Category Award 2014, The Second China Michelin; The Best Japanese Restaurant 2014, Modern Weekly Magazine; and The Best Japanese and Korean Restaurant Time Out Beijing in 2011 and 2014.

Just to name a few. #whathaveidonewithmylife

Bangkok 2014 - Khrua Nai Baan restaurant, 94 Soi Langsuan Rd

Khrua Nai Baan restaurant along Langsuan road was my father's favourite dining spot when he was based in Bangkok and I guess that love rubbed off on his daughters as we could not resist visiting Khrua Nai Baan on our recent Dec 2014 trip.

True to its translated name (Home-cooked) Khrua Nai Baan serves up home-cooked Thai dishes with a Chinese flair, giving most of its dishes a familiar flavour with the added Thai kick. The restaurant is located in a house-turned-restaurant and its many rooms upstairs offers privacy for diners. You can also opt to eat on the balcony overlooking the parking area.  

Gold Coast 2014: Day 2 - Hurricane's Grill & Bar, Surfers Paradise

So after running/walking 21km and overcoming 35 obstacles (or burpeeing our way through), it only seemed right that we treat ourselves to a scrumptious meal at one of the famous eateries in Gold Coast, Hurricane's Grill and Bar in Surfers Paradise. 

A good many blogs and TripAdvisor reviews recommended this place so we were excite to dine there especially after an exhausting day. Reservations were made a week in advance and a deposit was paid to secure our booking as we had a huge group of over 20 people. 

BBQ Thai - Thai Street Food, Old Klang Road

BBQ Thai restaurant in Old Klang Road is known for offering up authentic Thai street food in an chic environment that resembled the Bangkok night market that has since closed down. With different buildings that double as dining aircon rooms and unique decor in the main outdoor eating, BBQ Thai does leave an impression food-wise and ambivalence-wise My first visit a year ago, left me impressed with their BBQ pork neck and seafood Tom Yam soup and craving for more but since then I haven't had the time nor the company to revisit the place until recently.

The best landmark to look out for when approaching the restaurant (if you are coming from Midvalley) is Coco Steamboat. Upon spotting that, best to stick to the left lane and slow down. The nearly-invisible entrance to BBQ Thai is a few meters down and parking can be found inside the compound although limited. It is advisable to carpool and/or driving a small car. Reservation is recommended for larger groups and if you would like some privacy, request for the air-con rooms although it could get noisy inside.

Bite Hopping with 1Utama & the Butterfly Project Part 2

In this part of Bite Hopping through 1Utama with the Butterfly Project, let me introduce you to the eateries found in High Street. After covering most of Food Street (which you can read about in Part 1 here), the next part of my foodie mission took me to High Street lower ground (LG). 

[Non-halal] But before that, on my way to the former new wing of 1Utama, I dropped by this hidden little hideaway for my Bak Kut Teh fix, Pao Xiang Bak Kut Teh. How do you find it? Just look out for a giant bowl next to the escalator on the lower ground floor and it is right next to the Chinese medicine store, way inside. 

Pao Xiang Bak Kut Teh is famously known for their string-tied meat that ensure the meat remains firm and succulent when it is boiled in the herbal soup. It comes served on a ceramic burner to make sure it is constantly hot as you slurp on it. And it just so happened that when I was here, it started pouring cats and dogs outside. Talk about the perfect weather for piping hot soup and pork!

Bite Hopping with 1Utama & the Butterfly Project Part 1

Today's installment of Bite Hopping was brought to you by 1Utama Shopping Centre in collaboration with the Butterfly Project. Being the 4th largest shopping mall in the world, you can be really spoiled for choice in terms of food in 1Utama. Spoiled rotten like a kid in Candyland.

Thanks to the Butterfly Project, I got to try out some of 1Utama's hidden food treasures last weekend as part of their Blogger Wonderfood Adventure. My mission, should I chose to accept or not (I did, that's why I am doing this anyway) was to explore, eat, taste and photography 15 selected outlets of the lower ground (LG) floor. All within a 5 hours time limit from 11am to 4pm.

As soon as I collected my food passport to collect stamps from the outlets and my goodie bag from the registration counter, I started mapping out my foodie route for the next five hours. (cue Mission Impossible music)

Let me start by introducing you to Food Street, located in the LG Promenade area directly beneath Isetan if you need a landmark to find it. There is a good number of eateries here that can satisfy any sort of craving be it local or international, sweet or savoury.