Anak Anak Malaysia Taste Of Malaysia

Saturday, 26th August 2017

In conjunction of Merdeka Day on 31st August 2017, Eco World Group hosted the abovementioned event in South Yarra that day, inviting people to pop in for free Malaysian food.

What's not to love about free food, eh? :)

We arrived at the venue at noon and found the place backed with mostly Malaysians and Singaporeans. 

Upon entry, we were given our ticket cum food voucher which allowed us to select 4 items from each category. I thought it was pretty generous, hehe, but it might not be enough for some to have a full meal.

The choice of satay gave us 2 sticks and they were really delicious. The small square piece of murtabak was paled in comparison. As the satay was made on the spot, the stall always had the longest queue.

The kuih was a hit and miss. I was informed by the stall owner that the rainbow coloured kuih lapis was the Sarawak one but honestly, I don't recall Sarawak kuih lapis tasting so artificial. Perhaps it's due to the amount of colouring used for the kuih.

For the mains, we had the Mamak Mee Goreng and Curry Mee (not stated in the voucher) and both were good. We took home the Mamak Mee Goreng and had it for dinner. :D

I was pretty excited to spot Diana Chan, Masterchef Australia 2017 when she appeared to officiate the event. She held a cooking demo in the developer's office (indoors) so I wasn't there. I never knew she was so tall!

Later on, everyone had an opportunity to have their photo taken with her. We took the chance and I don't think I managed to say anything meaningful to her besides, "Congrats on your win!"

Screenshot of photos from Yarra One Apartment's Facebook page.

Brendan was very mesmerised by her. Diana did try to cajole him to smile but all he could do was look at her with googly eyes. :D

As for me, sigh, why didn't anyone tell me I needed a haircut and better fitting sweater?!

Right after the event, WH and I popped into Zumbo. We practically drooled over the selection but after deliberating for almost 30 minutes, we walked out with a very small purchase: 2 pieces for me and 3 for her. :D

The cheesecake looked really good!

I opted for the passion fruit tart (based on raving reviews) and salted caramel tart. I was sorely tempted to buy a piece of brownie as well but had to force myself to walk away.

The passion fruit tart turned out to be just so-so. Hmmm, I honestly can't remember how it tastes now, perhaps it wasn't tarty enough with passion fruit flavour. The salted caramel one was much better, but hehe, I'll have to say right now that the taste of Bibelot's salted caramel tart is the one that is stuck in my head right now!


Zumbo Patisserie
18 Claremont St
South Yarra, VIC 3141

Bibelot
285 - 287 Coventry St
South Melbourne, VIC 3205

Keeping The Family Entertained is Hard Work

My family came over last month two months ago (September 2015) for a short visit. A week is definitely a short visit, especially when there's so much on the itinerary to cover.

Day 1 - We visited the Werribee Open Range Zoo. I remember enjoying my visit back in 2006 and prayed that it would not be any different this time, if not better.

The best bits:

1. going on the ride that brought us around part of the Park. It kills 20 minutes and you get to rest your feet. You'll also be amazed with how much land they have for the animal to roam free!

2. Seeing the gorillas up close. They have 3 gorillas and they looked magnificent. If you were as tall as a 4-year-old, you'd be almost face-to-face with them.

Niece refused to pose with me.
[Bin's pic.]

The not so good bits:
1. Weekends are always packed and it's not easy to find a picnic table and seats for a group of 7 for lunch.

2. It was a warm day and everyone was tired from walking.

Photo credit: Bin

3. Did not cover the entire place because my parents were too tired from walking. My niece was getting bored, she just wanted to go home to do some painting with me.

Day 2 - It was a long drive along the Great Ocean Road and got as far as Wye River to spot the wild koalas. But seeing that the koalas were high up in the trees and were doing nothing, it was the birds which attracted my niece's attention.

She was more interested in the birds. A kind lady offered her some bird seeds to feed the birds but my niece ended up throwing the seeds onto the ground as she was scared of the birds.

Wild koalas in the trees outside of BIG4 Wye River Caravan Park.

Day 3 was spent shopping in DFO South Wharf, before picking Bin up to head out to Lygon St for dinner. I don't seem to recall the name of the restaurant ... it goes to show how much of an impression the food gave me. :P

After dinner, we headed to Il Dolce Freddo for gelato, which I tell you, is probably the best on Lygon St. They have durian and ferrero rocher flavours! Bin and I tried Casa Del Gelato, supposedly the oldest gelato store in Melbourne before and it was disappointing. 

Day 4 was spent walking around in the city before heading off to Squire's Loft, Albert Park for ribs. Yeah, I confess that Bin and I were quite tired of eating out but our guests were insistent that it was their holiday and might as well eat out and enjoy themselves. The beef ribs were pretty good as we found the pork ribs a bit dry.

Tea at Laurent, 3 hours before dinner.

I didn't even have a chance to bake Bin a birthday cake that day. :P

Day 5 was a long drive to Yarra Valley for lunch in a vineyard. We stopped by the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery before lunch. The niece was happy with the free chocolate tasting.

Playing Lady and the Tramp with a breadstick.

We had to rush off to De Bertoli for our lunch reservation. I think Bin and I had the rabbit and lamb dishes, while everyone else had pasta. My niece had a shock of her life when I told her that her aunt and uncle chase little rabbits and lambs for their meal. She moved away from us to sit with my sisters for about 15 minutes. :P

Yummy rabbit tasted like chicken ... oh gawd, I can't look at it right now!

We made a quick pit stop at Healesville Sanctuary for my dad, sisters and niece to pet the kangaroos. We only had 2 hours to cover the place before it was closed for the day! Saw the dingos, wombats and Tasmanian devils, and platypus!

Photo credit: Bin

Right after that, we drove all the way to Chadstone shopping centre because they wanted to do some late night shopping, seeing that it was a Thursday night after all. Bin and I were exhausted, so were my parents, I could tell, but we had to soldier on.

It was a long drive home and we were all knackered.

Some of our chocolate stash from the Chocolaterie.

Day 6 was their last day in Melbourne and it was time for some last minute shopping. We met up with my uncle (mum's elder brother) for dinner that night at Lazat, Sunshine.

After they left the next day, the house felt pretty empty. It's always sad to see your family go after such a brief holiday, but everyone has their work commitments and probably missed sleeping in their own beds!

I had to adjust not having a little shadow following me around anymore and insisting I sat with her during meal times so we could chat and eat together. OK, it probably involved me feeding her as she takes forever to finish her meal. 

My temporary 'mini me'.

Keeping a toddler entertained is HARD work!

For the past few times we have been on Skype, she tells me that she is coming to visit me again really soon, and asked if I could go home for a visit really soon as well. :)

A Quick Getaway to Gold Coast, Queensland

Friday, 3rd July 2015

We flew into Gold Coast via Jetstar and landed at the airport before noon. As we queued to picked up our rental car from Budget, the lady at the counter asked the hubs if we were there for the Gold Coast Airport Marathon. :D

We were pleasantly surprised to have been given a new red car, woohoo!!

We decided to stop by Burleigh Heads for some lunch as our tummies were beginning to grumble. Unsure where to go for food, we found ourselves outside the fish and chip shop.

Might as well!

Shared a single platter for $17. No biggie but good enough to keep our tummies happy. :)

Walked towards to beach after lunch for a quick look-see.

We were rather too chilled for words - instead of stopping by the expo to pick up our bibs, we headed straight to our accommodation to check-in, rest a bit before heading out again.

We found ourselves at the unofficial Main Beach parkrun because some friends said they'd turn up. *no names mentioned* While waiting for team McCleish to arrive, we chatted with Trish, a runner from Brisbane. She was there with her husband and running buddy, and they were doing the half marathon on Sunday.

The crowd began to build up and Tim (General Manager of parkrun Australia) kicked it off with an opening speech and introduced several people to the crowd. There were a couple of elite runners that day, but for the life of me, I don't remember their names.

SCTR represented!

The legs felt good. We were stoked to find ourselves mostly running on a track instead of a concrete pavement. Most of the run was on a track and it was pretty cool - I would say it's a light trail for beginners, with a little undulation every now and then. Every now and then, we'd catch a glimpse of the aquamarine sea beyond the trees on the route back to the start area.

The pictures I have don't do the route justice. I have to say that it's a pretty good parkrun route. In fact, I loved it!

If you're in Gold Coast for the weekends, do join their parkruns on Saturday mornings at 7 am.


After that, we rushed off to Surfers Paradise to meet up with our friends from Malaysia for dinner. We didn't expect it to be so difficult to find a parking spot!

*sigh* There is always a photobomber trying to be funny!

Bin and I were clearly under dressed for that rather breezy evening. :D

We were indecisive where to have dinner and eventually decided on Belly Busters. We took a while to decide what to order (we were pretty clueless) but after 15 minutes, we made our selections reluctantly. The whole stack of ribs was huge!

So Much Eating And So Little Running

With the in-laws in town and with the weather a bit crazy every now and then, I haven't been running as much as I would have liked. I'm sure there is a way we can get around it and hopefully we'll get that started next week!

We drove up to Silvan last Saturday to check out the Tesselaar Tulip Festival. AT AUD$22 per entry, I thought it was very steep. I offered for the hubs and I to wait in the car while the in-laws went in but the MIL insisted everyone went in.

Thank goodness we had brought a picnic basket, otherwise we'd have to spend more money on food inside!

I made sure the PILs were right behind me. Heehee!

With rows and rows of brightly coloured tulips, the first one to capture my interest was the 'Queen of the Night'. So dark in colour and looking black at first glance, they are really just a deep shade of maroon.

My other favourite is the Rosalie, which is a pretty shade of purple.

The place was crowded and no one hesitated to pay the entrance fee (except us*). With temperature as high as 27'C, I suppose it was a beautiful day not to be wasted indoors.

*I offered for both the hubs and I to wait in the car while they went in to explore. :D

We spent two hours inside and eventually left the place, only to find ourselves at the National Rhododendron Garden where no entrance fee was required! We didn't manage to walk right to the end of the park as we turned back halfway through. 

The place was equally crowded and its parking area was filled with cars.

(I'm not much of a flower person but I now know what rhododendron and Chinese cedar are!)

Despite protests from the FIL not to stop by for pie, we did find drop by Pie in the Sky anyway. After driving so far, surely we had to stop at tourist traps spots to cross something off the list!

We ordered the Beef Curry, which was dry and lacked the spicy aroma one would expect from curry. It was instead rather salty and its meat wasn't tender. An extremely forgettable choice.

My favourite is definitely the Korma Chicken, and MIL thought it was nice as well. The minute I cut through the pie, its gravy oozed out, making it extremely inviting to dig in. I suspect its filling is almost creamy that makes it a delicious pie. It's a multiple gold award winner!

(I really hope I can try making it one day!)

Melbourne Eats: Eating Out in Mt Beauty

We spent the Queen's Birthday weekend in Mt Beauty with the main purpose of climbing up Mt Bogong. As Mt Beauty is a small town, there are a handful of eateries in the vicinity without the need to drive far.

On our drive up to Mt Beauty, we made a quick pit stop at The Provender Country Bakehouse in Yea for a light lunch, comprising of 2 pies and 1 coffee, and a sticky lemon passionfruit muffin to take away. I can't remember which pies we had, possibly a steak and cheese one and a veggie pastie. The coffee wasn't great, but the place was packed, as always!

We first stumbled upon this place when we were driving back from Bright (for the Razorback Run) and we liked their pies. The bakery has been a regular Great Aussie Pie Competition winner for years now, and you'll see a plague in the bakery stating just that.

Address: 56 High Street, Yea, VIC 3717.

Links: Trip Advisor

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Flour + Water

171 Kiewa Valley Highway

Tawonga South, VIC 3698

Links: Trip Advisor | Website

We were early for dinner!

We had dinner there on our 1st night and ordered a pizza and one of the specials. The roast pumpkin pizza was topped with pine nuts, feta and baby spinach and I enjoyed it very much.

The lighting doesn't do the food justice. :)

The special was creamy dreamy prawn linguine which was not very dreamy at all, in my opinion. It was bland and sure, there were a lot of prawns, but the sauce lacked depth. There was no prawn-y taste in the creamy sauce, as they may have been cooked separately and added later to the dish.

We shared a bottle of beer. With beer, wine and liquer, I was ready to fall into bed!

Melbourne Eats: Three Bags Full, Richmond

It is impossible to walk past cafes in Melbourne and not be curious about it. Why the queue, and why is the place packed? The food (and coffee) must definitely be good, then!

Earlier last Sunday morning, we were in Studley Park supporting a few friends who ran Race 1 of the Salomon Trail Series. (I took a few random photos at the event.) We were expecting to arrive at the cafe in time for brunch but we got there just as lunch hour began.

Three Bags Full

60 Nicholson Street

Abbotsford, VIC 3067

Links: Website | Facebook | Urbanspoon

The place was packed to the brim but we were lucky to get two seats at the high table. Not the best spot to admire the interior and sneak a few photos, but it had to do. :)

A round table for a big group.

A waitress came and took our order for drinks before our seats were even warm. Talk about fast service!

Melbourne Eats: Auction Rooms, North Melbourne

There was a lot of hype about this cafe some time back, and I vaguely remember reading about the place being packed and patrons having to queue for a bit before being seated. Oh, and not to mention that their coffee was great.

It has been a while since we ventured out into the city for a bit of a gastronomic adventure so we thought, what the heck, better get out there and try some place new. 

We were seated at one of the tables at the front window.

Auction Rooms
103 - 107 Errol Street
North Melbourne, VIC 3051
Links: Urbanspoon | Website | Facebook

We ordered a cappuccino and a latte, although we already had coffee in the morning. One has to taste the coffee due to its rave reviews, no?


I really must not order latte anymore because milky coffee is not what I want. The latte I was served with was more milk than espresso, and the cappuccino was no biggie. Hmmm.

Top: Cappuccino.
Bottom: Latte.

Our food came in huge plates. One of the items which we initially wanted to order had run out, so we decided to go with the today's special and a baby cos lettuce salad.

I felt like a real grown up eating fancy looking food!

 How utterly clueless I am! 

It goes to show that I don't eat out much. Bwahaha! :)

Is that a giant Caesar salad?

The Trip Home

It's funny how emotions can be a bit of a roller coaster ride. One moment in January, I was disappointed that we couldn't return home to celebrate Chinese New Year with our families. Come February, I wasn't prepared for the trip home and before I left Kuala Lumpur a week ago, I felt miserable about leaving everyone behind.

We were worried that our plants wouldn't survive without us but gawd! We returned to see them flooded, probably due to a dripping tap. They are strangely, still alive and breathing. Phew!

Enjoying her strawberry
ice-cream.

I spent a week in Kota Kinabalu doing absolutely nothing besides spending time with my parents and cheeky niece (and her parents). I never knew it could be SO tiring just spending an afternoon taking care (and playing) with her, let alone doing it 5 times a week! It's no wonder my parents are always exhausted by evening, and can't get their chores done properly.

Besides playing with her teapot, xylophone, bubbles, blocks and plastic cups, my niece loves her books. She never tires of them and makes everyone read them to her. I bought her new one, The Very Itchy Bear, which she doesn't seem keen, though. *hmmfh*

As the only grandchild for both sides of the family, she gets endless attention. Everyone wants a piece of her! :)

The second and third week was spent in KL. The first part required a LOT of work in preparing my youngest sister's wedding. From tidying the apartment, to decorating, to buying things, to driving my mum here and there, to squeezing a lunch meeting and a short trail run with friends, I was exhausted.

A fab trail run in FRIM with some crazy buddies from the GCAM group.
They are so freaking fast now - they never cease to amaze me!!

The most important thing, of course, was that the special occasion brought the whole family together. The tea ceremony in the morning of the wedding was a tearful one, goodness gracious, with yours truly bawling and sniffling like I was the mother hen who couldn't part with her baby. *embarrassed*

Melbourne Eats: Ditzy Dani's Cafe, Preston Market

We went to check out Preston Market last December, hoping to grab some decent priced seafood. We were told that it was pretty decent over there so how could we not be curious?

I found out that rainbow trouts and salmon are cheaper over there, compared to the usual fishmongers at Box Hill Centro. About AUD$10.99 per kg, I think?

Food wise, I wasn't sure what to expect. I found a couple of rave reviews for some of its eateries, but when we were actually there, I wasn't sure.

I was curious about Ditzy Dani's cafe Dutch pancakes but to my disappointment, they reminded me of kaya balls back home.

The choices were, maple syrup and butter, cream and lemon, or something like that.

But once they served us a plate with both of choices combined, we didn't know what to make of it.

So. Not. Impressed.

Meh.

A cannoli for AUD$1.50.

We shared a cannoli while waiting for our kaya balls Dutch pancakes and I'm not sure what I was expecting. The custard filling was bland and tasted more of cream. It needed a bit more sugar.

But what do I know!

Coffee was not impressive either.

Definitely a no go for us.

Melbourne Eats: Eating Out in Bright

Over the weekend in Bright for the Razorback Run that weekend in November 2013, we only ate at two places.

Il Centro Pizza House

94 Gavan Street

Bright, VIC 3741

Links: Urbanspoon 

We arrived in Bright in time for dinner and decided to fill up our tummies before making our way to our accommodation and race briefing.

We wandered around the city streets, not knowing where to go and what exactly our tummies felt like eating. We eventually settled for this place just because it was crowded. 



Shrimps, mushroom, bacon and ham pizza. I think.

Their choice of pasta was rather limited so we resorted to ordering a pizza and fish & chips.

Fish was supposed to be in beer batter, but we couldn't taste much of it. 

Despite it being busy and packed with customers, service was OK.

Our bill came to AUD$44.00 as we had some beer. Except for the pizza being a bit on the salty side, the meal was a forgettable one.

Melbourne Eats: Lim's Nyonya Hut, Glen Waverly

Disclaimer: Opinions are based on the dishes we had and does not reflect our view on its entire menu.

Lim's Nyonya Hut

240 Blackburn Road

Glen Waverly

VIC 3150

Websites: Facebook | Urbanspoon

It was one of those exhausted weekend nights where we craved for something Malaysian. A quick browse through Google for the nearest best char kuey teow, and upon checking its reviews on Urbanspoon, we made our way there.

Our first visit was at 8pm on a Sunday night (27th October 2013). We ordered their popular dishes, the char kuey teow and assam laksa.

Char Kuey Teow (AUD$9.80 or AUD$10.80, I don't remember).

It looked authentic enough, with evidence of some 'wok hei' (essence of high heat  cooking from the wok). There were three prawns and slivers of Chinese sausage in this dish.

It was decent enough for us to give it a 7.5/10. :)

The Assam Laksa (AUD$9.80 or AUD$10.80, I don't remember) is a Penang's local dish, a sour fish-based soup with thick rice noodles. The sour taste was there, and there was plenty of fish meat, although the broth was a wee bit on the sweet side.

Halfway through the dish, I was tired of the taste. Luckily I was sharing half of it with the hubby. I personally think the serving was too huge for one person and would be best shared.

Coffee pudding (AUD$4.50).

We shared a dessert, which was delightful. A bit like caramel pudding, but with a hint of sweet coffee. It also seemed like a local favourite among the patrons as we saw some of them ordering the same thing.

Sold at AUD$1.00 for 3 pieces.

The lady who served us that night offered us a free plate of onde-onde, a traditional Malay kuih. It is shredded gula melaka (palm sugar) wrapped with glutinous rice flour, coated with dessicated coconut.

It was lovely!

The burst of sweetness in the mouth was like a tiny piece of heaven.