Ais Tingkap, Lebuh Tamil & Fried Oyster, Chulia Street Penang

It's Friday!! WOOT! That means today will be the last day cooking home cooked food! KFC come to mama! I'm trying the Cheezy Zinger Mash Potatoes soon! Actually I was secretly hoping that I could have KFC today instead of tomorrow. I crave fried chickennnn!!

Talking about food, this bog post marks the start of my Penang food posts! It seems like going to Penang for food has become a yearly affair. 2 years ago, I went to Penang with my bestie Nit! That was when she was still an omnivore. Last year, I went to Penang with youngest sister, Rebecca and this year I went to Penang with...

Naomi!!! That's  us in the bus heading to KLIA2 early in the morning

Thank God for the cheap air tickets by Air Asia that cost exactly the same as bus tickets! So we fly to Penang with ease! Travelling time only took about an hour compared to 4 hours by bus. Also, I'm not sure if I'm getting older or what but I'll tend to get bus- sick (i.e. seasick but in the bus).

Her first time at KLIA2

We wore the same t-shirts like very typical holiday goers! Hehe

The only thing with taking flight is that we had to be in the airport early. Actually we weren't that early because we woke up later than planned LOL

So breakfast was at KLIA2. We saw the breakfast menu at KFC, this egg zinger burger for RM5+ so I thought okay la reasonable for a set meal. Turns out, that was the price for a la carte! A full meal (Burger + Hash brown + Drink) cost RM10+!!

Grr.

Both of us looking good with fresh makeup XD

Touch down at Penang airport within a blink of the eye! From the airport we were suppose to board the Rapid Penang 401E bus that would drop us off right in front of our hotel.

But since there was a 401 bus waiting and the Rapid guy told us that he had no idea when 401E will arrive, we decided to hop on the 401 bus that takes us to Komtar.

I was pretty proud that I knew my way around Georgetown fairly well because it's my third time there and I managed to even help these two tourist with directions! Teehee.

It was a 15- 20 minutes walk from Komtar to Chulia Street so we stopped halfway for some refreshing drink. This was recommended to me when I last came and I like it! So I had to let Naomi try it out.

Ais Tingkap 

Lebuh Tamil, Georgetown

Ais Tingkap man just opened his stall for the day at about 11am 

Menu for your reference

Ais Tingkap, RM2 per cup!

It really is THE drink to have when you are strolling around sunny Georgetown! It's ice-y syrup with coconut water topped with coconut flesh and basil seed!

It's also THE drink to have because the owner of the place is such a sporting and friendly person! His friends saw me taking picture of the stall so they ask me to go into he drink making area for a picture instead!

The Ais Tingkap man was initially rather shy but at last he posed for a picture according to his friend's cue! He's friend asked him to show the thumbs up HAHAHHA

My favourite picture of the entire trip!! This picture look like I'm those food TV host! My dream job LOL

Not long after, we walked to our hotel located at Chulia Street. After checking in, we left our stuff there and headed off to my favourite Fried Oyster stall which is situated along Jalan Chulia! Just 5- 10 minutes walk away!

Crispy Fried Oyster @ Lam Ah Kopitiam

Chulia Street, Georgetown

(In front of the bomba place. At the junction of Chulia Street and Beach Street)

Uncle frying oyster

About this place, I've gotta give you a heads up that you would need to wait for quite some time for your food to arrive. The uncle takes about 10- 15 minutes to dish out his fried oysters (He makes about 5 plates before serving them).

Also, there are very limited seats at this coffee shop so you would need to keep an eye for empty seats. It's a norm for people to share tables there so if you see an empty seat you would just have to kindly ask the person who is already seating if you could join them LOL

Lam Ah Kopitiam, no seats how???

Thanks to this uncle and his wife (not in picture) for sharing their table with us! Eventually they moved off to another table to share someone else's table and no one else wanted to share our table so... all the better! hehe

Or else, the lady boss of the coffee shop (she sells drinks there) would help allocate a seat for you. If you prefer to not share table, she will ask you to simply sit first then when there is a free table available she will send you there.

Crispy fried oyster in the making

It's very very important to note that this uncle's fried oyster is the best because it's crispy!!!! Unlike elsewhere where the flour batter will be wet and soggy (the normal way fried oyster is being made), this uncle deep fries his egg batter and then separately tops it off with juicy stir fry oysters!!!!

I think I've read somewhere that you could request for the normal way of wet batter also but WHYYY? :P

Whenever I'm in Penang I'd always opt for his fried oysters. I don't find the need to eat fried oysters anywhere else on the island LOL

CRISPY Fried Oysters

See what I mean by crispy! Btw, this is a small serving RM5. If you want double of this portion, of which I really recommend, tell the uncle you want the Big one! RM10! Very worth it because he give you lots of oysters and double the amount of yummy sweet chilli sauce!!

I'm using so many exclamation marks (!!!) to describe the fried oyster that I think the button is quavering LOLOL

Uncle refilling his batter, I realised that all his measurement are by estimation so hard to copy!

Penang White coffee, RM2.30. Another thing that I usually order in Penang is their white coffee! Love how aromatic their coffee is! My sis and I stashed back 4 bags of coffee for our coffee addict parents :P

Happy girl with Penang White Coffee. Feel a little bad pulling her here and there to try out all kinds of food within such limited time. 3D2N in Penang is insufficient!! Next time must extend vacation!

One more shot of the crazy good fried oyster aka Oh Chien aka Oh Luak:

MUST EAT in Paris Van Jawa: BreadLife Green Tea Ice- cream, Fruity Juice & Mochi Mochi

OMG. I was about to blog about Penang then I realised that I have one more Bandung post to write! To think that I declared that my previous blog post is my last blog post, it's embarrasing LOL Anyway, this wouldn't be a long post, just to tie up some loose ends. 

BreadLife

Paris Van Jawa, Bandung

BreadLife entrance

I'm hoping that we can only find BreadLife in Bandung because somehow it really looks very familiar. If I could find this bakery in Malaysia I'd not blog about it already haha I'm also very lazy to do a quick google on whether you can find it in Malaysia so I'm assuming that we can only find this in Bandung okay!

I was there in the bakery for ice- cream. Yup, you heard me correctly. Not buns but ice- cream!! Talking about buns, it reminds me of my new friend Suba who LOVES buns! Gaya would pack buns home for her when we were out.

Array of buns

I though that I should have a picture of buns since it's after all a bakery. By the time I was there, around 7pm there weren't many buns left so I didn't buy any. I think when buns, or in fact any products, are finishing they look kinda sad:S

And that's why Magnum Cafe Malaysia always tops up their toppings frequently, not leaving any half empty. This makes their shop's products look alive and happy! 

Ice- cream w Gaya

Green Tea ice- cream before dinner! Noms!

If I've not mistaken they are rather popular for their ice- cream despite the fact that they are bakery. I had to queue for the ice- cream! They have green tea ice- cream, vanilla ice- cream or you would request for a swirl of green tea and vanilla! 

Obviously I asked for the green tea swirl because I wanted the best of both worlds LOL The ice- cream was as good as the green tea ice- cream that they sell here in Malaysia but for a fraction of it's price! 

The soft cream green tea ice- cream here cost about RM4.50 to RM6!! But I think I paid about RM2 for my ice- cream at BreadLife and it tasted very Matcha natural.

Deviating a little, here are some pictures of the selection of juices that can be found in Indonesia!

Juice aisle 1

Juice aisle 2

Talking about juice, I've quickly deviate from the ice- cream topic to the juice topic :P Also at Paris Van Jawa, I saw this ice blended juice stall in the mall but I did not try it till the second last day there in Bandung because it looks like something that I could easily get back home.

Thank God I decided to give it a shot on the second last day there because I would mad regret if I didn't! 

The juice was absolutely yummy!!! I've no idea what these Indonesian people put in their food and drink but they make the ordinary extraordinary!!

Fruity 

Paris Van Jawa, Bandung

This is the stall! It welcomes you with 7 hardcore fruit blender!

Initially, the plan was for me to get more avocado juice before I leave Bandung because the avacado juice in Bandung is super delicious yet super cheap!!! It's probably half of the price in Malaysia! 

But unfortunately (or fortunately) the lady said that she ran out of Avacado. That, or the avacado hasn't arrived, I forgot. So I asked her to recommend me a drink from the menu since there were so many!

Menu

So she recommended Vanilla Wildberries! According to her lots of people like it so I'm like okay, let's give it a shot! The drink wasn't priced as cheap as I thought it would be, about RM7 I think. Maybe because it's in Paris Van Jawa but after having my first slurp I was like.. TAKE ALL MY MONEYYYYY lmao

Vanilla Wildberries (Strawberry, Blackberry, Vanilla & Konyaku Jelly) 

I thought it will turn out sourish because there were two types of berries involved. I also thought that it would turn out like Juice Work's Water Berry texture (Like water-ish instead of creamy). 

But...

WTF! It was so vanilla- ish creamy with this very fragrant berry scent! And when you slurp it down, got something to munch on one (jelly!). How come so yummy???? *Mindfucked

Down it within 5 minutes LOL

Also, also... if you're at Paris Van Jawa you should try out their Mochi!!!! It's also sold in a stall/ cart at the same area as that Fruity Juice stall.

Again, I didn't want to buy it at first because we have so many mochi shops back in Malaysia but Gaya told me that this was the best and when I just couldn't be bothered to buy, she bought some for me HAHAHHAA

Mochi Mochi

Paris Van Jawa, Bandung

Mochi Mochi

Selection of Mochi

Gaya's treat! 

OMFG. This is really good!! The dough is so soft like baby's butt! And when you chew on it, it's very easily eaten unlike some that has too chewy dough. Plus! They are very generous with the fillings! I think mine was pandan!

Nothing like I've eaten before! Ohhhh, sooo gooood I tell you! Good thing Gaya bought it for me despite my stubbornness! Moral of the story- Trust locals!

Okay, that's all! Off to my Penang post!

p.s. I miss you Bandung food, if not for my US trip I'd buy a flight ticket back to Bandung early next year before Gaya comes back to Malaysia for good!

Magnum Cafe Kuala Lumpur: My graduation treat

Yesterday was my graduation day for my Honours Degree! And yes, that's my second graduation! This time my bestie wasn't in town so she couldn't attend the ceremony:(

Anyway, today when I was about to start my journal reading my besties asked me out for lunch saying that it's her treat! I could have anything meal that I want as a graduation treat!!! Yahoo! So we decided on Subway for lunch and the graduation treat was....

Magnum Cafe Kuala Lumpur

Midvalley, 3rd Floor (A few steps away from GSC)

Magnum Cafe Kuala Lumpur

I posted this picture below on Facebook asking people to guess where we went LOL

Michelle's M, teehee

Entrance at the 3rd floor

The Magnum cafe has two levels which you can choose to enter. I entered from the 3rd floor entrance which is a few steps away from GSC cinema. Most people queue here for their customisable ice- cream but the seats here on the 3rd floor is very limited.

I think the above floor is for hot meals but I've read n blogs that you could order your ice- cream there as well. Not too sure though.

Good thing for me, though the seats are always full on the 3rd floor, the turnover rate is pretty quick. When I was there people sat and ate their ice- cream and cam whored and then left once they are done. 

However, if you are unlucky to meet this certain groups of people who are purely inconsiderate (i.e. lepak there like dang long even after finished ice- cream) then boo for you.

 Make my Magnum entrance on the 3rd floor

Magnum lady explaining the menu

Before the lady could explain the menu to us, we we asked to move into the shop already. Lost and confused was what we felt LOL Anyway, we proceeded in the shop and realised that the line didn't start from the entrance, it started from the cashier inside. So it's like a snake line:S

Very weird queue though because here is how it rolls. You gotta queue to pay first at the cashier then you proceed to customise your ice- cream and then get the final product from the Magnum staff. But the starting point of queue is the ending point of queue. Like what???

Anyway, just follow the crowd if unsure. The Magnum staff were very nice so I don't think you will get scolded if you get confused about where the line is.

These are the pictures that I took while waiting to reach the cashier:

Three types of chocolate: Dark, milk and white chocolate

Rebecca's favourite mixer! LOL

Staff in the loop, see I was at this side (where the picture was taken from) and the people over there are the ones in front of the line

Paper boxes for the Magnum ice- cream. It's DIY box, so cute I feel like stealing some unfolded ones! lmao

Spotted the fondue set

See the banana in the picture? There was this uncle who was quite weird behind me. He kept talking crap and his pitiful wife had to endure his nonsense. He saw the banana and asked his wife if it he could take that for free when he obviously knows he can't la. Then he said to his wife that he's gonna ask the Magnum staff anyway about if he can take it for free, which he eventually did. WTF?

Then when we reached the pistachio crushing area, he asked the Magnum staff whether the nuts were Kacang Putih like a fool. It's not like he didn't know what was it, he just had to ask silly questions and made life difficult for the staff who didn't know the nut's name in English.

I had to endure his nonsense for 5- 10 minutes :S

Pistachio crushing area. That's what the staffs were doing in the loop in the picture earlier.

Pleasure Makers crushing nuts LOLOL

Owh, and they crushed Oreos too

 

Finally, we reached the menu!

Selection of custom made ice- cream

You could either select the ones that has been pre- customised or you could do it yourself. The price is the same for both, RM9.90. If you're doing it yourself, you will be able to pick any three toppings!! And the toppings look real interesting, I'll show you later what I mean!

Cashier explaining about customising ice- cream

The Magnum staff would encourage you to customise your own ice- cream because I think that's the while purpose of you visiting a Magnum cafe right? But I was busy taking pictures and didn't want to hog the line by getting all rambang mata choosing the toppings so I decided on Cookie Monster.

That's my Cookie Monster! I knew I wanted a vanilla ice- cream with dark chocolate coating, so I chose this!

Gold Nuggets

After paying, you will then customise your ice- cream!!! This is where the fun begins! I spotted this Gold Nuggets and it look sooooooo pretty! Next time I'm sure that I would want to have Gold Nuggets and Flowers on my ice- cream! Too pretty to be eaten, oh noms noms noms.

Topping up Gold Nuggets

So Cleopatra! I like the Gold so much that I regretted a little choosing Cookie Monster LOL

A view of all the toppings

Bestie chose to customise her own ice- cream and surprisingly she decided on her three toppings real fast!

The guy on the left asked who's the Cookie Monster for and I squealed, "Me!!" HAHA

He cued me to follow him. First he showed me the vanilla ice- cream and confirmed that it's Cookie Monster that I wanted. Then he told me that it's going to be dipped in dark chocolate. After that he top it off with crushed oreos, white chocolate balls and dark chocolate balls. Finishing touch with a drizzle of white choc!

Actually finishing touch was this "M" chocolate! It was nicely placed on my Magnum ice- cream and left to set.

Dipping naked ice- cream into chocolates that will harden after a while

Sprinking my toppings on. Btw, they will put all three toppings into a shaker, give it a shake and then pour it on top of your ice- cream so it's properly and evenly mixed!

Topping ice- cream

Finishing touch, a drizzle of white chocolate

My graduation treat, Cookie Monster!!!!

Magnum staff melting more chocolates. Love that they always top up their stuffs even if it's still half full! So everything look so happy and alive!

That's my Cookie Monster on the left and Nit's Pistachio + Almond +  Pretzels

Us with our Magnum ice- cream!

A closer shot of Cookie Monster 

A closer shot of Nit's customised Magnum ice- cream

Found a seat at the side where it was really nice and cosy because it was in a "L" shape but I told Nit that we should give up that seat to this man with his toddler. Good thing the seat next to that got vacant so we quickly slam out butts down, LMAO.

Thank you for the graduation ice- cream Nit!!! It's actually quite meaningful because I always associated Magnum to me since the symbol is a "M". Who knows one day I'll be own Magnum :P

Yums

I took so many picture and it didn't melt right away but when I had my first bite the vanilla ice- cream was flowing hahahaha But! But! Good ice- cream melts fast! If the ice- cream melts slow it only means there is more edible oil in it.

HABIS!

More seats at the side on high stools but these people were booking the seats for their friends

I think that it's only reasonable and considerate if you get your ice- cream then find a seat so that people before you could finish up their ice- cream seating. By the time they finish, I bet you are still in the queue paying or maybe it's just in time for you to get your end product then look for a sit. This way everyone is happy. Nonetheless, can't help it la if selfish people exist.

Outside deco, Gold and Silver ice- cream standing among a sea of pistachios! 

One last shot outside Magnum Cafe. So very glad I need not travel to Jakarta or Bangkok for Magnum Cafe! 

"M"

M from Magnum sticks! Nice!!