N Square Restaurant, Johor Bahru

Finally, all settled down in KL. The past week in JB was as hectic as hell but it was also so much fun because I got to go out everyday! Love helping my sis with her baking and fresh milk business, all the trips to restock the goods and what not SO FUN!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas because I did! 

Didn't actually do anything fun on that day except exchanging Christmas gifts and eating my sis's Christmas special bakes (Classic cheesecake & Red Velvet Cupcakes), but I got to do that all with my sisters! 

As I was saying, I went out every single day till I'm currently having dark eye circles and slight eye bags due to the rush... I realised that JB has a lot of new cafe! This of which I thought was a good thing till I actually patronised them.

The thing that upsets me much is the super high price that they place on their less than average tasting food/beverages (I'll blog about it later). The not too bad tasting are still not cheap either but at least it's something that I don't cook at home e.g. waffles so that's fine.

The one that pisses me off like mad are the foods that tasted worse than my cooking. Mind you, my cooking skills are mediocre so if I'm to pay RM23 for a pizza, make sure it's better than my sloppy ones or the commercialized Domions/Pizza Hut ones.

Done with ranting. Moving on to happier food finds!

My secondary school friend, Nadia, recently opened a restaurant in JB and I was determined to pay her restaurant a visit as an act of friendship and support.

N Square Restaurant

62 Jalan Perjiranan 2

Bandar Dato Onn, Johor Bahru

Facebook

N Square Restaurant at night

N Square is situated at Bandar Dato Onn and it's really easy to find. Your landmark would be the KFCH College in Bandar Dato Onn. When you see the college, turn right and you will immediately see a row of shops on your right. Find N Square there facing the road!

N Square is open daily (except Tuesdays) from 5pm- 12am.

I was suppose to meet up with a few friends here but then plan changed but luckily I managed to dine with my family here on the second day of Christmas:D

A few shots of the interior:

Simple deco. Frames of pictures of them when they were younger I assume.

Counter

N Square has a rather minimalist interior design but they charge real minimalist price for their food so I think it's all good! Of course they are many other new cafe in town which has really fancy deco and what not but their price is also FANCY. 

I'd rather spend my money on good food than just good ambience. Seems like people are willing pay for great photos to be placed on Instagram despite not so tasty food, but I'm a scrooge so my money is primarily for food LMAO

Waitress serving drinks and my mum trying to patronised whatever Naomi's telling her LOL

Customer service at N Square is quite food. Waiteress will greet you once you step into the restaurant. Remind me a bit of those Japanese shops where you will feel like a king regardless of whether you're buying anything or not.

We all ordered ice water and warm water. I was thinking out loud (to my family) if they would charge us for water? My mum told me to not ask Nadia because after all it's a newly opened restaurant and mum said nevermind if pay for water, haha. 

Guess what?

Ice water FREE!

Warm water FREE!

Woah! So generous! To clarity this, just in case they are people from other countries reading this- Here in Malaysia, ordering plain water is chargeable! Except if you go to certain cafe/restaurant.

If you go to Mamak shop, I think they will charge you like RM0.50 for a glass of water. If you go to some cafe, they will charge you RM1 for water. Btw, the water that you are paying for is usually just filtered water (I hope) not mineral water.

But here at N Square it's free! I hope they keep it that way because I always think that what's offering your customer a free glass of water right?

Strawberry milkshake, RM7

We ordered a strawberry milkshake to try as well. It tasted a little diluted at first, tasted more like ice blended than milkshake but after stirring in the cream it didn't taste too bad. Maybe adding in more milk and ice cream would help?

Mushroom soup with garlic bread RM5

Dad loves starters so he ordered mushroom soup and garlic bread. This is a Must Have! I loved how creamy and thick the mushoom soup was! Bread was generously spread with garlic butter too, yums! I would have ordered more bread to go with the soup because it was super yummy!

If we were at home, mum would have likely toasted the whole load of Gardenia bread for dipping!

Lamb shoulder chop RM17

As for the main course, dad had Lamb Chop which was really cheap! Two chunks of lamb shoulder only for RM17!!!! According to my dad, the lamb was cooked perfectly. I'm usually a little hesitant to order steaks/ lamb if they are cheap (LOL) because I have this perception that they will overcook it. Overcooked beef/ lamb is one of my pet peeves.

So now you know where to get cheap yet decently cooked lamb chop! Next time I'll give the beef steaks a try now that I know they handle meat fine.

Fish and chips RM10

Mum, Reb and I ordered fish and chips because I have been eating too much chicken back in KL and the fish and chips here at N Square is only RM10!!!! Look at the portion of fish and chips offered! Two large, and I really do mean LARGE pieces of fresh dory fish for RM10!! Are you kidding me? *swoons

I was so excited that RM10 today could buy me such a generous meal that I had to take several pictures of the fish HAHAHHA

Nicely battered fish on top of thick cut fries. I repeat, Thick. Cut. Fries  ❤ ❤ ❤

One huge slab of coleslaw! 

Fingers says TWO big ass fish! Teehee  ❤

Beef lasagna RM14

Naomi opted for beef lasagna because she has been craving for it for a while now. Tasted quite good though it could be better if it had more sauce to moist it up a tad bit more. Again, generous amount of beef and cheese! 

Love that it didn't taste Malaysian. I tried making lasagna at home and it always has this Malaysian taste which is not suppose to be there. My self made spaghetti is usually also very Malaysian tasting :S

Then it was dessert time!!!

Brownies with vanilla ice- cream RM10

I'm not a very big fan of desserts because I don't have a sweet tooth. I'd only have desserts after my meal if someone wanted somebody to share it with them. My sisters and I had brownies as dessert though I was hoping to get the Sticky Pudding LOL

Chocolate and vanilla ice- cream RM2 per scoop

Dad and mum got ice- cream as desserts. Both were served in pretty bowls! I'll now show you my kind of dessert:

Onion Rings RM6

HAHAHAHA yes onion rings! 

I ordered onion rings as my dessert and this is another Must Have!! Super yummy like the ones at Mcd! Or was it A&W? The onions is nice and mushy inside and crispy outside. Taste like they mash up onions then form them back into rings, for all I know. LOL. 

Now you know where to find cheap and good food tonight! Bon appetit!

Dal Komm Coffee, Damansara Uptown

It's Christmas eve! Somehow Christmas becomes less exciting these days if compared to when we were kids. Last time it was fun receiving gifts and what not! Of course, it's still fun now to receive gifts but I'd know what I'll be receiving these days so that minus the fun a tad bit :P

For the past 2 years, it has become a norm for me to have Mexican food for Christmas eve dinner! But since I'm back in JB, I wouldn't get my mexican food. Gah! But Reb will be whipping up some Christmas bakes so that I can't wait!

So Reb came up to KL for a few days before we came back down to our hometown. My sister is very Korean so we would usually go for Korean food hunt. This time, lucky her! This new cafe just opened!!

Dal.Komm Coffee 

Jalan SS21/37, Damansara Uptown

Dal.Komm Coffee

I love the food court at Uptown so the other day when I was having dinner there I passed Dal.Komm. Someone told me that the name sounded very weird, like it had some Indian ring to it? LOL My sisters both said that "Dal" sounded very Korean but what's "Komm"? Hmm.

Dal Komm is situated a row behind The Pie Shop, right at a corner.

Entrance to the shop

I like the button that we will have to press for the glass door to slide open! They have it at Sukiya, Uptown also. Very korean/ japanese-y LOL

Interior of Dal.Komm

Counter where you place your order

Selection of cakes and signature toast.

I'm assuming that the displays are their signature because there were much more on the menu. The toast and the bingsu on the counter are fake of course but they do look very real and pretty! At least it gives you an idea of what you are about to order. Very helpful especially if this is your first time trying bingsu and have no idea what to expect.

Fake bingsu on display

The right most one- Grapefruit bingsu- is their most popular bingsu!

Since it's thei most popular, signature bingsu (shaved ice) so we initially decided on that flavour till the cashier told us that it would be sour and bitter and sweet all at the same time. Once we heard "sour" and "bitter" we decided to go for the Apple Crumble bingsu instead XD

Reb placing order

This is very much self service so you would need to decide on what you would like to have then place an order at the counter, foot the bill and wait for your orders to be ready. They will hand you this buzzer like the ones used in Taiwanese dessert shops so you will know when your food are ready for collection.

Order here

Buzzer to indicate that the food/ drinks are ready for collection at the counter

Apple Crumble bingsu, RM15

Our orders we ready within 5 minutes and we were all very excited to see our bingsu because it looks so pretty!! All nicely layered with shaved ice and crumbs! Our bingsu was topped with vanilla ice- cream and whipped cream with a drizzle of apple sauce, noms!

I really like this Apple Crumble bingsu because it wasn't too sweet. The last time I had bingsu at Cafe Bene, the red bean was super sweet till it feels like there was insufficient shaved ice proportion. But thus Apple Crumble bingsu is for the win!

At first, I thought that it would be weird to eat ice and crumbs together but wala! It tasted good! 

Strawberry Honey Toast, RM16

We also ordered the Strawberry Honey Toast and yes, as expected it came looking very pretty too! The strawberries aren't the sweet type though so thank God for the honey drizzled on the toast. Somehow sour strawberries and sorbet is a little too much to handle together- even for a person like me who prefers slightly sourish stuff compared to all sweet.

Naomi requested me to cut up the toast for us so I obliged. Just as my knife was on the toast, the toast broke up to several pieces. Oh, so it's already been cut up for me HAHAHA

Nicely cut into nine pieces

All you have to do is grab and... noms!!

I find the toast rather over priced so definately not coming back for their toast. Speaking about toast, I'll be blogging about this famous Roti Benggali from Penang who is now operating in PJ!! That's like 1/3 of the price of this Strawberry Honey toast. Obviously they wouldn't have strawberries and sorbet on top but good old school kaya butter is wayyyyy yummier (and cheaper!) in my honest opinion.

And if someone really wants Strawberry Honey toast, it's easy to replicate it at home! So yeah, no pricey toast for me anytime soon. 

But as for Apple Crumble bingsu? YES PLEASE!!

Leaving you with a picture of my sis being all- so- grown- up ordering stuff at Dal.Komm!

Hameed Pata Mee Sotong + Pisang Goreng + Ais Kacang Swatow Lane (New World Park)

Didn't realised that I havent been blogging for quite some time, since early December actually. Been busy shopping for Christmas! Since my Penang trip is now a stale post, I might quickly breeze through HAHA Okay, so one of the places that I would recommend people would be the Pata Mee Sotong!

Hameed Pata Mee Sotong

Padang Kota Lama Foodcourt

Pata Mee Sotong stall

This place is accessible by the free Penang shuttle bus. You would have to look out for #18 Bus Stop (Padang Kota Lama). Right behind the bus stop you will be able to see this cheap and quite dirty looking food court LOL Yes, that's where Pata Mee Sotong is at!

Don't worry, it may look dark and a little dirty from the outside but the stall itself is rather clean. Had the mee sotong there for countless times and haven't had an incident of diarrhea so it's tested and proven!

Pata Mee Sotong, RM5 (small)

This is what your delicious seafood- sweet noodles will look like! It's basically fried noodles with squid. I love the dish because the noodles is moist and the squids are sweet! Love the taste of mush, starchy taste from the potatoes that they include in the dish. YUMS!

Being a host to the tourist

Also, a must have for me when I'm having my Pata Mee Sotong is a coconut shake from the stall next to Hameed's Pata Mee Sotong! It's a good combination because the Mee Sotong can be spicy. If you prefer mild tasting noodles, it's best if you inform them when placing order. Anyway, spicy is good!

Jalil Special Ice Kacang

Padang Kota Lama Foodcourt

Coconut shake stall

Coconut shake, RM2.50 (I think)

Ice- cream toppings!

I don't remember ordering special so I'm assuming that the normal coconut shake comes with ice- cream as topping! Unlike the ones that you find in Melaka (Klebang or Batu Berendam) where additional charges apply if you want ice- cream on top.

After lunch, I was so fortunate to sample the yummy Pisang Goreng!! I've heard of this rather famous pisang goreng that is situated near the general hospital if I've not mistaken.

Pisang Goreng 

Nearby General Hospital

I don't think the stall has a name but here is a picture of the Pisang Goreng stall

A bag full of RM4 worth of bananas

Sweet bananas, sliced thinly, battered nicely for crunch!

I'm really in love with those bananas because they were so sweet!!! Unlike the bananas that we usually find in KL- the plain tasting and a little kelat tasting:S Back here in JB, we usually dip our bananas in sambal kicap because it's a great dip and it's also because our bananas aren't too sweet.

But the pisang goreng I sampled in Penang is so good that you could eat it on it's own! It would be a sin to mask the sweet crunchy bananas with any dips at all! 

So after lunch and after snacks, it was dessert time!!! 

Ais Kacang Swatow Lane

New World Park

Ais Kacang stall

Ais kacang without fruits, add on ice- cream RM4 (I think)

This suppose to be the must eat ais kacang in Penang. The stall used to be at Swatow Lane (hence the name) but the hawkers there have been moved to the current New World Park foodcourt. I was a little reluctant to write about this ais kacang because I thought that it tasted horrible. Way below average in taste :(

Anyway, I'm writing this so that people visiting Penang can just skipped this "must have". The ais kacang was sad looking when it came to us.

Usually, shaved ice will be nice and tall when it comes in a bowl, colourful with syrup drizzles and what what not! It should feel like you are about to eat a unicorn LOL

But this Swatow Lane ais kacang was almost flat when it came:S

Ais kacang with fruits, add on ice- cream RM4.50 (I think)

If you really have to have Swatow Lane Ais Kacang, please have the one without fruits because the one with fruits tasted even worse. Weird fruits that shouldn't be there like papaya tainted the ais kacang taste. Oh man!

Concluding my post: 3 out of 4 foods were super yummy! Quite expected since it's Penang.

Stay tuned for more Penang food post and many more procrastinated food blogs. Teehee.

Myeong Dong Topokki, Sunway Pyramid

It's Christmas real soon and I'm super duper excited!!! Been missing Christmas for two consecutive years but this year I'll be home for Christmas! Talking about Christmas, I have this urge to see snow like real cold snow. Not sure if I can manage the cold but if I had a Christmas wish, I'm hopping for snow:D

So I was thinking where is the closest country which is can go to which snows? Then I thought of Korea! Well, it's not thaaaat close but it's close enough! Plus, Korea is in my to-go list! Only if I'm not saving up for US:(

Anyway, when Reb was up in KL the other day we brought her to this new Korean food store to have her favourite Topokki!

Myeong Dong Topokki

Asian Avenue, Sunway Pyramid

Myeong Dong Topokki store

This korean shop has a subway theme! So it's like you're rushing to catch the next train but you're hungry so you drop by this small stalls at the subway to grab a snack! I'd love to go to Korea and then grab a real Korean snack from those small authentic stalls.

Value Set meals

Menu

They have not too much of variety on the menu but I think it's sufficient because it's supposed to be a gra and go snack shop anyway. They offer value set meals if you want something heavier. We just had lunch the other day so Reb ordered their signature dish Topokki to snack on as post- lunch.

See those bubble talk boards stuck on the glass window?

They are detachable for to take selfie! How do I know? That's because I saw the row of poloroid pictures hung there, people were posing with those bubble talk. Okayyy, so I assumed that we could pull it off for a picture. So what? LOL

Pull that off for Reb, but I stuck it back of course HAHA

I think this is some sort of fermented rice drink. Reb loves it like mad! I think about RM3

This Paldo drink taste very much like our barley drink so I'm okay with it. But I've tried real homemade authentic fermented rice drink and OMG it gave my brain a shock! I couldn't process what I was drinking because it tasted so foreign on my Malaysian tongue, lol.

Topokki, original RM4.50

Reb chose the original Topokki instead of the super spicy one and thank God she did! The original version already tasted SPICYYYY. Tongue was on fire when I had a few bites. Topokki isn't my favourite snack because to me the rice taste so uncooked and too chewy.

I love the fishcakes that they serve together with the topokki though! If one day I go to Korea, I'll eat up all the fishcakes from stalls by the side of the road! LOL Also, I love the fact that they have us half an egg! Never knew egg was included in this dish.

Spicy rice cakes!

Actually to think of it, it taste very much like the one that Reb cooked before. So I suppose it's good because if it taste similar to homecooked food then it's healthy? :P

Yes, I pulled out one more bubble talk. So? LOLOL

70's Ice Ball, Armenian Street Penang

The problem with not writing about your trip immediately after you return home is that there's this possibility of you getting all lazy and the enthusiasm to write and share about the interesting places or food diminishes greatly.

Been rather caught up with journal reading which means that the laptop screen is taking a toll on my eyes. Good news! My sis brought up the unused monitor from back home so I've a bigger screen now!

Last month, my sis and I decided to have a vacation in Penang! Penang has become a must go place for me at least once a year so if you haven't heard of the BEST drink to cool you down under the scorching heat of the island and the BEST fried oyster read this. 

Armenian Street, Georgetown

Penang

Sis with the famous kids on bicycle mural

I've been to Penang for the fourth time now and whenever I'm there I'm never interested in wall arts or in fact any artsy stuff because all my focus would be on food. Each and every moment on the island I'll be thinking about what food should I have next? 

But this time round, my sis wanted very much to check out the famous wall paintings and I obliged since there wasn't much to do after eating anyway.

If you are into artsy stuff head over to Armenian Street!

Here you can find lots of wall paintings and really pretty artsy shops like this

Love the patch work blankets, rattan chairs and cloth anyaman stools! I bet they aren't cheap so I didn't bother to check the price. I would love to have the patchwork blanket for Christmas though!! 

Talking about blankets, my sis always complains that my blanket is too thin to be acknowledge as a 'blanket'. My argument... Malaysian weather what! LOL

Outside the artsy shop they had this DIY road pointers. Thought they look nice as camwhore props :P

And they grow plants out of old shoes!!

And we walked and walked and walked till she took lots of pictures with all nice and the.... not too nice wall paintings/ artsy stuff.

Not so nice artsy stuff:X

For me, a person who is not interested in wall paintings, I am attracted to Armenian street because of...

70's Ice Ball, Armenian Street!!!

70's ice ball stall outside the shop

Last time during my mum and dad's days, this was their snack! I think they didn't had the money to indulge in cafe (which I think they would consider a luxury only affordable by Westerners) like what we are doing these days i.e. cakes, macaroons, tea etc. 

So they had ice balls!

I've always been a big fan of ais kacang aka ABC so I was tremendously excited when I saw this! I mean, I've seen people posting pictures of them and the ice ball in Penang but I totally forgot about it (hence, not in my food list) but was pleasantly surprised when I stumble upon this shop nonetheless! 

Seller filling up two bowls full with shaved ice. Then she topped one bowl on top of the other. Removed the top bowl, compact and rotated the ice shavings into a ball!

There were many flavours available on the menu and the best part is that we can have two flavours!! Also, if you like you can request for asam boi (extra charge I think).

I suggested syrup because it's old school. Syrup would be the exact flavour that they used to have on ice balls during my mum and dad's days!!! 

Of course, back in those days they also put milk and chocolate on the ice balls. Dad said he would always ask for more chocolate but the seller would be a scrooge because chocolate was expensive those days (Now also expensive what, lolol).

For the second flavour, sis chose Sarsi!

Sarsi on the ball

Plenty of syrup on the ball!!!

Tada! 70's ice ball!

The seller told us that we are suppose to just suck the syrup from the ice ball and not munch on the ice so that's what I was doing. 

Then came this group of older people who were also very excited about the ice ball. Probably the last time they had it was when they were 5 or 6. So you can guess their age lol Anyway, the uncle was chomping down on his ice like a machineeeee! Eating ice ball like a boss!

His wife was funny though. She asked if they should all sanitized their hands before buying the ice ball and the husband got irritated and said , No need la!! HAHAHHHA The ice ball is served on a plastic tray though :P

Us with the 70's ice ball!!

Ice ball cost RM3 each! 

For the fun of it, and in the heat of the moment, I bought the ice ball withought thinking twice. But now that I've tried it and took lots of picture with it, I don't think I'll be spending RM3 on ice balls in the near future. It's just ice. And syrup. And all the hype of something we can't find these days, of course. 

Whenever I go to historical places or like have olden days food, I wonder what was I in my past life (if it does exist at all, JUST a silly thought la :S). You know like the Chinese TV series Scarlet Heart, there were times when they were doing the same thing (like walking at the palace) in different times?

So it felt like Déjà vu while I ate the ice ball:X

Okay, enough of this nonsense I'm cooking honey chicken today! Till the next post, bye.