KUL-SIN-AMS-PTY

I was away from blogosphere and from the country during the past weeks.

Went back to the office at the other side of the globe, which means I have to take multiple flights just to reach there.

Transiting in SIN and AMS for a few hours.

[Below] An aerial view of Amsterdam before touching down Schiphol airport.

After 40+ hours journey, reached Tocumen International Airport in Panama City.

Not those fancy ultra modern airport, but it is clean and bright.

Look at the whitish floor...does it look like a skating ring?😀

The signboard for departure drop-off. This picture was taken on the last day before departing.

I think there are only 4 major airlines operating the international flights from this airport - Air France, KLM, United Airlines and Copa Airlines.

[Below] The new office building. 

The office just shifted here on last year.

Lunch in the office

[Below] My room in Westin hotel....

1414 (14th floor, room #14) what an auspicious number😂

no worry, nothing unusual in this room and I came out alive😆

Will post more pictures soon. Stay tuned!

Premium Lounge KLIA2

[Throwback in Dec] This was my second visit to the premium lounge in within a month plus.

The AirAsia flight was delayed multiple times and by the time I reached KL it will be almost dinner time, so I might as well take my dinner first before heading home.

By default, there are 4 warm dishes served daily, and these were cooked to perfection. From left to right: Sauteed cauliflower, mac and cheese, dory fish in bolognaise sauce, and curry chicken breast. I tried all 4 with each dish taking a quarter space of the plate.

Other items I had are curry laksa, mushroom soup, watermelons and cakes.

thick curry with lotsa taupok😋

people come and go, 2 hours max capped

fried mantao, but there is no chili crab😂 unless you want to dip in curry gravy from the chicken dish.

cakes were replenished every now and then with different flavors

assorted beans, greens, condiments for salads

I had mine without any dressing

need to eat more watermelon after all the heaty food

BON APPETIT!

New Lucky Restaurant - Steamed Pre-cooked Dishes

There's a stall that opens only during the evening in the neighborhood kopitiam. It sells steamed pre-cooked dishes and is run by a couple. I remembered the couple's kids were still small when I first patronised the stall some 20 years++ ago. Nowadays the grown-up adult kids took over the stall although the couple are still running the operation. I hardly see any helper, so it's mainly run by the family members. The mother still calls her son as "ah boy" despite him being a grown-up man now😂

I used to order steamed fish, some greens and a few small dishes when dined with family.

This time i re-visited the stall again after more than 10 years+ (since my last visit) and ordered 2 dishes for 1 pax.

I had braised yam with pork and blanched iceberg lettuce in soy sauce.

A good mix of fat and lean meat in the pork dish. So, I would definitely order that again. RM17 nett for this meal.

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Roasted duck breast rice from "136 restaurant"

This was sometime last year when I still have 10% discount voucher. After applying the discount, this rice costs only RM9.45 nett. Such a good value.

This would satisfy my craving for roasted duck for now😁

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Back to have solo steamboat at Two Pesos.

I would usually order fish with chicken soup base.

As for carbs, it is definitely yee mee although they have other types of noodles and rice to choose from.

The weekday lunch promo costs somewhere RM14.90++ (or around RM15.80~nett).

I like this kind of steamboat, less hassle as the food portion is based on per pax.

When in group steamboat, there tend to be over-orders and food wastage. The last time I went for a CNY steamboat (with colleagues) we have to force ourselves to finish the stuffs. So, no more group steamboat for me.

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My fav lou shi fun...I like the chewy qq texture of the noodle.

Well, the lou shi fun is plain in taste by default. The flavors came from minced pork, spam and fried egg. Add with some cili padi for extra umpphhh.

Many years ago, I heard of people died from excessive boric acid in lou shi fun. Apart from lou shi fun, yellow noodles also has high level of boric acid, hence my family seldom eat such noodles....but now I'm eating it almost weekly😂

oh dear....

Carlton City Hotel Breakfast

[Throwback, Dec 2024] It was Saturday and before checking-out, I went for my extravagant brunch.

well, why not?

it was already paid by the company after all😀

The breakfast buffet ends at 10:30am....and all the dishes will be kept away after then.

So i took all the food to my table and leisurely enjoy them till 11am

My favorite is the shrimp dumpling (aka 'har gao' dim sum)....

The shrimp were fresh and bouncy with the quality equivalent to Chinese dim sum restaurant standard.

I hardly see such good quality dim sum served as breakfast in hotels.

I also have some stir fried napa cabbage with assorted veggies from the Chinese section.

Miso soup, the last bowl from a big pot.

Most hotel in SG that I stayed serves miso soup and Japanese rice/porridge in breakfast buffet mainly because this country has many Japanese expats/visitors.

Having breakfast with a view of HDB flat😂

Look at my table full of food....like some sort of food offering on ancestor prayer table😂

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Meanwhile, the day before (on Friday), I also had the same extravagant brunch, so that I can skip lunch and work straight till the dinner party at 7pm.

My first plate of chapalang - fried rice, fried noodles, samosa, curry dhal...

Only the rice is OK....the others just below par.....coz taste and texture not right😅

noodles and samosa were soggy

dhal is diluted and tasteless

I did not finish 80% of this....sorry for the waste...

2nd plate of chapalang - sausages, hash brown, ham, glutinous rice (from Chinese section), pain au chocolat, fried egg, scrambled egg, pork bacon...etc

They have non-halal food served in the buffet such as pork siu mai. I can never find porky items in Malaysian hotel breakfast buffet.

Chwee kueh with preserved radish toppings....always my favorite.

My brunch that lasts me till evening.

BON APPETIT!

Business as usual around the neighbourhood

After CNY over, things got back to normal....no more fireworks and firecrackers (phew...finally!) and no more sale rush...The neighborhood mall is also quieter after all the festive decorations removed and the stalls/kiosks gone.

[Below] Looking at the empty walkway while sipping my latte at Coffee Bean. That space was previously occupied by pop-up stalls selling CNY goodies.

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Nasi lemak from D'Nats, an established Malay food stall (and caterer) that have been around for 20++ years. I had sambal sotong with lots of sambal....

Their sambal is not spicy, just pungent only.

The peanuts/anchovies are packed in a tiny packet, hence can opt out and not take them for people who can't take peanuts/anchovies.

This plate of nasi lemak costs RM10.60 nett.

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Yong Tau Foo from a stall in the neighborhood Thong Kee kopitiam. RM2 per piece, this bowl consists of 2 bitter gourds, 1 brinjal, 1 okra and 1 stuffed tofu, altogether RM10.

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Claypot chicken rice (RM9) and salted veggie tofu soup (RM6) from the famous neighborhood claypot restaurant run by a Malay couple....

Good business ever since they got 'publicity' from the social media 'accusing' them of using non-halal ingredients in the claypot rice....

This shop is the most 'harmonious' I've ever seen in the neighborhood as it has Malay, Chinese and Indian customers every time I visited.

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BrewMaster bistro/pub with its Super Value Lunch promo daily. I only managed to try their peri peri chicken chop before they discontinued this promo after CNY. 

Now they are having different items with free soup + bread for their lunch promo. I will blog about it in my next post.

McD SG - Cheesy Truffle Beef Burger

[Throwback Dec 2024] On my first day, I stayed in the office until 6 something before walking over to the hotel for check-in.

It is only a 10 minutes' walk, but I took my leisure time enjoying the evening scenery along the way (and taking pictures like a tourist), hence only reached the hotel half an hour later😂

Reached the hotel check-in counter but there was a group of airline staffs checking-in...

Hangout at the lobby first😐

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Check-in was a breeze. I got my keycard in 5 minutes then head up to the room to put my luggage and laptop bag before heading out for dinner.

Here are some pictures of the room....

[Below] Complimentary tea/coffee

[Below] Not complimentary snacks

Queen size bed

Bathtub

Desk, mirror, flat screen tv

The fridge is placed inside the cabinet

Yellow dim lights

Shower room

There are 2 taps at the basin....one of it is drinking tap.

The bed is visible from the toilet thru the see thru glass window.

This is the tap for drinking water. Yes, it is safe for drinking.

This one....no need say....

Soaps and moisturizer

Magnesium bath flakes

Here's the view from the bathtub

Left (drinking water) Right (normal cleaning water)

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After refreshing myself, I walked to the McD Springleaf Tower for a quick dinner.

I remembered having Korean gochujang burger last time....this time I'm going to try another odd stuff.

Cheesy truffle beef deluxe burger!

with potato pop and add-on Chicken McCrispy....

The burger has deep fried mozzarella sticks in it which is unnecessary. I prefer to eat these separately (outside of the burger) instead. Overpowering of flavors with beef + truffle + cheese sticks combination in one burger.

I removed the cheese sticks and eat them with truffle sauce instead.

Total bill is SGD14.50 nett.

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After the heavy meal, went for a walk to burn-off the calories.

I noticed this eco umbrella dryer at SGX Centre; sometimes little things like this bring convenience to our lives.

The artistic Christmas tree at Raffles Quay

to be continued....