PENANG... SINGAPORE... KUCHING!

Sunset at Tanjung Aru in my hometown of Kota Kinabalu

It's been 2 days since I've been back in Melbourne and I'm still missing my home and family back in KK! I honestly feel like this is probably the best Summer break I've had yet (despite all the amazing ones I've had in the past).

It seemed like those 8 weeks flew by unreasonably quick. Lots happened, which included:

- Flying to Penang for a week with the family

- Then straight to Singapore just for the weekend to catch a concert

- Also to Kuching for a friend's wedding and many catchups

So much good food with plenty of hilarious/treasured company during each of those trips. To make this post bearable for all of you, I had to seriously cut out a LOT of the pictures from the holiday, which was quite painful (blogger woes, lol). The following are just my favourites and are all absolutely DELICIOUS!

Anyway, if you like what you see and want to know the specific location of where I ate any of the food below, it's easier to just shoot me an e-mail. This was a really fun post for me to do and I sure hope you enjoy the pictures too.

Take care,

Winston =)

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PENANG:

Indian Poori with Curry and Dhal

Black Pepper Chicken Puff, Crispy Yam Puff, Glutinous Coconut Puff (with "nian gao") and Pandan Lotus Paste with Salted Egg Puff

DURIANS

Kway Teow Soup

Penang "White Curry" Mee

Penang Hokkien Mee (aka Prawn Mee)

Penang Assam Laksa

Penang Char Kway Teow

Fried Oyster Omelette

SINGAPORE:

If you haven't been to Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck (at Paragon on Orchard Road), you must make a booking to eat there ASAP! Despite its unbelievably tacky name, it really was absolutely remarkable in too many ways. I speak highly of this restaurant for a reason and you will not regret your meal here.

HOT DAYUM. My pictures are not doing the duck justice AT ALL!

Chef's Fried Rice (AMAZING as well)

"Otak-Otak" aka Fish Mousse

Location: Xu Jun Sheng (Long Ji), Joo Chiat Road

Sambal Kangkung

Meat Patty with Salted Fish

(best ever)

KUCHING:

Wheat Grass "C" Peng

Teh "C" Special Peng

Nasi Ayam Penyet

Fish Slice Noodles

Sarawak Kolo Mee

Sarawak Laksa

Honestly, my ultimate favourite Laksa of them all. This bowl at Little Sky was surprisingly better than the "famous" one at Foody Goody -- YUMMM!

Drugstore Espresso, South Yarra

Check out the "futuristic" light lol

Located just a stone's throw away from South Yarra Station along Toorak Road =)

The thing I never realised about Food Blogging until I actually started is how fortunate I'd be to get to know SO many amazing people in this community. Heck, I didn't even know there was even a community of Food Bloggers to begin with. That was how out of touch I was when I first began.

So, when Bryan (of Let's Get Fat Together) and Ashley (of I'm So Hungree) graciously asked me on Twitter if I wanted to meet them for a brunch sometime, of course I said, "YES!". It was quite exciting, really. Getting to meet fellow bloggers that (I've always admired) for the first time.

And so we did, just before I was bound to fly back to Malaysia for the Summer. Since Bryan and Ash are the Brunching King/Queen (IMO, anyway) and I was waaaay more inexperienced in that department, I was happy to go anywhere they suggested because I knew I was in good hands ;)

Array of delectable baked treats on display

I was so tempted and felt like they were calling out to me

Personally, I LOVE meeting new people! Funnily enough, it didn't feel that way at all. It was almost like old friends catching up because we've been friends for quite a while and know so much about each other already, how nice =)

The brunch we had was really pleasant, with Jo (Bryan's friend), also in our company too. Food was good, but the company was better. Though the kitchen was closed (due to Christmas/Boxing Day), there was still a fair amount of items to choose from in the display cabinet. Here's what we had:

Wince: Smoked Salmon Bagels

Omg, guys... I LOVED THIS!!! Beautifully toasted and buttery bagels (with a nutty overtone from the sesame seeds), slathered in cream cheese, topped with slices of smoked salmon with a squeeze of lemon........ And it literally went, "CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH" in every. single. bite...................... Oh Lordy.

It was SO GOOD. Absolute perfection~

Jo: Pork Belly Sandwich

Pork Belleh Sammieee... See what I mean about choices being good enough we didn't need to order from the kitchen...? Not like we could, anyway. I enjoyed this too. The meat was moist, flavourful and well-seasoned, just as it should be. YUM!

And I really, really like the salad sides that they served here... Roasted caps, sun-dried tomatoes with spinach leaves lightly dressed in vinaigrette... Simple, but GOOD.

Ash: Asian Chicken Salad

I always feel a bit funny when people name their dishes "Asian", cause I never really know what that means. I mean, I don't think I'd ever call a dish, say, "Western" Fried Rice, if I opened an Asian restaurant, right...?

ANYHOO, this was a really delightful salad. Whatever the dressing was, it was really delicious with a good balance of sweetness and tanginess. Love the pop of colours/crunch from the vegetables and the chicken was quite moist, too.

Bryan: Bircher Muesli

I'll be honest, this was my first time eating Bircher Muesli. Jo explains that the difference is that Birchers are soaked in milk/liquid overnight. I swear, that woman is such a Foodie herself, I love it. Somebody get her a blog!! The blueberry compote (I refuse to refer to it as a syrup) helped bind all the other flavours together too. Nice...

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed this place based on what we ordered. Actually, there wasn't any complaints about the food at all and I thought it really suited my palette. After that meal, I was SO obsessed with bagels, seriously. I was so tempted to order them again when I went to Manchester Press later that afternoon (but I didn't). I also firmly decided that I was to eat nothing else but bagels all day, every day for the next few days (again... of course I didn't). Also, it was really uncanny how Michele (of Iron Chef Shellie) posted a blog post on homemade bagels that same night. Could this be a sign...?

Hey, remember that episode of Community where Brita kept pronouncing bagels as "baggels"? Hilarious. Oukaynevermind.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks again to Ash, Bryan and Jo for their wonderful company. Glad we could finally meet up and look forward to more eating adventures with you guys in the future. JUST HOLLA NEXT TIME YOU'RE IN THE CITY YAHHHH...

Also, don't forget to check out Ashley's review of Drugstore Espresso: here

Take care, all...! Will put up a new blog post soon =)