Thailand 8D7N Trip: Day 7 & 8 Mall Hopping; Chinatown; Chatuchak Weekend Market

Day 7: Breakfast near Platinum Mall --> Big C --> Siam Paragon --> Siam Square -> MBK Shopping Centre --> Chinatown

Second last day of our 8D7N trip in Thailand. We decided to go mall hopping in the morning and check out Chinatown at night.

First thing to do: Feed our stomach! We went to hunt food at the street opposite Platinum Mall, again. This time, we found a small local stall that sells wan ton noodle soup and chicken/roasted pork/roasted duck rice. 

Platinum Mall (le heaven)

So this is how my breakfast looks like. I ordered a bowl of Wan Ton Noodle with soup and they served with quite a number of Char Siew (pork) (THB40). I find it quite OK.

After that, we started our journey to explore malls that are nearby. We first stopped at Big C Supermarket (Right opposite Central World) as the weather was really hot and all of us were sweating. And we did some shopping there to get junk food. The price at Big C is cheaper than elsewhere. A good place to buy stuff to bring home, especially junk food. Another place to buy cheap junk food would be a stall at 7th floor of Platinum Mall. Their Pocky is relatively cheaper than other places. 

After that, we walked from Centrtal World to Siam Paragon, which was about a 10 minutes walk.Walking under hot sun is really a big challenge. We just did some window shopping at Siam Paragon and went to Siam Square.

Group photo in front of Siam Paragon =D

At Siam Square, I found my beloved kitty cafe! Awww..... Unluckily, I was running out of cash and decided not to try it out. What a waste! I would definitely come back for this as it looks very promising and larger than the one I've visited in Taipei. 

Till we meet again.... >.<

Then, we had lunch at A&W. Fast food restaurant again! 

Bacon Burger + Fries + Rootbeer. 

This is not available in Malaysia though. Something special at least. 

After lunch, we continued to hop to MBK shopping centre as our last stop. We did our shopping along the way. MBK shopping centre isn't that nice to shop. It looks more local and older than other malls. However, I still get to do some shopping. Got my neck pillow here from a Korean Shop. XD

We were all very exhausted walking everywhere under hot weather. So we decided to head back to hotel with cab. NO MORE WALKING, they said. Haha.... However, girls decided not to rest in hotel until dinner time. We went out to the Pratunam market to continue our shopping journey. Pratunam market is huge and there are plenty of stalls! However, it is open air and I find it uncomfortable to shop in there. Ended up, we spare another hour time in Platinum Mall before going to dinner at Chinatown. 

Finally, we are done with shopping and going for dinner! The guys should be relieved that we had done our shopping. XD We headed out to Chinatown for shopping. We wanted to try and find out how to take local bus to Chinatown. The hotel reception thought us how to take bus but due to time limitation, we ended up trying Tuk Tuk instead. 

Bought ourselves a stick of BBQ pork as snack along our way to hunt for a Tuk Tuk. 

THB10 per stick, it's good!

Singapore Getaway Part 3: Brunch at Wild Honey @ Mandarin Gallery

Part 3

Second Day of Singapore Trip

The next morning, we allowed ourselves to get enough sleep before another long traveling day. Friend helped to reserve a table at Wild Honey at 11.15am for brunch. Hence we decided to wake up just on time for brunch. Relaxing trip. ^_^ I enjoyed a cup of coffee at the terrace, enjoying the view of MBS and Singapore river, before heading out.

This might look familiar as I uploaded before in my preview post. I really miss the nice view.

We headed to Dhoby Gaut MRT station to meet up with my friend. Then, we headed to Somerset MRT station and walked to Mandarin Gallery. This is my first time here and it seems to be a classy place.

Wild Honey -- No Place Like Home. 

This cafe looks really cozy and it is really packed in the morning. Seems like everyone made their reservations beforehand. Luckily we reserved a table too. If I were to walk in, don't think I'll get to try this cafe.

It was full house when we reached there. Waited around 5-10 minutes for our seats. 

The Menu

I ordered a cup of latte and it was quite decent.

Our food. ^_^

Let's take a closer look at each dishes!!

Kuala Lumpur: VCR

VCR just celebrated their 2nd anniversary and finally I have the chance to visit it after so long! VCR is one of the cafes in my checklist and always have no chance to go there. I've seen photos on Instagram and on Facebook. I've read blogs about this cafe, telling how good is their cakes. So last Friday, finally is my turn to try out the cakes and food in this cafe. 

Last Friday, I drove down all the way from Taiping to Kuala Lumpur alone. I have an alumni dinner and wedding dinner to attend. Of course, I also get the opportunity to meet up with a lot of people -- high school friends, uni mates, ex-colleagues, exchange friends and of course, the most important one - sister a.k.a partner in crime. I reached KL around 12pm in the afternoon, then I went to Sunway to pick up my sis from her hostel. And there, we started cafe hopping. 

VCR is our first stop. =) It is located at Bukit Bintang, not too far from Times Square. One downside of this cafe is that parking is a problem. The cafe did stick a guide and suggest to park at the hotel beside to avoid getting "love letter" from DBKL. 

I ordered the potato waffle whereas my sis ordered their turkish eggs. We also ordered a cup of latte and a slice of their famous cake -- "The King".

They served us with cake and coffee first. 

What is "The King"? It is actually banana cake with peanut butter. It isn't a special combination as I've tried similar combo in The Good Batch years ago. Personally, I would go for "The King" as it is not so rich of peanut butter (which may be bad for some people). After eating the slice of "The King", I can still eat my main dish without feeling too guilty. =P Latte is just O-K-A-Y. It is better than normal, but still doesn't beats the one I had in Ministry of Coffee/Garage 51. 

Turkish Baked Egg. It comes with chick peas, sprinkled nuts, yoghurt, egg and toasts.

I like this dish as it is really filling and the combo seems healthy too. Though it looks small portion at first, me and sis feel so full after finishing it. 

The Potato Waffle. Served with 2 poached eggs and plenty of mushrooms! 

Vietnam: Ben Thanh Market (Day)

Day 5 of Ho Chi Minh Trip ^_^

Last day in Ho Chi Minh and we decided to visit the day time Ben Thanh Market to get some local food for breakfast and also to do some last minute shopping for souvenirs. I've visited Ben Thanh Market at night on the third day of my trip (Click here to read about it). Ben Thanh Market in the morning is more energetic I would say, they have more varieties of products. At night, most of the stalls sell souvenirs like key chains and t-shirts. In the morning, you can see stalls selling coffee, dried fruits, clothes, traditional clothings, etc etc... 

For myself, I prefer morning market. Maybe because it is indoor and I feel safer as compared to walking at night by the roadside with lots of motorcycles. 

The entrance of the morning Ben Thanh Market. 

First, there's a lot of stalls selling clothes. 

I am quite interested with their traditional clothes but I have too few VND in my pocket. Hence, it helped me to save money. Not to see, not to buy. 

Here's the section where you can buy dried fruits, coffees, and a lot of interesting stuffs. 

For me, I am only interested with the coffee and dried fruits. In order to buy souvenirs, I went to a money changer to change some VND for me to do some shopping. Then, I spent all my VND in buying dried fruits and souvenirs. I even owe my friends money and  returned them in MYR instead. Too much shopping.. Tsk tsk....... 

Lesson of the day: Change enough money and spend wisely. Spending all VND makes me feel terrified. Luckily I have some extra USD which allow me to change at the money changer. Without the extra money, I think I will have problem coming back to Malaysia. 

Our Breakfast: Crab Noodles (one for RM5)

This is really good and cheap!

These attracts me! Fancy desserts. 

We bought some spring rolls to try too! Normal and fried ones.

The sauce is special and goes so well with the fried spring rolls. 

Vietnam: Milano Coffee & my First Instant Cup Noodles after 6 years

                                                    Day 2 of Ho Chi Minh Trip ^_^

Continue from last post...... After visiting Poshanu Cham Towers and a wrong trip back to guesthouse, we headed back to Phan Thiet City.

The driver dropped us at Lotte Mart when we reached Phan Thiet City because we had no idea what to see in Phan Thiet City. We never expect that we have time to explore this place. But well, exploring shopping mall seems like a good idea as the streets look pretty much the same as Ho Chi Minh city.

Lotte Mart is quite a small shopping mall, which has limited choice of restaurants. We were looking for food to fill up our tummy for dinner and at last we had Lotteria as dinner. Lotteria is a chain of fast-food restaurants that was founded in Japan and then expanded to Korea and other countries. Since it is something new to us, no harm trying although it is fast food. XD

Lotteria

I ordered a fish burger and potato shake. 

To me, it is nothing special as compared to other fast food restaurants.

While eating, I saw a cafe opposite Lotteria which looks pretty nice. Of course, I will not missed out the chance to try Vietnam coffee. The cafe looks pretty tempting and I requested to try it out after dinner. =) Grateful that my friends agreed to go with me! Thankful!

Milano Coffee! It looks so classy and they have different kind of seats for us to choose, which are mainly outdoor. Their tables are generally small and hence we have to bend our back while drinking. 

It is quite challenging to order coffee in Vietnam. Their coffees have different numbering, which I have no idea at all. After explanation, those are different coffee with different taste. Some are milder, some are strong. We asked the waiter to get more ideas on what to order. To play safe, I ordered Iced Milano Milk Coffee while my friend ordered Coffee No.3. 

Ta-daa! Here's my cup of coffee. 

In Vietnam, don't be too surprise if you order a cup of iced coffee and your cup is only half-filled. This is because the coffee is too rich and you need to wait for the ice to melt in order to get a cup of coffee with great taste. Need some patience.... =)

After our coffee tasting session at Milano Coffee, we went up to the mart to get some dried fruits as souvenirs. Then, we decided to head back to the guesthouse to pack. Surprisingly, the taxi driver that fetched us to Phan Thiet earlier of the day was still there waiting to drive us back. W-O-W. So, without needing another round of chicken-talking-to-duck kind of conversation to go back to the guesthouse, we decided to take the previous cab back. 

About 10.50pm, we checked out of the guesthouse and headed to The Sinh Tourist office at Mui Ne to wait for another sleeping bus to head back to Ho Chi Minh City. This time, we are all well prepared for the sleeping bus. For me, I cleaned up and wear my sleeping pant to get on board. XD As we need to go for Mekong River Tour 2 hours after we reach Ho Chi Minh, we have no time to check in to our AirBnB in Ho Chi Minh early in the morning. Hence, we packed our toothbrush, pants to change, any make-up material with us to be used in the morning to clean up at the office. We are all pro now. Haha.... 

Me in my comfy sleeping pants and top to be wear to Mekong River tour. 

XD

The bus reached Mui Ne office late! We were suppose to take the 1am bus, but it came around 1.40am. We were all worried that we missed the bus. Luckily it was just late. The whole journey from Mui Ne to Ho Chi Minh, I lost myself in my sweet dream. I have no idea what happened until it reached Ho Chi Minh at 5.30am. Deep sleeper. 

Then, the view in front of me made me stunned for a minute. The office opens at 6.30am. OH NO~ All of us have our luggage with us and there are no place for us to hang out apparently. The street was really quiet at 5.30am. Thankfully, there's a Family Mart beside and they have indoor seating! YEAH! 6 of us moved our luggage and went in to Family Mart and rest. Of course, we looked for food to feed ourselves before the day tour. 

I wanted to get some bread as breakfast but those that were available on rack did not attract me. Hence, I follow the others and got myself a Vietnamese cup noodle.  

Here's my first cup noodle after 6 years.

I had stopped eating instant noodles for a long time. After 6 years, I finally decided to break my plan. 

Kedah: Blackwood Coffee & Chocolate

After such a long while, finally Blackwood Coffee & Chocolate opens in Alor Setar. Its opening has been a few months and so far I've visited 3-4 times. Before Blackwood opens in Alor Setar, they have branch at Sungai Petani, which I passed by once and always wanted to try. Cake seems good.

During my first visit, I tried their coffee and pasta. Coffee was great but pasta is just so-so. I ordered a salmon carbonara pasta and it turned out very salty (to me). Hmm.... Noted that I shouldn't order pasta the next time, but their other dishes still attracts me a lot. It is one of the very few cafe that serves sandwiches, burgers, and breakfast menu. 

Second visit, I went there for desserts. Ordered a slice of carrot cake that time and found that it is just alright. Not too fascinating. To be honest, the price is a little expensive as compared to other places. 

Third visit, will be the one that I'll be showing in this post. A random idea for brunch before weekend shift at 12pm. I woke up at 10.30am and went out of the house at 10.45am. Drove and reached there at around 10.55am. Ordered food at a very fast speed and waited nervously for my food to be served. So scared that I might be late for work. I ordered a set of big breakfast and a cup of latte. 

Waited for about 5 minutes and my coffee was served. Very elegant latte art. 

The coffee is nice. Love the bitterness and smooth texture of the coffee. 

At around 11.25am, my food was served. Finally! 

KL: Podgy & The Banker

#throwback

2 weeks ago, I was in KL. I finally get to try Podgy and The Banker @ Sri Hartamas, with my bunch of exchange friends (we know each other during our student exchange to Aussie and hence we known each other as exchange friend.XD)

Read about this cafe a few times from different blogs and instagram accounts. It seems to be a great brunch place to hang out with friends, with good coffee and good breakfast.

Friend fetched me to the cafe and hence I have no idea how to get there. Oopss.. Was busy talking in the car and did not remember the direction. It is located in Hartamas, same row as the thai restaurant -- My Elephant. 

Menu @ Podgy and The Banker is rather simple. Not too much choices for breakfast menu. Hence, we ordered almost half of the available breakfast menu -- Omelette, Poached eggs, Scrambled eggs, Bruschetta with eggs and ham, Big Breakfast.

I ordered a cup of Mocha. It is really smooth and nice. =)

Scrambled  egg with smoked salmon.
Served with my favourite mushroom. Too bad they served 2 mushrooms only. I want more!!!

=)

For me, this is a good set of breakfast.

Friend's poached eggs. 

He didn't complaint but this is not filling enough for guys I suppose.

Bruachetta. Looks a little simple compared to others. Not too satisfying for my friend. 

Hah! I still like my scrambled eggs the most. =D

Subang Jaya: Flat White & Cosans Coffee @ SS15

#throwback

There are PLENTY of new cafes blooming in SS15 area, and I have strong urge to try them all! Due to time constraint, I only manage to try 2 of them during my last visit to KL. 

I had a hard time choosing which cafe to try because I want to avoid disappointment. So, after reading a few food blogs, I've decided to try Flat White with sis. Photos on Instagram seem very promising too! Hence, we went there for our brunch date. 

As we have no car in KL, we took a taxi to SS15 from Sunway Pyramid. Sound a little desperate to try the cafe. Taxi driver charged us 5 bucks for such a short journey and I have to guide him to the destination. *Duh... I need a car.....* Oh well, as long as we reach the place, we're happy. 

Flat White is located opposite Asia Cafe, same row as Starbucks Coffee and Snowflakes. It is an upstairs coffee shop, where you need a little bit of exercise to get your caffeine dose fixed. They serve all-day breakfast with different styles -- European, Mediterranean, American, Tunisian and Canadian. They have pasta. sandwiches and cakes too. 

I ordered an European breakfast and a cup of Flat White (the name of the cafe says it all), whereas sis ordered a Mediterranean breakfast. We chose a table near the coffee periodic table. That time was about 10.30am and not too many customers yet. 

The Periodic Table of Coffee. Amazed. 

Too bad we sat too close to the wall and photos aren't nice. The cafe has pretty bad lighting, causing all our photos dark and yellowish. >.<

Jaundice girl and her cup of Flat White. 

Taste pretty normal. Not the kind of coffee that can make me W-O-W.

My European Breakfast (RM18++)

A little too simple and the poached eggs are too well-cooked.
English muffin + turkey ham + poached eggs + salad. Nah.... not gonna recommend this.

Mediterranean Breakfast (RM21++)

White Toast + Mushroom/Capsicum/Onion + Poached eggs + Salad.

This tastes nicer but I seriously think that it is overpriced with such quality. 

Because this is the only nice photos of the visit, I have to share it. 

Not saying that the food is good. 

Petaling Jaya: Metal Box Restaurant & Cafe ++++ Favourite Face-to-Face Pan Mee

#throwback

Here comes another throwback post of my KL food hunt during Deepavali weekend!! This time, I'm gonna share about a new cafe that I've visited in Empire Damansara and also share with you my love for Face-to-Face Pan Mee.

First of all, let me share with you my experience dining at Metal Box @ Empire Damansara. =D 

I was discussing with friends about places to try. So many new cafes in KL since the day I moved back to Taiping -- HOW TO CHOOSE?? Bunny gave me a few choices and I decided to try Metal Box Restaurant & Cafe. I like the special design of the cafe and the photos from other food blogs seem very promising.  

And, I'm glad that all the guys are willing to try this place with me. *so touched... Awww.....*

Photo taken from EatDrinkKL: http://eatdrinkkl.blogspot.com/2014/10/metal-box-empire-damansara.html

Upon arrival, my friend told me that one of the chef is actually from Taiping. Same kampung! Should give some support. XD Apart from that, when I was reading other food blogs, I found that there's one chef from The Red Beanbag, now opening his own pioneering cafe in a amicable exit. This makes the food seem more promising isn't it as The Red Beanbag has been so famous for so long in Publika with their awesome brunch menu. 

Simple, yet complete menu of Metal Box. 

Pasta? YES

Brunch menu? YES

Main? YES

Dessert? YES

Coffee/Chocolate? YES

Juices? YES

Since it is quite new, expect for long queue! 

We went there around 1.30pm and we queued for around 25 minutes for our seat. 

Got ourselves an outdoor seating that day and luckily the weather was fine. 

5 of us took a while to decide on what to eat. I've ordered their Specialty French Toast (RM14.90) and a cup of Hot Chocolate (RM10.90). Two of my friends ordered big breakfast, one ordered pasta and one ordered Guinness pancake.

Waited for a while and most our food were served, except my french toast. Luckily they served my Hot Chocolate, so I spent my sweet time tasting my drink and snap photos of my friend's food. *annoying girl =P *

Guinness Pancake (RM14.90) that attracts me the most!

Served with Raspberry sauce and Gula Melaka Syrup. The raspberry sauce is so concentrated and nice. Reminds us about our trip in Tasmania, where we visited a raspberry farm.

Close up of the pancake! 

Love the golden pancake. so nice!

My lovely Hot Chocolate. =D