Water Cress Valley at Tringkap, Cameron Highlands.

You cannot always be having steamboat up there in Cameron Highlands, right?

I mean, of course it's the norm thing to do because of the cold weather. It's super warm and nice to sit around the table and taking your time to eat those soupy stuff. 

BUT YOU CAN'T BE HAVING THEM FOR MOST OF YOUR MEALS UP THERE.

We had our fair share of different kind of food when we were at Cameron Highlands. We had steamboat, a bit of Indian food, a spread of Chinese and Hakka food (if not mistaken!) and of course we have the authentic chinese meal.

We found this place years ago with another group of friends and had a good impression of it since. This time, we decided to have our final lunch on the hill there and to do a review on it.

Let's see what we both think of it few years later.

The walk-down entrance to the restaurant.

Huge place to cater to big groups of people.

From plates to sauces to utensils, all are self-service based.

Since there were 4 of us, we decided to order their pre-set that already has a few fixed dishes served with rice. We ordered the SET B (6 dishes) - RM78 excluding drinks. We ordered warm water (RM1 each) because it was quite chilly that noon. 

They also serve steamboat at per person rate but since we already had steamboat for dinner the night before, we decided to have rice. 

Cameron Omelette

He says: Awesome when it is served instantly.

She says: Like any normal omelette. There is obviously no "Cameron" taste to it whatsoever as per the name. Heh.

Veggie Ball with Water Cress Soup

He says: OHHHHMMM.. Hot soup and cold weather is one of the best combination right? 

She says: Water cress soup on a cold noon? Need to say more? Enough salt and enough taste to it. Good stuff.

Deep Fried Handmade Stuffed Taufu

He says: Quite good although it doesn't look like one. =)

She says: Errr.. Like any fried yong tau foo. Something like that.

Fried Water Cress with Garlic

He says: Favourite dish here! Syncs with the restaurant name. 

She says: This one also always get stuck between the braces but I love this dish to the max. The way they use just garlic to stir fry them keeps it very fresh and warm. Love this one.

"Cha Cha Sos" Chicken

He says: Not a bad dish.

She says: The sauce is super nice. The pieces of chicken was quite small and the meat is like so limited. I think they should improve on the portion.

Stewed Fresh Mushroom with Vermicelli

He says: Mushrooms! Love it.. the sauce is pretty nice too.. but could be saltier.

She says: Not my kind of dish. Maybe because I wear braces so it irritates me whenever the mushrooms get stuck between the metals. So yeah. If you like mushroom you will this one. I'm not really into mushroom so the taste was not nice for me.

Water Cress Valley at Tringkap, Cameron Highlands.

Business hours: 9am-10pm (CLOSED ON TUESDAYS!)

Price: Quite expensive

Ratings:
His rating: 7.5/10
Her rating: 7/10

Deen Nasi Kandar at Toon Leong Coffee Shop at Transfer Road, Penang

Weekdays morning we usually try to catch as much sleep as we can even if that means we could steal 5 minutes from the snoozing time. With that being said, of course it means that we usually won't have breakfast together when we are working.

Actually we do but very very seldom. He starts work at 8:30am and she at 9am, so it's ery difficult to meet up for breakfast before we begin our day. 

One morning though, we went to breakfast at Transfer Road. Deen Nasi Kandar!

She was a bit hesitant because who eats so much rice in the morning right?

But it was highly recommended by a good friend so we decided to give it a shot.

Was it worth waking up early for this? You shall read on and find out! :)

By the way, we had to queue so we went there extra early. Penang people and food. 

Very tempting indeed. 

The queue was so much longer.

"Kuah basah, bang!"

Deen Nasi Kandar, ladies and gentleman.

He says: Enak rasanya! The nasi kandar here is really good. The sotong, the beef, the curry, the egg, the vege. All tastes authentic! I think I would queue here again for this before work next time. Hehe.

She says: "Early morning ask me to line up, it better be good!" That was what I told him and a friend of ours, Judson. And... it turned out SUPER GOOD! No wonder so many people sacrifice their sleep just to get their hands on this yummy typical Malaysian breakfast. I think only Malaysians eat so heavy for breakfast. Crazy hah? It's really good. I would sacrifice my sleep for this again. Maybe not that often lah! :) MUST TRY GUYS!

Deen Nasi Kandar at Toon Leong Coffee Shop at Transfer Road, Penang

Price: Reasonable

Ratings:
His rating: 8.5/10
Her rating: 8.5/10

Ini Karilah at Jalan Masjid Negeri, Greenlane, Penang

Another Groupon-inspired dinner! 

Okay, Groupon-inspired because his mom got it at RM35 for four people. 

The price is inclusive of:

Salmon head curry with orka and tomato claypot (RM55 value)
Sweet and sour lychee boneless chicken (RM15 value)
Vegetables of the day (RM10 value)
4x embryo rice (RM8 value)

So, can say that it was a very good deal. We ordered an extra plate of golden fried bean curd with sesame sweet sauce because we thought it was going to be too little for 5 people to share. Wrong! More than enough actually. 

Anyways, it was a nice dinner with his family :)

Good to know that they use kangen water and embryo rice.

Salmon head curry with orka and tomato claypot

He says: The BOMB. The curry is simply authentic! And the fish head served is salmon fish head! My first time trying it this style. Interesting!

She says: The portion was simply madness. I remembered being in a shock mode when it came out. Even more when we discovered that the fish head is of a salmon's. Yummy curry! 

Sweet and sour lychee boneless chicken

He says: One of my favourite dish that evening. When you bite it, everything just fall into place inside your mouth. Haha!

She says: What a funny combo huh? I love lychee drink, but I find this combo a bit funny. Don't really like it. Fried chicken is okaylah.

Vegetables of the day

He says:  Decent. Could be better if served hotter!

She says: Typical dish. Nothing special.

Golden fried bean curd with sesame sweet sauce

He says:  Crispy outside and soft inside. Also, the topping of pork floss could only make is even better. 

She says: Crispy outside, soft inside. This one I like. It's not like those typical soft kind of bean curd. This is probably the softest bean curd I have ever eaten. No kidding. 

Two types of sauce that came with the fried bean curd

He says: Spicy and sour on the left and sweet on my right.

She says: Funny and weird. No thanks :)

Ini Karilah at Jalan Masjid Negeri, Greenlane, Penang

Price: Quite expensive (ala carte) / Cheap (Groupon)

Ratings:

His rating: 7/10

Her rating: 6/10

Famous Nasi Melayu at Terengganu Road, Taman Free School, Penang

This is the night when we both wanted something completely different, and the fact that we couldn't settle for wanting to eat the same thing. Problem laa.

Then, she said something like, "How I wish nasi tomato is open now.." 

Well, one of our favorite place to eat is here, but they only opens from 11pm till 1am. So, for dinner that's out. 

Then, suddenly we remembered there's another yummy and famous nasi melayu that also serves nasi tomato at Taman Free School area. WIN!

And they have curry fish head too, which was what she craved for but in the end she got herself a deep-fried-sambal-stuffed-fish. Girls and their random cravings!

Ooooh!

He happy. She also happy. Everyone happy :)

He says: Gah... Ate this since I'm in high school but could never get bored of it! You gotta ask for the nasi tomato though instead of the usual white rice. The curry sips into the rice perfectly and the taste is simply awesome!

She says: Flavour of the mixed curry were so delicious! The deep-fried fish was okay though. Tasted better ones elsewhere. The tomato rice is quite nice. Overall, quite a satisfying dish!

Famous Nasi Melayu at Terengganu Road, Taman Free School, Penang

Price: Reasonable

Ratings:
His rating: 7.5/10
Her rating: 7/10

Famous Fried Fish and Chicken (Malay Food) at Tanjung Bungah, Penang

MALAY FOOD ON SUNDAYS!

That's like our usual routined Sunday meals with a bunch of hungry people after our weekly captain ball games! We uaully settle for Malay food because.. actually I have no idea why.. It's like Sundays ARE for Malay meals. Haha.

Anyway, though this one was all the way up north just before Batu Ferringhi, it never stops us. Nothing stops us. Good meals like this makes everyone happy :) So yeah, we were there at 9pm and all their fried chicken, sold out! Only fried fish was left. A few of our friends managed to order a few fried chicken so good thing for us, we get to try both of their main dish out! :)

It was a good Sunday meal on a nice Sunday night :)

Freshly fried on the spot :)

Bowls of curry that comes together with the set meals.

Complimentary dish: Malaysian style salad.

He says: Not a big fan of sambal belachan but this one is a bit sour..

She says: The sambal belachan is yummy. Not super great but still, pretty yummy!

Thier signature black sauce with diced tomatoes, onions and cili padi.

He says: Yummy yummy! Its a must when i comes to eating the deep fried fish!

She says: The black sauce is sweet. The onions, tomatoes and cili padi in it just makes it even better. It's crunchy sweet and a lil juicy because of the tomatoes. LOVE THE SAUCE for sure! :)

Fish/Chicken Set (RM6/RM7)

Comes with a bowl of curry and a lady's finger.

He says: Typical curry..

She says: Just like any normal curry. Not that yummy.

Fried Fish (RM5 if you order only fish)

White Pomfret/Ikan Bawal

He says: Thumbs up! You can literally eat the whole fish! Crispy and hot. Love it!

She says: DELICIOUS when it's super hot. It's so crispy that you can chew every part of the fish. Even better when you eat it with their signature black sauce!

Fried Chicken

He says: Fried chicken! Very hard for any fried chicken to go wrong unless its cold and soft already.

She says: It's pretty huge for RM6 for one set. To me, it tasted a lot like any normal fried chicken. Nothing very special on this fried chicken. If I were to choose, I would choose the fried fish over the fried chicken anytime!

Famous Fried Fish/Chicken at Tanjung Bungah, Penang

Location: In front of Maybank Tanjung Bungah, Penang.

Direction: Head towards Batu Feringghi, the stall is right in front of a Maybank on your left.

Price: Reasonable

Ratings:
His rating: 8/10
Her rating: 8/10

Newday Restaurant at Lorong Selamat - Penang

Penang people is famous for this answer, 'Cincai la'. It means anything in hokkien. It's almost like impossible for us to immediately give a place when the question is asked, 'where wanna eat ar?'

Some days, we find it difficult to decide cos there's just so many places we want to go! Unless one is okay with anything and another one gets to decide! :)

She was craving for porridge and had this place in mind. 

It's really like having economy rice or porridge except that you get to order something else that they would cook like choo char. 

Some of the 'already made' dishes.

White rice and sweet potato porridge.

Some of the dishes we ordered.

He says: 1) The 'tau yu bak' is really really nice! Tryyyyyyyy! 

2) The 'guih chai' and the 'tau hu' is normal...

She says: Love their sticky black porky thing! Sweet and tasty! The rest is normal.

Stir fried 'ong tay chai' (King's vege?)

He says: This one smells really good! you can like pick the vege that you want and ask them to fry it instantly for you like 'choo char'!

She says: This is not from the ready made place. We ordered it and then only they cook on the spot! LOVE THIS ONE! the sambal.. FULAMAK!

Otak-Otak and 'Pai Kut Ong' (Sweet Sauce Pork Spare Ribs)

He says: The otak-otak tastes weird! =S But the pai kut ong is really good. 

She says: Otak-Otak is yucky. The sweet pork is nice. soft and sweet.

'Boey Chai'

He says: Down.

She says: errr.. super oily as you can see in the picture. and super yucky too.

Newday Restaurant at Lorong Selamat, Penang.

Price: Quite expensive

Ratings:

His rating: 5/10

Her rating: 7/10