Edo Ichi III @ Island Plaza

You know the place, right? From here and here. I'll just skip the intro and go straight to the food. 

Soup udon. The noodles were good! Really springy and not too starchy. Soup was not too bad either.
I am a sucker for noodles, but this has to be one of the best udon I've tasted.

My udon came with a vegetable tempura side dish. 

The crispy layer was not oily at all, trust me. You can't even taste a single hint of oil!

Light as air. Impressed!

Forgot the name of this one. Was one of their specialty rolls. I know this one had slices of unagi (eel) and cheese. My friend couldn't stop raving about this.

And finally, Carol's Japanese pizza. She chose the one with unagi and salmon. And why 'finally'? Cause she waited 30 minutes for it! But the long wait was definitely worth it. Never knew a Japanese pizza could taste so good. Don't be afraid of the red stuff though (my sister was) - it's just fish roe.

Kim Gary II @ Gurney Plaza

Remember this? So this would be my second blog post of the place. 

Come on, the whole family agrees the food is good!

This time, less talk more pictures. Above was the free hotdog we redeemed. You see, my mom signed up for the Kim Gary card so every month you get something free. It's not some cheapo free dessert or something, they actually serve you food which is not even on the menu! Cool, huh?

Right, more pictures and less talking.

Mine. Cheese baked fish fillet with pasta. 

Came with pineapples, potatoes, onions, egg and loads of yummy cheese.

Dad's. Seafood baked rice. With mussels, and.. 

Can't figure out what's beneath all that cheese. He finished everything though. Good sign!

Mom's Nissin noodle with sliced pork. 

Now this is the cheapo free dessert. Ha.

Designer Cupcakes?

Oh.

My.

Cuppacake!

Forget diets. These little sugary delights will happify you before you can say 'cuppawhat?'

Website has plenty of eye candy to stare at too.

High Tea @ E&0, Penang

Ah. The famous afternoon high tea at the E&O hotel. Makes me feel like speaking in a posh way, with the correct pronounciations and such. Upon entering, you are treated like royalty, with suited-up waiters all prepared to serve you. The table setting is immaculate, apparently they use some high-end (read: ex!) tableware. Or china? As mom called it. I'm definitely not an expert. Ha. 

Immediately I feel like I'm transported to a period English movie. You know, the time when people wear petticoats and carry parasols around. Crazy thoughts really. Not when all of a sudden someone's handphone rings and you're jolted back to present day. Ah, reality bites.  

Anyway, back to the point. As you can tell by the name 'high tea', you're presented a wide selection of well, teas. From the much loved Darjeeling and Earl Grey to the oddly named Fitness Tea, there's definitely one that will appeal to you. For me, it was the Jasmine. Er. Bimbo moment there?

And the food! First were the complimentary Chicken Pies. Dainty and cute. Just the right size, not too big to ruin your appetite for the rest of the meal. Didn't like the fact that they used puff pastry though. Oh well.

Then came the 's's. (S)cones and (s)andwiches! Loved the scones. You could choose from either the plain or the fruit scones. Or even have both. Honestly, they didn't really taste like scones, but more of bread. Weird as it sounds, it's actually less 'jelak' than the usual buttery, crumbly type. All the better to enjoy the bottom tier: sandwiches! Four different types, salmon, beef, cucumber and tuna. All round praises from the table, of course, especially with the tuna. I seriously have no idea why the moms thought the tuna was so delicious, when I thought mom's was just as good! My friend mentioned it must  have been the old English atmosphere of the place. Seeps into your head and brainwashes you? Maybe.

Fresh cream and strawberry jam for the scones. Not that it helps, really. The scone is already so good you can even eat it on its own! (hahaha)

And finally, you get sent to sugar heaven. At least, that's how I felt when the waiter placed this on our table! I don't need to elaborate more, do I? Looking at this just makes me high all over again. Much love for the cream puffs and swiss rolls though.

So there you go. High-tea fit for a king. Or queen.

Cupcake Cafe @ One Stop

Looks good, doesn't it? Homemade tomato soup with garlic bread. The soup is so rich and authentic, much nicer than the canned ones. I've never had a tomato soup which wasn't diluted before, so this was definitely 5 stars to me. And the BREAD! Oh my, they were so crispy you can make garlic chips out of them. Seriously. 

Satay set. Mom's favourite. So I assume it's good. (I mean, good enough for her to order it every single time)

And another closeup. Sorry the quality's well, bad, forgot my camera so used the phone instead. But just trust me when I say the food here is great.

Marble cake for dessert. I know, I know, why did I choose such a common cake? Hmm. It may look ordinary but it tastes great. Chocolate swirls and butter cake definitely make a perfect combination. And it was my lucky day, as the cake was just freshly baked! 

By the way, they also have cupcakes (well, it's called CUPCAKE cafe for a reason :P), chocolate cake (!!!), banana cake, curry puffs, nasi lemak, western meals and etc, etc. The location's good too. Even though Penang has basically morphed into the Sahara desert these past few months, the breeze at this place is amazing. Literally blows you away. Ha. 

Delicious @ 1 Utama, KL

I absolutely love this place. Only been here twice, this being the second. The first was a year ago. (yes, a year!) Such a long gap in between, but the food was still as delisioso as the first time. Come on, with a name like that, how can you go wrong with the food? Exhibit A:

Tried the Gado-gado. It's an Indonesian salad with loads of cabbage, long beans, carrots, bean sprouts, emping (crackers), cucumber, potato, did I miss out anything? Oh, and eggs. Imagine all of the above, eaten together with the amazing peanut sauce (Mom mentioned they must have added in peanut butter to give the rich consistency). Sort of like satay, but a vegetarian version. All together now, DE-LI-CIOUS!

Now can you guess what this is? Doh, it's a burger, I know that! But what's in it?

One of the best burgers I've had. The Portobello Mushroom Burger. You'll never see mushrooms the same way again. Bring on the Portobello mushrooms!

P.s. The grilled tomatoes in the the burger were soooooo good! Not too soggy, like the sunblush kind Nigella always makes on her show. Yummy.

XuanXin @ Gurney Plaza

Okay, I'm not a big fan of Chinese food, to be honest. But once in a while, the family (more of the parents) would decide to have a proper Chinese meal. So we the children would unwillingly reciprocate. Majority doesn't always win, figures. There are quite a lot of places here in Penang that offer traditional home cooked food aka 'JOO CHAR', but none of them are located in shopping centres. Except this one. I mean, what a great way to increase clientele by opening in a mall? Eat first, shop later. Or vice versa. Brilliant. 

The restaurant is located in the new wing, highest floor. Quite a large area with many tables and even two private rooms. Very high tech too, you can call the waiter for that extra napkin or request for more water at the touch of a button. Plus, it keeps the kids happy. "Ooh I wanna press the button!"

Here's a look at the food we ordered.

Claypot tofu. With carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, the usual.

Sweet and sour pork.

Stir-fried long beans. I swear I saw this on EVERY table.

My favourite, the fish with celery, mushrooms and preserved vegetables. Doesn't exactly sound appetising, but it tastes awesome.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm no Chinese food lover, but this place is definitely worth the second trip. :)

Edo Ichi II @ Island Plaza

We just love this place. Came here again when the younger sis was back from Singapore. This time we ordered a little more than before so get ready for another mouthwatering selection of Jap cuisine.

This was what my youngest sis ordered. She's a tad picky with her food and would only eat this if we were having Japanese. She enjoyed this a lot though. Much better than other popular sushi chains. (Hint, hint.)

Now this, everyone likes. Youngest sis, included. That's because of the yummy cheese in the middle. Yes, this delicious Alaska Roll is filled with salmon (cooked), avocado and cheese! The cheese really gives it that something extra. Funny name aside, this was absolutely delish.

SingGAL had the Yaki Udon. This used to be my favourite during my junior college days. She gave this version a try and thought it was great! Mom was a little freaked when she saw the bonito flakes. 'Are they alive???' 

Parents ordered the salmon skin salad. Ooh can't you see the crispy salmon skin on top? Everything's always gone in a flash.

I ordered the unagi tofu salad. Again. Trust me, it's so good you'll never see salads the same way again. Big portion, but not too filling to destroy your appetite!

Sorry, but this one's a little blur (too ganchiong to start eating heh) Above was the salmon set my dad ordered. Not bad for the price, you order anything from the ala carte section in the menu and top it up with RM10 to get a full set. No complaints about this one.

And another close up of the salmon. Tried a little bit, exactly how I like my salmon - soft to the bite, with the right amount of teriyaki sauce.

Mom's tempura set. And oh yeah, forgot to mention that the cawanmushi garnered rave reviews from both mom and dad. Besides the usual mushrooms and crabsticks, apparently there were even gingko nuts inside! Yum.

This was not the end, though. Returned there for another round of food with my buddy Carol. Coming up in another post. :)

Cake Craze @ Starbucks.

  

Ipanema. 

Me and my mom absolutely lurrve this. 

Our 'must eat!' cake, the one you must throw your diet away for.

 

Just look at all those layers!

Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate...

 

Behold, the Tiramisu.

This one is just BOOMZ. With a Z. 

Oh yeah, the little sis can finish this in 1 minute.

Black Forest. 

Not as good as the previous two, a little dry and sour but still better than those store bought cakes.

Speaking of, aren't they all? :)