Seletar Hill Restaurant - The best braised belly pork (kong ba bao)

If I am not wrong, 95% of the posts in this blog are about places and food in Malaysia. That is not to say that I am not a born-and-bred Singaporean and darn proud of being one. And not to say that I don't travel to other places but Malaysia. Vegas, Paris, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Cairns, I've done in the past 2 years but I've never felt like blogging about these places for some strange reason - not even Cairns just a couple of months back.

When I find the time I guess - despite it being December, I am swarmed with my current workload to the point of being discouraged and despondent. And I miss my beloved boss's calm wise presence :( It sounds absolutely insane for a worker bee to count the days till her boss returns back to the office but I am. I miss her so much it actually hurts. Mad. Anyway, talking about her brings me back the original point of this post - the really good stuff that hails from Singapore, in this case, food (as opposed to a person) introduced to me by an expert foodie colleague of mine.

Because he was a regular at this haunt, we left the ordering to him. As with most traditional Chinese dinners, we started off with soup - in this case, Sze Chuan hot and sour soup. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. This soup was served piping hot and the fragrant aroma rising together with the steam made us drool even before the first spoonful. Excellent stuff.

My foodie colleague swears by the Camphor Tea Smoked Duck served by this restaurant -he has never had duck that tasted better, so he says. I am a duck meat lover - I always claim I am allergic to chicken to avoid eating chicken meat (when pressed further for details of this unique allergy, I usually reply that chicken triggers my anger management issues and the questioning inevitably stops) - and so I was really looking forward to the smoked duck he ordered. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. Alright, I confess I had to swallow a couple of times before typing because the picture below triggered off the memory of the thin crispy skin which was laced with just the most delicate layer of fat and oil, and of the firm tender juicy meat. Simply mouthwateringly good.

Despite its rather unappealing appearance below, the sambal green beans he ordered didn't stay very long on its plate either. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Good on its own merits but can be given a miss in favor of the duck or the next item if one has limited eating/stomach capacity.

Now, I don't eat braised belly pork at all. The idea of all that quivering solid fat is simply abhorent and triggers unpleasant memories. However, my foodie colleague told me to try or regret this dish. The pork belly was served in this manner with just enough portions for the number of diners.

Because I was reluctant to pick up the belly pork with its thick layer of fats and put it between the white buns served together with the dish AND my foodie colleague was determined to have me try the dish, he ended up making the kong ba bao below for me - not much to look at but....one bite, and all was right with my world again. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Orgasmic. Who needs a man, what does the state of my inbox matter...irrelevant. The pork melts in the mouth - I swear - it MELTS and the sweet dark gravy which seeps into the warm oh-so-tender- buns makes the entire combination a testimony to the wonders of our good lord. The 8th wonder.

Because I had been craving durian so badly, despite my foodie colleague's persuasions to have me try the chendol, I ordered the popular durian pudding (only SGD 2) and the Slog Reviews: 7/10. No offense to the dish but come on now, who was I fooling to think a durian pudding and not the real thing could actually satisfy my craving. But it was sweet of my foodie colleague though to remember my craving. Can skip.

In any case, I got to try the durian chendol because he absolutely insisted that such pleasures should be shared. The other colleagues at the table bowed to his wiser judgment as per the pic below and had that dessert too. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. I am not a chendol person but the overall concensus is that this is really good dessert and a sweet end to a great meal. Thank you so much for taking us here!

So, for those of you who can afford the calories, or who can't like The Slog but love braised belly pork, the place to make a beeline for is Seletar Hill Restaurant located at 16 Jalan Selaseh Seletar Hills Estate.

Pariss Hotel at Skudai JB

We decided to go to a different hotel for a change (from Thistle) this weekend because much of what we need to do is around the Skudai area. My CEB had noticed PARISS Hotel from the past few day trips we had made to Bukit Indah and suggested trying out this hotel for the weekend given how new and modern its facade is. We reached the hotel about 630pm and keeping our fingers crossed tt there were still rooms given the number of cars parked outside, we left our bags in the car and went to enquire at the rather decent looking reception located just next to the front doors.

Having learnt a lesson in Muar which we were at last week, I asked to have a look at the room first b4 committing a good RM124 for a night stay despite the outlook of the lobby. Talking about room rates - there was a strange kind of promotion this hotel had and one I have never encountered - without a company namecard the cost of a night stay in the superior room would be RM138. If one signed up for the hotel's membership at RM70 then the rate would be RM110. Breakfast is not included and there does not appear to be that option at all as there are no restaurants within the hotel. But the hotel is right next to Giant supermarket and there are plenty of eating places(including KFC) less than a 5mins drive away.

We were very pleased with the room as it was spacious, clean and new. There are Singaporean channels available on the 32inch LCD TV but the reception isn't that good. And there aren't cable channels like HBO and AXN. There also isn't a mini-bar in the room but at least a safe is provided (the one in our room was spoilt though).As for the bath room, there isn't a bath tub but there is a rain shower and ample toiletries are provided for guests. It is an extremely good deal for less than SGD55 an night which is probably why the lifts (there were only 2 smallish ones, 1 of which didn't seem to work) were packed. Not too bad for a weekend getaway!

Day 3 in Penang on 8 Nov 2010 - Kek Lok Si Temple

My last post on the Penang trip will be about Kek Lok Si Temple, which is probably the most, if not second most (after the snake temple) temple in Penang. As I'd mentioned, the Penang leg of the trip was planned by my CEB. My friend, P, kindly drove us from our hotel to the temple and dropped us off at the base of the hill the temple was built on.

To get to the temple, one has to climb quite a few flight of steps and along the way, many vendors have set up stalls selling nutmeg oil, t-shirts, luopans and all other sort of knickknacks. The encroachment by the vendors of their goods, on the walkway coupled with the number of people stopping to haggle over the price of the goods meant that the climb up was rather claustrophobic and tedious. Not ideal for toddlers and small kids at all.

However, being two rather large adult individuals with lots of time to spare, my CEB and I navigated the stairs in due time. Kek Lok Si is very large and spread over several stations as you will note from the picture of the comprehensive signboard below.

The next few pictures I took are of the sprawling compound and some of the beautifully constructed temple buildings.

I like the picture below in particular because it reminds me of the place where my CEB bought me some kind of 5 coin token at the shop on the first floor. Although I am not a believer at all (cradle Catholic), I accepted the token purely as a gift from him to me.


The newest and grandest attraction at Kek Lok Si however is this massive statue of Kwan Yin. It is impressive in size, if not in color. I much prefer the white kwan yin statue at the temple of ten thousand buddhas in Hong Kong, Sha Tin. This kwan yin statue appears to be almost completed and may probably be open for the public to access at a closer proximity in the future.
And I should mention too, that unless one drives or has iron legs fit to climb a hill, one has to buy a ticket (RM5 each way per pax) to take the cable ride up to view the Kwan Yin statue. The ride is worth the money because one gets to have a view of Penang Town on the way up, and is left with some spare breath to walk around to take some pictures of the garden up there.

In addition to the garden which houses 12 stone statues of the zodiac animals, there is also a small pond and another temple on the same level as the Kwan Yin statue. I wouldn't estimate one spending more than half an hour here unless one is determined to take a photograph of each stone statue, which I say, isn't too badly carved out. So here's tiger...on tiger. :D

Day 2 in Penang on 7 Nov 2010 - Sea Pearl Lagoon Cafe

I believe firmly that there is some truth to the saying that locals know where the best food is. And my friend P proved me right when she brought us to Sea Pearl Lagoon Restaurant located somewhere at the far end of Gurney Drive (not along the hawker food street area). The restaurant is apparently very popular among the locals and only accessible by car. However be warned that the ambiance of the place is rather dismal - it isn't a restaurant where you should dress up to go to - you would fit right in to the rather dirty-looking place in a pair of slippers and home shorts. But the food....I rarely say this given how much seafood I eat, the food is GLORIOUS, food fit for a seafood god.

I'll start with the best item - the salt-baked prawns. The Slog Reviews: Off the scale. Have you ever had salt-baked prawns? I've never had prawns so exquisitely fresh and sweet and baked to perfection such that the meat within remains tender yet moist. And there is just the slightest hint of saltiness that comes from the shell...the pic above shows just the first plate we had - we ordered another plate of course (500gm per plate).

The restaurant however doesn't specialize in doing prawns but rather, crabs. Pic above shows the salt-baked crabs which the 3 of us shared and were they good! The Slog Reviews: Off the scale! Salt-baked crabs filled with sweet roe and fresh firm meat. I owe P such a huge one for this sensational experience.

My CEB who likes Lala (clams) ordered a plate of clams and while they were nothing like the crabs or prawns, they were done in a different style and sauce (compared to JB) which lent the dish a unique but not unpleasant taste. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Despite our satisfaction with this dish, I would still advocate that one should fill all available space in one's stomach with the prawns and crabs instead.

There are also other stalls at the restaurant which sells other type of food. Like satay. Mediocre at best so the advice above holds still - don't waste good calories or stomach space on these.

Alright, alright...I know. The table below is one of the few pics I'll post which shows the aftermath of The Slog's encounters with good food. My CEB likes taking pics like these which I feel are pretty gross and a testimony to our gluttony. But facts are facts, and so, we three gluttons polished off everything on the table - prawns, crabs, lala and satay.

After dinner and after meeting P's boyfriend who let slip that there might be durian ice cream at Penang's local ice cream parlor, we dropped by one of Maxim's outlet but alas, there was no durian ice cream. P bought us ice cream which was really sweet of her given how she had been driving us around most of the day. Although there was a sign board explaining how the ice cream in the shop was special (something about what ingredients went in and how it was made), I thought it was rather over-priced and unremarkable. Give me my favourite Haagan-Daz anytime!

We ended the night at Batu Ferringhi where there were loads of night markets and hawker food but being stuffed with the prawns, crabs and satay, we could not eat a bite more. There were lots of fakes and pirated stuff being sold at the very touristy stretch but as we didn't have much time to explore this area of Penang, when we go back there in a few weeks time, I'll have more to write about.

In any case, take note of where the best salt-baked crabs and prawns can be found:

Sea Pearl Lagoon Cafe
338, MK.18 Tanjung Tokong, 10470 Penang
(Next to Tua Peh Kong Temple)
Tel: 04-8990375

Day 2 in Penang on 7 Nov 2010 - Penang Street Famous Food

There is a really popular local food street in Penang located within a stone's throw from Gurney Plaza at Gurney Drive. This was how the place looked like at 6pm on a Saturday evening and it was tough finding a seat not only because of the crowd but also because many stores reserved the tables in front of their store for their customers.

My friend from Penang, P, who had dropped us off here told us that the stores towards the start of the street were more popular and even so, to help narrow down the bewildering array of choices before us, my CEB and I decided to order only from the stores with the longest queues on the assumption that these were the best. So he got in line at the "Cantonment Road Famous Char Koay Teow" stall (this is how it was spelled). The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. Nothing too extraordinary about the char kway teoh really save that it was light, non-oily and went down the throat most easily.

He also ordered the Ikan Bakar (BBQed stingray) which turned out to be done in a very different style from that which we are used to. The Slog Reviews: 4/10. There was very little meat to the fish and the sambal/chilli sauce was bland and unremarkable. Not worth ordering.

I had a craving for carrot cake but he couldn't find any and ended up ordering fried oyster. The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. I don't eat oysters so I can't comment too much about the freshness of the oysters but my CEB ate all of the oysters with great relish. As for the egg, I found the consistency a little too heavy for my liking.

The conclusion I drew after our experience at Gurney Drive is that Singapore's hawker food easily gives the street food there a serious run for its money. Not so though when it comes to Penang Laksa. Never, and I mean never, have I heard of any place in Singapore selling penang laksa that is able to rival the penang laksa sold in Penang, esp the penang laka sold at this very old run-down 1960s coffeeshop along Penang Road.

I don't know what the name of the shop is and neither does my friend who had earlier posted pics of this place and the penang laksa on her facebook page but if you walk along the main Penang Road, and ask the hawkers there (Even those selling penang laksa themselves) where the famous penang laksa is, they would point you in the direction of this coffeeshop which sells this.

Despite its appearance, and despite my having an aversion to sour-tasting laksa, I have developed a craving for penang laksa (even now as I type this) ever since having a bowl of this penang laksa. It is that good. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Don't, don't ever give this laksa stall a miss if you are in Penang. It is worth the wait, worth the crowd and the walk to get there. While my CEB downed his second bowl of penang laksa from the shop, I had him get me a bowl of the chendol from the stall outside the shop (Had to pay an extra 50ct to the penang laksa seller to eat the chendol in his coffeeshop)

But before you diss the appearance of the chendol above or the fact that I had to part with 50ct just to eat this sitting down comfortably, take a look at the picture below of the queue for the chendol and the people standing around in the broiling hot Penang sun enjoying the chendol.

The name of this chendol stall is "Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul" (yes, spelt this way). Now, if you have folks back home whom you pity for missing out on all the smashing great food in Penang, you can go to this famous shop called CHEE HIANG Penang to buy back some biscuits for them. Take note though of the long queues and impatient attitude of the staff behind the counter - although it is ridiculous that the choices of biscuits isn't made available to one while one is queuing, one is expected to know exactly which boxes of biscuits one should buy upon being served.

Day 2 in Penang on 7 Nov 2010 (Cheong Fatt Sze Mansion)

If there is one thing I am willing to take a bet on, it would be that your stay at Cheong Fatt Sze Mansion (CFSM), otherwise known as the Blue Mansion in Penang, would be one that stands out from the rest of your other hotel stays.

In case you can't make out the words on the picture below, essentially it states that there are daily tours of CFSM at 2 timings (11pm and 1.30pm) which cost RM12/pax (the tours are free for hotel guests) where one is not allowed to take photos, and that there is the choice of having a homestay at CFSM (it is not mentioned but you might want to note that the rate for the rooms is either RM350 or 450 depending on the room). There is also a disclaimer at the bottom which one might want to take note of.

Well as I had said in my earlier post, we hadn't planned on staying in CFSM at all. However, my CEB who has since heartily regretted his decision, agreed to us spending a night here without even looking at the 1 of the 16 rooms in CFSM which was still unoccupied. I didn't have any violent objections to his decision (Save that it would have been nice if he had asked me b4 agreeing) because I was rather intrigued by the rich heritiage of CFSM.

Once one steps through the front doors in the above picture, to the right is this spacious dining area which upon closer inspection, is really quite meant for display. The intricate inlay of silver leaves in the woodwork makes one feel quite intimidated at the thought of sullying such beauty with one's posterior and belongings. Note the beautiful glass-stained windows and the fengshui-inspired openings above the windows which are shaped like ancient taels (money).

And to the front, or rather about 5 metres to the front past a round table and the holding area is this screen door with yet another beautiful expensive-looking furniture piece. According to the tour guide (we went on a guided tour), if one was a mere acquaintance or business partner, one would not be allowed past the screen door which opens to the courtyard and the rooms.

Finally to the left is yet another area which looks like the reception area for guests to register but really isn't. The reception area is through the door on the right of the picture

And looks like this - this is where the hotel's only computer (and meant for staff) and a rack meant for one to hang up one's ancient looking room key is. There is also a router meant to give wireless access to the mansion but be warned that the wireless signal in the room is v v weak.

So, the room. The only room available was the Chang Yu room. The first thing that caught my eye were the mosquito nets - when I jokingly mentioned that these probably were dusty from lack of use, the hotel staff was silent. In the night, I found out why and thanked heaven that I had a huge can of mosquito repellent with me because the mosquito net was hardly enough to keep away the mosquitoes! My CEB who had refused to use the net over his bed ended up crawling into my bed in the middle of the night because of the many mosquitos, the cold and other reason.
Ok, don't get me wrong - the other reason has to do with the strong sense of unease he felt (think spirits) in CFSM. To be honest, we have stayed in some pretty crummy places before during our adventures together but till today, he cites CFSM as the worst place he has stayed in. On the other hand, I was so charmed by CFSM after this stay (despite the mosquitos) that I even queried about being able to do our wedding photoshoot here in January. I guess this is something that isn't ever going to materialise given my CEB's aversion to the place. Oh well. And if u must know, he has told me to stick to booking standard business hotels for future holidays.

Oh well. If you like details, symbolism and have an appreciation of heritiage and beauty, CFSM is still the place to stay at (Despite the lousy breakfast spread and slightly smug attitude of the male staff here) Look at the intricacy of the railings of the second floor in the pic above. The pic below shows one of the large function rooms on the second floor too. Apparently, the entire place (not just the room) can be booked for a private event.

Below is a picture of the balcony outside the doors of the room above. Those are actually 3D hand-painted carvings and not just stickers or posters above each archway. Each carving is different and breathtakingly exquisite and detailed in its depiction of both people and objects. I would draw your attention too to the mosiac on the floor. Apparently each tile features 8 petals or 8 something. This mansion is big on the number 8, like there are 8 rooms in each wing of the mansion, and there are 8 pillars (instead of 4 which would have been sufficient) in the courtyard.

Eight of course is one of the lucky numbers for Chinese and for CFS whom this mansion is named after, fengshui is such a huge thing for him that it isn't just the house which is themed around the number 8. He apparently died leaving 8 official wives and 16 children. But I digress. Anyway, from the balcony, one is able to see to the opposite side of the road which the mansion faces (this balcony is above the doors of the entrance). The 5 houses there were built by CFS too because he was terrified that someone would buy the plot of the land opposite his fengshui-themed mansion and construct a building that would be inauspicious or otherwise affect the "qi" of CFSM.

And so. With that I conclude the review of our stay at CFSM. Since my CEB and I have such vastly differing views on our stay here, I have decided to refrain from rating this place but to encourage all who visit Penang and want to come away with an unforgettable experience, to book 1 of the 16 rooms here for a night's stay (do not forget the repellant)

And if one is into pussies as I am, CFSM has the most lazy and adorable looking house cat that lounges on one of the steel benches near the rooms all day. Be warned that one should can only access the pussy and the rooms if one is a guest of the house - pussy and the rooms are off limits to those on the guided tours!

Day 1 in Penang on 6 Nov 2010 (Yeng Keng Hotel)

Just when I thought I'd seen it all given the extensive amount of travelling I had to do , I was proved wrong (yet again). For the first time (and hopefully last), we were told by a most apologetic lady boss that her hotel was overbooked despite their giving us a written email confirmation that a room had been reserved for us for the 2 nights we were in Penang. She said she was glad we didn't lose our temper or behave unreasonably as some guests would have upon being told they didn't have a room. I didn't tell her that experience and common sense has taught me that being nasty is always the last resort and 99% of the time, unnecessary. I understood that she was sorry this happened, I empathized with her the difficulty of running a hotel and human failure, but what I needed to hear was how she was going to fix the situation. And yelling at her or the staff would not motivate them to fix it in the best way for us.

She offered us the choices of staying at Traders Hotel or Cheong Fatt Sze Mansion (which I shall write about in the next entry). The hotel manager Jacky would fetch us to the hotel and back to Yeng Keng the following day. I didn't want to stay at Traders because if I had booked the hotel on my own, I would have gotten GC points. Besides, I'd read about it being a little run down. So anyway, after one most unforgettable night at CFSM, Jacky picked us up the following day after breakfast and brought us back to Yeng Keng Hotel. Below shows the entrance of Yeng Keng Hotel - it is a most beautifully restored hotel centrally located and within walking distance of all the famous eating places in Penang.

Below shows the common area of the second floor of the hotel which I thought was done up most tastefully so as to be well-decorated yet not cluttered. And yes, the chandelier is really something.

Because of the mix-up, the lady boss had arranged for us to be given the garden suite. The price difference between the garden suite and normal room is about RM50 (excluding tax) and I am not quite sure what the differences are save that Jacky told us that the garden suite had a private living room area. Per the picture below, while it is a nice touch, having a sofa area outside the blessed coolness of the air-conditioned room means that hardly anyone will use the settee if at all.

Below is a picture of the inside of our suite - I think the room should have been named Green Suite because a garden isn't well, necessarily always green. The Slog Reviews: 8/10 for cleanliness and comfort. I read on trip advisor that the rooms in Yeng Keng can be rather smallish but the garden suite is good-sized, comes with a safe, and fairly decent bathroom (no bath tub). Toiletries provided are basic so one is advised to bring one's own toiletries.

I've taken another picture of the back of the hotel which shows off the beautiful artwork in the hotel as well as the clean spacious layout of the rooms and hotel in general.

The backdoor also leads to the hotel's swimming pool which we observed to be deserted no matter what time of the day it was - the sun is scorchingly hot in Penang!

The hotel serves buffet breakfast and despite it being a boutique hotel, I have to say that compared to CFSM, it does a marvelous job of serving a decent yet tasty spread. The Nasi Lemak was so good that my CEB had 2 packets of that! I also rather liked the noodles and western spread of bread and cereal.

However, what really stood out was the provision of the local nyonya kueh by the hotel as part of its breakfast spread! It reflects the thought and commitment by the owners in ensuring that Yeng Keng Hotel reflects the rich nyonya heritage in Penang.

The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Although the hotel did mess up the reservation, the sincerity and readiness of the owners and the office manager (Jacky) to take responsibility and make good the mistake pretty much won us over. On its own merits, the hotel is centrally located along Chulia Street where the good food is, and is a refreshing change from the usual modern business hotels. This hotels isn't ranked #1 of all the hotels in Georgetown on Tripadvisor for no reason.