Philea Resort & Spa at Ayer Keroh Melaka

Based on past experience, Jonker 88 is THE place on Jonker Street to go for dessert and all other affordable nyonya food like assam laksa, nyonya nasi lemak with baba chicken, goreng goreng and seafood soup noodles etc. The only draw back is of course the limited number of seats and the long queue - self service means standing in the broiling hot sun waiting to order, and then for your food to be cooked and plunked down on a tray. And so because I was in charge of ordering (I had a brolly and didn't mind standing in the sun) and I couldn't make up my mind what to have given how delicious each item on the menu seemed, we ended up with more than we could finish - the seafood soup, the baba rendang chicken, and of course the assam laksa and curry laksa. I have reviewed the food before so all I would say is that you can't not try the assam laksa (extreme right). It is fantastic!

So after that heavy lunch, with great anticipation, we made our way to Philea Resort, touted to be Melaka's first six star hotel. We got lost along the way, having gone to Jonker Street first and ended up making several rounds around the Ayer Keroh area, only to find that Philea is situated just 500m after the Ayer Keroh exit from NS Highway (on the left).

The lobby was impressive and matched our expectations of what a 6 star hotel should be like - expansive with high ceilings and neatly-clad, well-spoken help staff ready to help with the check-in process and our luggage.

Because the rooms/villas are a distance away from the reception, it was necessary for us to climb on board one of the buggies which took us on a tour of the hotel's grounds. The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable - we learnt that philea means a type of butterfly in Russian. He also told us that the owner of the resort was buying more land around it to build more facilities.

And I think that is a pretty good idea because other than the spa, the only facility they have is this very non-impressive swimming pool which runs through the resort. It IS nice to look at in the pic above but other than its size/length, there are no slides or anything which distinguishes it from a normal swimming pool. The pic below shows how the villas are like and each villa has four rooms. Our room was on the first floor of the villa - that's us in the mirror there - I've come to realise that because my CEB is not willing to bring a tripod around, the only way we ever are going to have photos of us together will be through the use of mirrors - but anyway, the point of the picture below is to show how the entire villa is constructed out of logs.

When we opened the door of the villa, we stepped into this below - maybe because I'd stayed in Capella's seaview room before so I had similar expectations of this so-called 6 star hotel. The room while really unique (the logs and all), was unfortunately rather dark and dim within. As expected, there were no cable channels on the 32inch TV in the room but the hotel had free wifi so my CEB set up his netbook and we spent our time watching movies on the netbook - or rather, I did, because he fell asleep after a while when we were midway through the first one.

Alright, why the pic below? Because that heralds the start of my rant against this so-called 6 star hotel. According to the website, everything in the mini bar was complimentary and, 4 cans of soft drinks was all the mini bar contained. That, and 2 bottles of mineral water. It is such a far cry from The Datai and more so, from Capella which had premium food and drinks stocked in its bars. 4 cans of soft drinks is acceptable for a normal 4-5 star hotel but a 6 star hotel??

The picture below shows the left half of the bathroom. Now, my CEB likes soaking in the tub and all but this tub in Philea was so dirty-looking that he didn't want to use it. So I figured I'll just wash away the black specks by running a bath, and guess what - the water gushing from the tap was cold despite me turning the tap all the way to the max temp. I thought it was a water heater issue but nope, the standing shower on the right half of the bathroom worked just fine with lots of hot water. A 6 star hotel which doesn't even allow you to run a hot bath? Right...

The toiletries were placed on a wooden tray at the bottom of the sink and were the only items which made me feel that I was getting some bang for the buck. However, that feeling didn't last too long because of what happened in the evening - I used the toilet and flushed. And the freaking toilet OVERFLOWED and over my feet! We've stayed in budget hotels before - like Tune but NEVER in my life have I experienced having my feet dirtied with the contents of a used W.C from a hotel. Much less a 6 star hotel! I know shit happens, in this case, not just figuratively but still, to have paid this much for a room in a 6 star hotel and have this happen is just...wrong.

I wanted to raise a stinker (again, not just figuratively) to the hotel mgt but my CEB was there so I merely told them what had happened. They did not offer to have us change rooms which is what a 6 star hotel should do but instead said they would send someone over to fix the problem. We waited a good 15mins but no one came so I called them again and asked them to fix the problem while we went out for dinner. When we came back, guess what - they had fixed the W.C. but not the mess on the ground which was still soaked in W.C. water/contents. And the floor cloth which I had used to sop up some of the mess was still lying there in a crumpled heap. If you know me, you don't need to guess my reaction - but my CEB being the more easy-going of us two, managed to still make his trademark smiley faces with my sunny-side up the next morning at breakfast which brings me to my next grouse. Below is a pic of the breakfast area of the resort. The selection is...for want of better words, is limited and pathetic. Maybe it has to do with the occupancy - only 1 other table was filled but other than that, there were hardly any items for us to choose from :( It was that lousy.

Yes, lousy is the right word for the breakfast buffet spread at Philea Resort. This was my breakfast. I'm dissing the spread, the food, but not the service at the restaurant. The chef was very friendly and helpful and I could not feel sorry for him that he was responsible for facing guests dissatisfied the selection of food which he had no control over. To conclude, the Slog Reviews: 1/10 for Philea Resort if one is at Melaka. There are so many other hotels one could stay at while in Melaka and which are even more centrally located than Philea. If one does not have a car, getting to town/Jonker 88 will pose difficulties indeed. And to pay that amount of money for a mediocre room without hot water for the bath, a disgraceful breakfast spread and no facilities but the swimming pool and spa is a sheer waste. And if the W.C. does not overflow over one's feet, one should count oneself fortunate not to share the stomach-churning experience I had. As my CEB said, this so called 6 star hotel is 1 star facility, 1 star breakfast spread and 4 star customer service (the front end staff's service is excellent - can't speak for the repair staff though who left the dirty floor cloth in the toilet after fixing the W.C).

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 1 in Penang on 6 Nov 2010 (Mixed meat at Chulia Street)

Because I had been to Langkawi b4, I was in charge of planning our time there and because my CEB had been to Penang b4 (he would tell you it was a long time ago), he was in charge of planning the couple of days we had there. However, because I made the unfortunate mistake of disclosing to him that a friend of mine (who is from Penang and was home on a break) was kind enough to volunteer to take us around, my CEB did his research (all of 30mins at that!) at the very last minute and our time in Penang was most eventful indeed after we touched down about 10.30am from Langkawi.

First, courtesy of my CEB wanting to put the results of his research to good use, we took a bus (no, I am not kidding) from the airport to Komtar which took us about 45mins (no traffic jams). The bus was packed and we had to stand most of the way. With our luggage. Now if that was not bad enough, my CEB insisted that we take the free public bus (yet another "gem" he had unearthed in his research) from Komtar to the hotel. Instead of a taxi which would have cost less than RM10 based on the map that we had. Because I had (most regrettably) entrusted the entire Penang leg of our trip to him, I had no choice but to keep reminding myself of that fact and hold my tongue. So, we waited half hour (standing of cos) at Komtar for the public bus which was of course packed with those who could not afford private or paid transport. And the public bus dropped us a distance from our hotel which we had difficulties locating...because, I guess my CEB forgot to Google Earth that bit. Ended up relying on directions from kind hearted strangers (some of which were wrong) and having to drag our luggage in the blazing (man, was it blazing!) sun trying to find the hotel.

And when we finally did, we could not check in because they told us the room was not ready at 1pm. So we left our bags with them and went for lunch at this place they recommended as one of the places to eat at Chulia Street - just two shops down from Yeng Keng Hotel on its left (left if one is walking out from the hotel).

And indeed the coffeeshop was very packed with meat-loving tourists and locals (more locals than tourists). Although the food did take some time to arrive (the people standing around are waiting to get theirs packed), when it finally did, I was all of "Huh? Why would anyone queue much less wait for so long for this?" The Slog Reviews: 7/10. The dish of mixed meat was not oily despite its high fat content. The roasted meat was also tender and fresh but nothing quite exceptional to justify the long queues. Also, the portion which we had ordered (For 2 of us) was really just enough to fill one person's empty belly and we were served soup which we had not ordered either. The damage was minimal - less than RM20 for the 2 of us but I would not recommend going to this place with an empty stomach or if one has limited time in Penang.

Day 3 in Langkawi on 5th Nov 2010 (Champor Champor at Pantai Cenang)

As mentioned, our hotel for our last night in Langkawi was at Pantai Cenang. Having blacklisted Orkid Ria Seafood Restoran, we decided to try Champor Champor which is located in the heart of Pantai Cenang. The Slog Reviews: 9.50/10 - great ambiance, service and food. The prices are a bit on the steep side for Langkawi standards (about RM 25 per dish) but are well worth paying for the ambiance and service. And the Tom Yom soup which we shared below while not particularly outstanding was yummy enough (RM10+).

My CEB had the beef rendang while I ordered lamb stew with rice. My CEB said that the beef was slightly overcooked and hard but I had no problems with my lamb stew or the pieces of beef he shared with me for that matter. Presentation of both dishes was decent enough with the rice serving being uniquely cyclical-shaped but what really sold me was the ambiance - the rugs, the tables set-up and flags draped across the ceiling lent the entire restaurant both a cozy and oriental atmosphere that I've not seen before. There is also a bar corner at another section of the restaurant where one can grab a beer to chill out and have a gab fest with the friendly bartender.

The opening hours of Champor Champor are 19:00 – 01:00 but if you wish to be sure before going down, you could always call this number first 604 955 1449.

We didn't have the tel number for the breakfast and bar and relied on information from the net which said that the place opened at 7am. As a result, when we drove to Breakfast and Bar at 7am, it was closed. We waited till 7.20am and saw a few employees within getting ready for the day but they blithely ignored us. When we finally managed to stop one of them who was walking out, he told us off-handedly that they would only open at 8am. Ugh.

Because we had gotten up so early to have breakfast at Breakfast&Bar, we ended up with spare time on our hands and my CEB suggested cutting through the motels along Pantai Cenang to get to the beach. At 7+am on a Sat morning, the beach was rather deserted and pretty dull-looking.

And after all the walking on the beach (and no breakfast), we decided to head straight for Langkawi airport (all the shops and eateries were still closed about 8+am) for our flight to Penang.

Day 3 in Langkawi on 5 Nov 2010 (Power Laksa)

En route from Pantai Kok to Pantai Cenang where I'd booked a hotel to be closer to the airport (our flight to Penang the next morning was at 9.40am!), we drove by this scenic spot where there appeared to be some sort of bridge (the dotted-looking bit) across the sea.

There were some cars parked around that spot which had this mobile food store named "Power Laksa" and most of the rickety-looking tables around the store were filled with locals enjoying the food and scenery. Being well-taught from books and painful experience that eating roadside food at developing countries could be a recipe for disaster, after snapping a couple of pics, we got right back into the car.

BUT...just after I had engaged gear and had reversed slightly to drive off, my CEB turned to me and said, somewhat wistfully "It can't be that bad if that many locals are eating there - let's try the laksa". Given that it was about 4pm and we hadn't had lunch, against my better judgment and a slave to my hunger pangs, I re-parked the car and we hurried over to an empty table. We each ordered one bowl of the Power Laksa as recommended by the friendly uncle (Encik) at the store. Although from the pic below it doesn't look like very much, the Slog Reviews: 9/10. Power indeed -1 of the most deliciously sour laksas that we've ever had! The soup/gravy seems to have a bit of canned sardines blended in. My CEB, as with most guys, typically eat the noodles and leave the soup/gravy of most noodle dishes untouched but with the power laksa, he drank up every last bit of gravy too...and, ordered another bowl which he proceeded to demolish in like fashion!
I alone ordered chendol dessert and I have to confess that it was such a milky delicious thirst-quencher that I had two bowls of the same. Instead of ground ice, there were big longish cubes of ice, and the ingredients were a curious mix of sweet corn and sweet raisins. Nothing like the chendol sold in Singapore. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. At RM2 per bowl, well worth a try for those with a sweet tooth but do mix the sugar in well and take out the big ice cubes before slurping down this unique concoction.

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

I haven't written for a week since the last post because I pretty much lost the inspiration/will to get up in the morning, much less blog or write. No prizes for guessing why - I am the champion of wallowing - I could hit rock bottom and scrabble for some time there instead of bouncing up.

A friend of mine who had met my CEB told me to go hang out with my CEB because that "Bag of Nonsense" would make me laugh again. And indeed, despite my best efforts to bemoan my current situation, my CEB cheered me up considerably in no time at all, enough for me to burst out laughing even. We also went to Kong Kong Taison Seafood Restoran and needless to say, the RMB164 meal revived my spirits. Nothing to put a person in a better mood than food! We had 2 large crabs (more than 1 kg each) cooked in 2 different styles

Chilli sauce:


Black pepper:

And for once, we were allowed to sit in the air-conditioned area because we had breached the RM150 mark with all that food - crabs, lala and kangkong

After lunch, it was off to his favourite hotel in JB and despite us vowing not to have dinner at all after all the "pigging-out", we ended up driving out still about 8.30pm, at his behest, to have porridge at Tang Shifu at Sutera Mall. I wanted something different so I ordered the Shi Quan Mee Suah with Ginseng and Fish Maw (RM 16.90) and that, was pretty good!

Because they forgot his order, we waited a full half hour more for the food to be served, and by that time it was too late to get my craving for the white chocolate macademia nut cake fulfilled. Believe it or not, Secret Recipe would not sell me any cakes at 9.50pm on a Sat night because they said the cashier had gone home. So, we decided to head back and when we tried to start the engine, we found the batt was flat. I'm not kidding. There we were in an open-air carpark in a foreign land (without the same standard of public transportation as SG) with a car that wouldn't start. And oh yeah, it was raining to boot. My CEB found a guy who had the one of those jump-start cables but the cables were too weak (wrong voltage). Thankfully my CEB had the presence of mind to run into Carrefour just when they were closing and buy a pair of jump-start cables with the right voltage. The next morning, I was praying that somehow the batt would start up but no such luck. And, the brand new cables didnt work - the car batt was so low that the usual beep sound when I click the unlock doors button didn't even sound! I suggested asking the hotel for help and one of the staff found a cab driver who drove over and using that same set of cables, he managed to jump start my car by pulling on the trottle bit of the old cab's engine. Apparently the cables didn't work with the first two cars we tried with because the air con in the cars were turned on while they were revving the engine. After that, I drove to the Autobac place and paid RM250 for the battery to be replaced - it was a particularly nasty experience, esp when the batt first went flat in the night - but I think that my CEB and I are getting slightly better at handing stressful situations together after laying down some basic ground rules.

So when I read the book After Ever After a few nights ago , a book which was obviously meant for a different target audience (teens), one part of the book stuck with me. Ok, context first - the book is told through the eys of a young teen who is a cancer survivor (Jeff). Jeff has a best friend at school who isnt past the 5 year mark for cancer (Tad). When Tad has a relapse (and yes, he eventually dies), Jeff beats himself up for it and his school's guidance teacher asks him for his application form. Jeff is suitably puzzled (as was I). The teacher explains that the application form is the one he filled up to get cancer. Obviously there isn't such a form. The teacher then explains to Jeff that one doesn't always get to choose the cards one is dealt with by a higher power - one just has to play one's cards as best as one can, even if one is dealt a lousy hand. (As my friend, The Slug (not The Slog, mind!) would say "Go down fighting always rather than roll over and show your belly").

So this timely reminder that life is indeed a series of accidents and choices (both of which can be either good or bad), together with my CEB and my beloved boss's advice/plan, has set me right back up on my feet again instead of scrabbling at rock bottom. :)

I am The Slog, hear me roar...:D

Day 2 in Langkawi on 4 November 2010 (Nasi Haji Kandar and Wonderland Seafood Restaurant)

Having seen the crowds there while eating at GLK restaurant the last trip (click here), and having read so many good reviews about the plc, we decided to have dinner at Wonderland (despite the rave experience I had at GLK).

As I'd forgotten the location of the restaurant, we stopped to ask for directions at the petrol station at Kuah Town. The pump attendant didn't know where it was but a very friendly Malay chappie on a spanking new BMW motorbike did, and also suggested that we try out the nasi kandar at this Malay coffeeshop nearby called Nasi Haji Kandar. The coffeeshop is easy enough to spot, being near the traffic junction and having a prominent signboard. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Maybe we were starving, but in any case, my CEB proclaimed that this was one of the best nasi kandars he ever had. I thought it was pretty good grub BUT I thought that RM16 for our meal (see below) and a diet coke was a bit of a rip off - that's almost SG price or more like, tourist price. It's hard to conceive the locals having to pay that amount for such a simple meal. In any case, the coffeeshop was pretty packed, even at 4pm in the evening.

Now, I wish to set the record straight about Wonderland at Langkawi, even if the rest of the world may disagree. Wonderland sucks big time. It doesn't deserve the reputation that it has the least. I'm not talking about the service which was just slightly below mediocre, but about the entire experience there. The Slog Reviews: 3/10. Go spend your money at GLK which is just next door. Y?

We were the second group of customers at Wonderland (about 6pm) and although there were some staff standing around, none made the effort to show us to a table or make us feel welcome. So we took an empty table under the fan, waited a good ten mins for the lone server who was taking the orders from the first group to come over, and well, waited some more because she never came over to give us the menus after she was done with the first group. I had to get up, go the kitchen (where the rest of the staff who were equally customer-oriented NOT ignored me) and ask her to switch on the fan and give us the menus. As I didn't want any spit or dirt in my food, my tone was polite (despite my first negative impression of the place) and she came over in a bit with the menu, quite apologetic about the delay.

As I do not eat oyster or squid, our seafood options were limited to fish, prawns, crabs and clams. And being a fisherman, I'm pretty adverse to having pay for fish that has been dead for a while since my own catch is always fresh and tastiest heh. (Wonderland does not have ANY fresh seafood at all - no tanks of lively prawns/fishes or struggling bound-up crabs). So we asked for crabs and were told they only had soft shell crab. Eeks. I asked if I could order crabs from GLK to bring over and the server was okay with that but sadly, GLK was out of crabs too. Crap. So we ordered lala and were told that they didn't have any of that either. So it was down to just prawns and fish. My CEB ordered assam prawns at the server's recommendation and kangkong per the pic below. The Slog Reviews: 5/10. Both veg and prawns were disappointingly mediocre and bland. The assam prawns tasted nothing like the ones I always have at this restaurant in Muar (click here), being cooked in a thick soy like sauce. Eeks.

My CEB also ordered a red snapper. The Slog Reviews: 5/10. We had the fish steamed per the server's recommendation and the result = a waste of a good fish. The meat was tender and fresh (as fresh can be for a fish dead and kept in a freezer) but the cooking was so bad that there was hardly enough gravy to go over the flesh and sauce was not absorbed by the fish meat. Disappointing.

And so, that's our RM60 first and last time experience at Wonderland food store at Langkawi. If you want good FRESH seafood in Langkawi that doesn't include oysters and squid, this restaurant is definitely not the place to go to.