I found this interesting banana looking ice cream in one of the petrol kiosk in Johor Bahru.
The outer layer is a yellow jelly, quite tasteless, and the instruction on the wrapper says to peel the outer layer just like how I would peel a banana. So this is what I got.
I was expecting banana flavoured ice cream, but to my disappointment, the inner layer is just plain vanilla ice cream.
I must say it’s a pretty good marketing strategy for a vanilla ice cream.
Last Saturday Pakcik and I went to Vivocity for lunch. Before that, we were browsing through pictures in Instagram to decide on what to eat. But after seeing too many pictures and overwhelmed with choices, I suggested going Vivocity because there are plenty of restaurants and cafe.
In the end, we settled for peranakan food at Nyonya & Baba as the big picture of curry fish head caught Pakcik’s attention.
We had the set meal for 2 ($58++) which includes white rice.
The first dish was Chup Chye. Basically it’s braised cabbage, mushroom, black fungus, glass noodles, and bean curd skin. The taste was not bad, just like how my mum usually cooks at home. Except that, my mum always add sliced roasted pork to enhance the flavor.
The side dish was fried ngoh hiang. It’s mainly minced meat, carrot and water chestnut wrapped in bean curd skin and fried to golden brown. It’s also another dish which my mum always make during festivals because it’s more time consuming to make.
The ngoh hiang from this restaurant was pretty good. The skin was very crispy, the filling wasn’t greasy, and tasted good with the sweet chilli sauce and sweet sauce.
The 2nd side dish was fish otah. This tasted quite normal, nothing fancy. The otah was a bit dry.
The last dish served was the assam curry fish head. There is only half a fish head in the claypot. For this dish, I find it disappointing.
First of all, the gravy was a let down. Assam curry is supposed to be sour and spicy, but I could only detect a faint taste of tamarind and the curry was too light. As you can see, the fish was cooked separately and only drenched with gravy before serving. I don’t like it because the fish tasted bland. And lastly, the whole dish wasn’t cooked in that claypot. I understand that this is to reduce waiting time but food usually tastes better if it’s cooked in a claypot.
The fish head didn’t taste bad but it’s just the type of food which will not attract me for a return visit.
Finally dessert was served. It’s chilled coconut kueh with sliced banana in it. Nothing special about.
Overall, the meal was a bit pricey because the food wasn’t fantastic. But since it’s Pakcik’s treat, I shan’t complain too much. =P
Here’s a pic of the day~ Also to celebrate because Pakcik received a pay rise~
=)
I went for the crab feast at Plaza Brasserie in Parkroyal on Beach Road yesterday. The table reservation was made in mid June because SK is very kiasu. Since it was a Sunday, the restaurant wasn’t full. Pakcik and I arrived at 6pm while the rest of my family came later.
The dining area are very spacious. I like the layout because I don’t have to be squashed between 2 strangers’ tables and forced to listen to them conversation should they are loud. Also, I won’t end up being stared at or observed when the stranger at the next table ran out of topic to talk about.
I was ushered to this white table with nice skirting and I have no idea why was my table so special. It’s the only table that looks different. Auntie thought I had VIP membership or some connections. Anyway, it’s probably because the restaurant ran out of tables.
I only took pictures of the salad, cheese and appetizers spread because the rest of the cooked food are covered and I find it rude to going around opening the lids just to take photos.
Ok, for appetizers, I had the feta cheese with olive, chicken terrine, cold prawns and oyster. The feta cheese was pretty good. Chicken terrine was passable. Cold prawns were very fresh and crunchy. For the oyster, it was freshly shucked at the counter next to the sashimi. I managed to get it because it was still early. Later on when Pakcik went to get it, he had to queue for quite some time because there was only 1 staff shucking the oysters.
That’s his loot after a long queue. Plus, it’s only half of what he ate that night.
I had salmon sashimi next. It’s in my must-eat list whenever I go for buffet meals. The first picture was supposed to be salmon belly, but seriously, I don’t think it was. Both plates were just normal cuts of salmon. Anyway, the sashimi was cut upon request and they were fresh and the texture was firm.
Next we went for the crabs. For this crab feast, there are a choice of Chilli Crab, Salted Egg Crab, Butter Crab, Black Pepper Crab, Nonya Curry Crab, Dang Gui Crab and Baked Crab. So here’s my brief review of the crabs:
Favourite Flavor: Salted Egg Crab
– Generously coated with salted egg, very fragrant, slightly on the sweeter side, juicy crab meat and totally finger licking good.
2nd: Black Pepper Crab
– The black pepper sauce was really thick and good. Crab meat retained its juiciness.
3rd: Chilli Crab
– The chilli gravy was sweet and starchy. Although it’s not like the spicier version which Jumbo Seafood restaurant sells, this chilli crab somehow made me crave for more. Too bad, they didn’t have mantou for dipping.
4th: Butter Crab
– The buttery flavour was pretty good, but I prefer the heavier taste of the salted egg crab.
5th: Dang Gui Crab
– The crab was cooked in Dang Gui herbal soup. The meat was sweet and tender.
6th: Baked Crab
– Unfortunately I did not try this. The plain looking crab didn’t attract my attention.
Last: Nonya Curry Crab
– This is my least favourite. The crab meat was dry and the spices were just too over powering.
Salted Egg Crab.
Butter Crab. I only had two proper pictures of the crabs because my hands were too busy and dirty fighting with the crab shells.
Not all the pincers were big, so it depends on your luck~
For the cooked food station, there were Spicy Chicken, Crabmeat Fried Rice, Soft Shell Crab Tempura, Ebi Tempura, Assorted Veggie Tempura, Braised Sea Cucumber, Oyster Omelette, Herbal Prawn Soup, Steamed fish fillet in Hong Kong style, Stir Fried Veggies, Durian Prata, etc.
Here’s some of the items which I tried.
Soft Shell Crab Tempura was really good. The batter was very crispy and the crab was meaty. This is the picture of the soft shell crab which my brother drenched with chilli crab gravy and sambal.
I had a lot of the ebi tempura too. SK is such a prawn lover, plus crab lover, plus salmon lover~
=)
Not only you can have fresh oysters, there is oyster omelette too~ It’s very yummy~ It’s kinda cooked to order, so there was a little queue for this.
I tried the herbal prawn soup and it was pretty decent. The braised sea cucumber was good too. It retained the springy texture, yet it had absorbed the flavor of the gravy in.
Auntie shared half the laksa with me. Since I am not a laksa fan, I didn’t find it fantastic.
Having eaten a lot of crabs and stuff, it’s time for dessert.
Those were the ice cream we had. It’s nothing special, but I love to sprinkle the toppings~
There were several types of cakes, green bean soup, red bean soup with dumplings, puddings, fruits, etc. My favourite was the cheesecake. It’s soooooo dense and cheesy~ Love it so much that I had 2 slices of it. Plus, it tasted better with a cup of cappuccino. The coconut and corn kueh was pretty good too.
Ended my meal with a cup of hot chocolate~ Yummy~
The crab feast is ongoing till 31 August. For Fridays and Weekends dinner, it’s $58++ per adult, and Weekdays is $55++.
There is free parking for diners.
Standard Chartered credit card holders are entitled to the dining promotion (1 dines free with 3 paying adults).
Service is very good and plates are cleared very frequently and quickly. A dish of lemon water for washing fingers are replaced upon request too.
My Daily Moo 