Black Canyon Coffee @ The Summit Subang USJ, Subang Jaya

Today my parents were down and we decided to head over to do some visiting in Subang Jaya area. By the time we were done, it was already dinner time and I decided to take them over to try Black Canyon Coffee Restaurant in The Summit Subang USJ. This is a chain of restaurants from Thailand, in fact the biggest chain in Thailand and they have well expanded in the South East Asian region.

Having parked our car just at the outdoor car park, we walked up the stairs to the restaurant. If you are heading to this restaurant, it is best to park in the outdoor car park instead of the basement car park as it is accessible easily from here.

One thing that I like about this restaurant is their value set menu. They have set menus for two pax and right up to six pax. As there was four of us, I choose the four pax set meal.

The Food Arriving

Waiting For Our Meals

Right Portions

Dinner is Ready

In total through this set deal, it has 4 main dishes which includes a Tom Yam Soup and four plates of white rice.I added one more dish from the ala carte menu. The total bill came to RM 62.00 which is pretty good for four people. Food here is quite decent, it would surely not be the best of meals but it also does not lack the quality. It surely meets good quality standards and service level is also average. If you are looking for a not to expansive Thai Restaurant, then this is the place.

Address: Black Canyon Coffee,
               Ground Floor, The Summit Subang USJ,
               Persiaran Kewajipan, USJ 1,
               Subang Jaya, 47600 Selangor.

Opening Hours: 1000 - 2200

Website: http://www.blackcanyoncoffee.com/blackcanyonThailand/

Mie Razali Crab Noodles @ Banda Aceh, Indonesia

This is an entry from my visit in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. I was informed by the driver that this is a must try restaurant and it is very famous here especially for the Crab Noodles. This restaurant was established in 1967 and has been going very strong all these years. In fact, it is also a recommended restaurant on Lonely Planet guide books. Well, when we arrived here this restaurant was extremely crowded and there were no seats available on the ground floor. The driver proposed that we head upstairs and to my surprise, the first floor which had the VIP room was empty. Only then I realized that the VIP room was air conditioned and smoking is prohibited here. No wonder there weren't any locals willing to sit here as smoking is a national culture in Indonesia. 

Mie Razali @ Banda Aceh

VIP Room on the first floor

Well Lit Signs

This restaurant is famous for its crab noodles. There are two versions of it being sold here, the wet type and the dry type. Crab in Indonesian is called Kepiting and hence its name Mee Kepiting and Mee Goreng Kepiting.
It did not take long for the dishes to arrive due to the high demand and mass production happening downstairs in the kitchen. When the dishes arrived, I was surprised to see a full crab in each dish and it was sold for lest than USD 2 per plate, which is extremely cheap looking at the price that crabs are being sold here. 

The Dishes Arrived

Fried Crab Noodles

Crab Noodles Wet Style

The taste....simply superb. A little spicy, not much and just about the right taste. What we did was in order to try both dishes, we ended up sharing both dishes, eating half portion in each plate. I enjoyed both versions of this noodles and truly wish that this dish is available soon in Malaysia.
Address: No 83-85, Jalan T.P. Polem, 
            Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Tel: 0651 7400174

Opening Hours: 1100 - 2330

First World Cafe @ Genting Highlands, Malaysia

As I am in Genting Highlands today, I am writing about my food experience in First World Cafe that is located in First World Hotel. This cafe is at the Ground Floor, just along the way heading to the towers where the lifts are.

At First World Cafe

Here it is very much self service. You would need to go to the beginning of the counters and then follow the que. As you pass the counters, you would then need to place your orders for food, pick up your drinks and then come to the cashier to pay for the meal. Once the meal is ready, you would need to walk up again to the counter and pick up your own meal. If you had ordered ten dishes, then you would need to do it ten times. Well, what can I say. Food in Genting Highlands is very expensive though one would be spoilt for choices. This cafe is also expensive but it is still the place where you can get simple meals and the cheapest price in Genting Highlands.

Roti Canai @ RM 7.00

Well this is one of the dishes that we ordered here. Food taste was pretty good I would say as Genting has one of the best chefs around, both in their specialty restaurants as well as simple cafes like this. But the price, is a little high. However, when still compared to other outlets, both private stalls and restaurants, this is still a much better option for a quick snack.

Me and my Chikuteh @ RM 21.00

I on the contrary wanted to have something heavy. What attracted me initially was the Muckuteh which is a Mutton version in Bah Kut Teh broth. As this is a Halal restaurant, they do not have pork and so only Mutton and Chicken was available. However, it was sold out for the day and hence I had to settle for the Chickuteh. Price, was surely expensive at RM 21.00 and taste wise, was average. It was more like the Kuala Lumpur style of broth which was clear soup but it had good ingredients inside which include the mushrooms, tofu and very lean chicken meat. Volume was also great.

My Brother with a Bowl of Hor Fun @ RM 18.00

Not satisfied with the earlier Roti Canai, my brother ordered a bowl of Hor Fun. As you can see the portion size is huge but it is mostly the soup. Taste wise was just average and was not worth the price paid. I did taste it too. The Chikuteh was surely a better buy.

One thing good about this cafe is that it is open 24 hours a day and food is available all day long. They do have a reasonable variety for customers and it is not too bad on the whole. Another advantage here is that you could use your Genting Points to redeem food items too. I did that for the earlier Roti Canai.

Address: Lobby Level, First World Hotel,
              Genting Highlands Resort, 
              69000 Genting Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: 24 Hours Daily

Sate Kambing Muda Bogem @ Yogyakarta, Indonesia

From the earlier mountain range, we drove again back to the city of Solo passing the famous Begawan Solo River and then we head South of Java Island heading to the city of Yogyakarta. 

Yogyakarta is the largest city in Central Java and it is around 60 Kilometres from Solo. 60 Kilometres in Indonesia takes almost two hours. Interestingly, throughout this journey, I was sharing my travel experiences with the guide and driver and they were listening very intently.

Somehow, we suddenly stumbled upon the topic of the Bodobudur Temple and the guide claimed that Borobudur is one of the seven wonders of the world. I argued on this and somehow the argument went further and the guide said that he would go back home and check on the internet. I know this guide quite well, he would argue something all out unless he felt that he knew it accurately. It was only then, that I realised that the Indonesian school textbooks were disseminating wrongful information to the students till date. In school, Indonesians learn that the Borobudur Temple is one of the seven wonders of the world.

We had a dinner stop as we neared the city of Yogyakarta. Here, the guide ordered food for us and then was communicating to one of his friends to check and back his theory. Finally, after 30 minutes of conversation on his mobile, he finally apologised to me and said yes, he had just discovered that the Indonesian textbooks were wrong and they were all these years been given the wrongful information. Well, I just told him that it was all right and we were just discussing over a point in history. Please do remember that my guide holds a Masters Degree in Indonesian Archaeology. 

Sate Kambing Muda Bogem @ Yogyakarta

The Sate Grill

Interior is quite simple

With that discussion over, we concentrated on dinner. This particular restaurant which we stopped was famous for its kid satay and curry. Here, kid means the baby goat. It was definitely good, soft succulent satay chunks.
Besides this, the shop is also famous for its Lamb Tongseng which is very much the Javanese version of Lamb Stew. The Kid Sate on contrary are not served on skewers but are cut into chunks and served in a plate with some sweet and spicy sauce being poured over it.

Lamb Tongseng a.k.a. Javanese Lamb Stew

Sate Kambing Muda a.k.a. Kid Sate

This restaurant is surely a good place to have your meal specifically if you are looking for simple and authentic food in Yogyakarta. The price is very cheap and the entire meal would cost you less than RM 15 for four pax.

Address: Jalan Jendral Sudirman,
            Kotabaru, Yogyakarta, 
            Jawa, Indonesia.

Opening Hours: 1000 - 2230

Rumah Makan Senden @ Senden, Indonesia

It was a decently long drive out of Solo city heading to the mountain regions of Sukuh where we are to visit another two marvels. As I woke up late this morning, I could not have the breakfast at the hotel and was already craving for food as the time now was almost 1 pm.

Hence, collectively we decided to have our lunch at the next good place that comes along the way. Finally we came to this very large restaurant. The driveway seems prepared to receive loads of buses. I guess this must be a favourite tourist stop. However, today this place seemed empty and there were no guests at all when we arrived. 

Rumah Makan Senden

Entrance of the restaurant

We ordered our lunch and then waited for the food to be served. Even after 30 minutes, the food never came and my guide went over to check the status. However, they seemed to be still cooking, that was his response. Since we had ordered fish, I had asked him if they had set out to the sea to go fishing and perhaps they have not caught the fish yet.
It was really tiring waiting for food especially when we were so hungry and I don't see an excuse as to why it should take so long as there were no other customers in the restaurant. Finally, the food arrived after a 45 minute wait.
We had ordered Egg Foo Yong (mixed with prawns), Patin Fish deep fried with Salted Eggs, Fried Tempe (Soya Paste) and Spinach. I am not sure if it was because we were so hungry, the food tasted delicious. 

Lunch Just Arrived

Closer Look At The Dishes

The food portions were also huge and it definitely was worth the price paid for. Satisfied with the great lunch we had, we then headed to the Sukuh mountain range where we are to visit another two temples, both built in the 13th Century. I was informed that it is still another 45 minute drive from here, at least. I hope to be able to post more dishes and good place to dine from this trip.

Address: Jalan Srago Gede,
             Klaten, Jawa Tengah,
            Jawa, Indonesia.

Opening Hours: 1000 - 2200

Rumah Makan Tio Ciu Matahari @ Bandungan, Indonesia

Earlier we visited one of the historical sites in the middle of a deep forest and by the time we were done, it was almost 7 pm. It was a thirty minute drive back to Bandungan town and we were looking out for a nice diner until we came across this outlet. 

Rumah Makan Tio Ciu Matahari @ Bandungan, Indonesia

As It Is A Mountain Region, It Was Very Cold

They seemed to be quite crowded and it served Chinese food. We parked the car and headed to this restaurant for dinner. Looking at the menu, it seemed like a fusion between Chinese food and Indonesian food but hey, looking at the number of people there, we assumed that it should be quite good.

They served almost everything, from fish, chicken, pork, beef, frogs, eels, snails and everything else that crawls, flies and swims. Interesting. Reminded me more of Malaysia.

Some Of The Offerings Here

Calling Back Home While Waiting For Dinner

With the level of lethargy that had struck us, the food did indeed taste exceptionally good. We ordered Chicken Rica Rica, Sizzling Tofu and Butter Prawns. Initially we ordered some vegetables too but somehow with every vegetable dish that we ordered, they seemed to come back to us after a few minutes claiming that that vegetable had finished. Finally, after four tries, we gave up on vegetables and stuck with the present menu.

Dinner In Progress

We did not take much time here and we rushed through our meal in thirty minutes simply because we had to drive all the way to Solo which is almost on the eastern border of Central Java and East Java which is another two hours and thirty minutes drive.

With dinner done, we moved out of this place heading east. Well, talking about this restaurant, we did like the food here. Though there were some glitches in the service level, but the food and the price was surely worth every dime spent. 

Address: Jl. Lemah Abang, Bandungan,
             KM 3 Semarang, Jawa Tengah,
             Jawa, Indonesia.

Opening Hours: 1100 - 2230

Sate & Gule Kambing 29 @ Semarang, Indonesia

Today, we were touring Semarang in Central Java, Indonesia. As it was already lunch hour, we were pretty hungry and looking out for a good place to have lunch. There was a 'favourite' shop of the locals just across the Blenduk Church in Kota Lama and we decided to try this shop instead. Unlike my previous trip last month to the Province of West Sumatra where we could not find mutton or lamb, here the favourite meat seems to be that of mutton cooked in various manners. 

Sate & Gule Kambing 29 @ Kota Lama, Semarang

In this shop, the signature dishes were Sate Kambing (mutton sate) and Gule Kambing (Mutton Curry). Sate is meat on bamboo skewers and are found in abundance in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, in Malaysia, the common meat used for this purpose is chicken and beef. In contrary, in Indonesia, there is Mutton Satay, Chicken Satay, Beef Satay, Pork Satay and Horse Satay. In this province, beef seemed a little less popular (perhaps due to the influence of Hinduism in ancient times) but the other types of meat mentioned, are quite common.

Lunch Just Arrived

Sate Kambing

It all comes in standard portion sizes and is eaten with white rice. The sate was good and well prepared and the curry was also good, but not like the Indian method of preparation which we are more accustomed to. The Indian method is thicker and spicier but this was nice too, for a change. Cost, of course was very low as food in Indonesia is very cheap.

Gule Kambing @ Mutton Curry (Javanese Style)

On the whole, the meal though simple was good. It was good to sit among the locals and try the various dishes here. Felt more authentic. If you happen to be in this city, I would strongly recommend you to try out this restaurant. 

Address: Jl. Letjen Suprapto, No. 32 Tanjung Mas,
             Semarang Utara, Semarang, Jawa Tengah, 
             Indonesia.

Opening Hours: 1030 - 1500 Daily