Malaysia Food Blog, Malaysia Travel Blog

Two weeks ago, Hilton Petaling Jaya and theQGuides.com organized a dinner at the various restaurants within the hotel for food bloggers. I was lucky enough to be one of the invited bloggers to attend such an event.
Besides being treated to good food, the bloggers were also introduced to ZestPJ, the blog for Hilton PJ’s restaurants as well as utilizing theQGuides.com as the platform to make table reservations online. It’s great to know that Hilton PJ has come to realize the power of blogging and made the initiative to reach out to food bloggers.

We were not prearranged to dine at any particular restaurant, so a lucky draw was done to determine which restaurant we got to go. Among the restaurants of Paya Serai (cafe, Malaysian cuisine, hawker delights and buffet), Toh Yuen (Chinese restaurant) and Genji (Japanese restaurant with a countryside ambience) I was hoping for Toh Yuen, and I got what I wished for.

Toh Yuen is a beautiful Chinese restaurant with a brilliant interior that exuded class and elegance. It has a seating capacity of 110 including 8 seats at its Dim Sum bar and 4 private rooms - Jade, Silk, Great Wall 1 and 2 - that accommodates up to 10 people each.

Moon gates like this are one of the special features in Toh Yuen, aimed to create the feeling of dining in a traditional Chinese courtyard. A giant marine aquarium is located to the back of the kitchen too, with live fishes swimming around adding life to the already warm and homely ambiance. I am pretty sure it was there to improve the feng shui of the restaurant too.

Glasses of premium handcraft Blooming Tea accompanied our meal - Hai Shang Hua (scented, unfermented Green Tea, Jasmine Flower and Lily Flower) and Yi Xian Tian.
According to the menu, Yi Xian Tian is a good tea drinkable at any time of the day that functions well to clean out toxins while offering a great taste. We have to agree on the great taste as we found ourselves drinking it non-stop lol. RM10 per glass.

For appetizer, we chose the highly recommended Mango Dragon @ RM17. It was a dish that consisted only two pieces of prawns, fried with a coating of flour and fresh mango flesh. Being somewhat unimpressive looking, it was surprisingly delicious thanks to the very crispy outer layer with a refreshing mango taste.

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Besides Hoe Kee, Chung Wah is another famous Hainan Chicken Rice shop located at the start of Jonker Street (Jalan Hang Jebat) in Melaka town. Hoe Kee is famous for their Hainan Chicken while Chung Wah is well known for their chicken rice balls, said to be tastier and packs more flavor.
Chung Wah Coffee Shop was intended as my first stop for chicken rice balls, but too bad the chicken rice was already sold out when I arrived. According to the locals, Chung Wah usually sells out before 3 to 4pm so its best to visit this place during breakfast or lunch time to avoid disappointment.

The next day, we went early and were one of the earliest customers. As usual we ordered a larger portion of chicken and very little rice balls. The chicken felt tough because chicken breast was given.. I think I should have specified a more tender part like the thigh or drumstick.

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Phew, finally I get to update my blog and share my trip to Taiwan not long ago (just returned last Friday) Tell you what, summer is definitely the worst time to visit Taiwan, or maybe Taipei only I don’t know.
The air is super humid, weather is like KL and it always drizzles without any warning. It’s like the whole city is trapped in a huge sauna lol. Just making a few steps out of your hotel and you would already sweat like hell! It feels damn miserable too to hold your camera on one hand, and use a umbrella on the other.
Weather aside, it was a nice trip overall with plenty of food eaten and interesting places visited. It’s impossible to share the summary of the trip in one single post so I have to break it down to daily basis.

Thanks to MAS for sponsoring the air tickets to Taipei, definitely my top choice of carrier in Malaysia. If you are interested to visit Taiwan, the best time is during October and November. Conveniently there’s a Deepavali holiday in October so you can plan a trip at that time. I just did a search for October’s flight and there’s plenty of options. The cheapest return ticket price including tax is only RM778 per pax. Do check it out.

It’s easy to pass time in the plane, as there’s plenty of things to do. You can take a nap (which I did), watch some latest movies like Red Cliff 2 or even play games!

Since our flight was at 9.40am and it takes 4.5 hours to reach Taipei, brunch was served. A choice of either chicken with potatoes, or..

Fish and rice. Do you notice the cup of red wine I requested?

Once we touched down Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.. guess who’s the first to greet us. None other than the cute pig, Pukii! lol what a name, this pig will never have its name approved in Malaysia.

If you are between 15 and 30, the first thing you should do after reaching the airport is to apply for a Youth Travel Card at the Tourist Service Counter. Just provide your passport and fill in some forms and you will get it.

The card is very beneficial to tourists like us because it provides more than 500 special discounts on transportation, accommodations, restaurants and recreation. For the list of the 500 discounted things, a booklet is provided as reference.

Took a bus to Taipei Main Station for NT$80 (RM1 = NT$9) There’s plenty of express bus companies to choose from at the airport.

The accommodation we stayed for the first 3 nights in Taipei, Taipei Key Mall Traveler Hostel @ NT$1500 per night. I kinda regretted staying here for so long, as there’s many other nicer looking hotels with the same price in the area like CityInn.
Besides, the owner is a bit freaky and weird, and the worst thing is that they don’t accept credit card! Thanks to that I had to spend NT$4050 already on the first day, burning off 25% of the total cash we brought. And you know what, they even require a deposit of NT$300 for the bed sheets. I have learnt not to fully trust the positive reviews posted online now.

The only good thing about this hostel is its location. It’s located directly opposite the Taiwan Railway Station and is only 2 minutes away from the Taipei Main MRT station.

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