[Kuala Lumpur] Let's Go Gai Gai @ 茨厂街 Petaling Street Chinatown [Part 1]

We're back at Petaling Street for a short staycation with entire fam! We stayed at 5 Elements Hotel which is right smack in the heart of Chinatown. Basic amenities, basic level of cleanliness with friendly frontdesk staff. The toilet came equipped with bidet if that's of interest to you.

view from the hotel lobby

Because we were there during the weekends, we could hear the bass/music thumping from presumably the nearby bars in our room at night.

hotel lobby

instant coffee, tea, bottled water

closet, safe, hair dryer

bathroom things

Interesting observation during our stay at this hotel. Toilet roll supplied at max is one per room per day if it was near to depleted. By the next day of our stay, the hotel had run out of bath gel and advised us to use the soap instead. Hmm.

Hotel breakfast was minimal. There's carbs like nasi lemak rice, and fried bee hoon. White bread is available too. The usual condiments for nasi lemak like fried egg, anchovies with peanuts, sambal and cucumber slices.

Western fare included sausages, baked beans, hash brown and snacks like fried cuttlefish balls. 

hotel breakfast

Cereals, milk, watermelon slices were available too.

The 5 Elements Hotel

Address: Chinatown, 243, Jalan Sultan, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Website: http://www.the5elementshotel.com.my/

Right next to the hotel, a few steps away is the Fung Wong Biscuit shop/cafe.

signage

It is airconditioned inside for the tired travelers to rest and have a cup of coffee. Granted it is not the only coffee place around, but this shop hints at certain nostalgia due to their long history for their bakes. We used to buy their kaya roll cakes from the original shop whenever we visited Petaling Street.

Now, this new shop is modernized and cafe-like with simple snacks like dim sums on top of their daily bakes. 

choose your bakes 

I ended up with a cup of iced coffee as we'd be doing early dinner shortly. The sliced rolls or the baked siew bao price was around MYR4.50 each, and biscuits such as the hup tao sou (walnut biscuit) was around MYR3 per piece.

iced kopi

Iced kopi was not too acidic and I liked that the milk wasn't too overpowering either. Around RM5 after tax if not wrong.

Fung Wong Biscuit

Address: 85, Jalan Sultan, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Website: http://www.fungwong.my/

Contact: +60320728888

Business Hours:

Daily: 8:30 am–10 pm

Passed by some interesting shops on our way to dinner. Like the 'Original Beckham' that made us did a double take. Apparently its instagram states that "鲍师傅 Original Beckham, with over 20 years of experience originating from China and specializes in chicken floss pastry and walnut cookies."

DurianBB looks like a durian cafe/dessert shop.

it must've been hot in there

For dinner, we headed to places that are really near the hotel so that our elderly parents need not walk too far.

As per previous visit, the old lady boss was at the shopfront, so we greeted her and she enthusiastically asked if we were having dinner there. Haha, yes we are.

Family of 5 adults, we ordered two noodles, an egg dish, a vegetable plate and a meat dish to share. The portion size for noodles is either for 1 pax or 2 pax. So we ordered for 2 pax.

 原汁鸳鸯 Ying Yong with original sauce (Cantonese fried noodles) @MYR30

福建面 Hokkien Fried Noodle @MYR30

Stir fry vegetables @MYR30

Tomato Eggs @MYR15

Lemon Chicken @MYR30

Overall taste was ok and the portions were still generous this time round for the noodles dishes. Fried chicken was nicer (not dry) as compared to past year, although lemon sauce is not my favourite. 

Westlake Restaurant

Address: 40, Jalan Sultan, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Contact: +60320723350

Business Hours:

Daily: 11 am–2:30 pm, 5 pm–1 am

Mixue half-half ice-cream for dessert

[Travel Tasmania] Jailhouse Grill @ Launceston

The building that houses Jailhouse Grill is said to have been around since the 1800's. Hehe, I thought it was a themed eatery but turns out to be quite an old skool steakhouse in Launceston area.

Our friends said that it is better to make a reservation prior to visit as the place could get rather busy.

approaching the entrance

 

menu

grill station

Friendly staff led us to our table as we have a reservation for 8 pax. As we passed by the open-kitchen at the grill station, one could hear the delicious sizzling sounds and the fantastic smells of meat cooking. 

Once seated and menu perused, we speedily ordered our mains and then, we were free to enjoy the salad bar. The salad bar has a small selection of hot and cold items such as greens and pasta.

salad bar

my plate from the salad bar

Scotch Fillet @AUD52

medium rare

Scotch fillet is said to be similar to rib-eye. The version here was firm and meaty. A masculine/macho version of meats. Haha.

We enjoyed the meats with delicious sips of Taverner's Tasmanian Honey Mead that we brought to the restaurant. BYO corkage fee applies hence do enquire at the restaurant. 

The honey mead tasted sweet, mellow with a touch of spice and complemented well with our meal.

Tasmanian Honey Mead

cheers

It was a night of interesting banter amongst new and old friends, made even more enjoyable in a cosy environment with delicious foods and drinks.

Jailhouse Grill

Address: 32 Wellington St, Launceston TAS 7250, Australia

Website: https://jailhousegrill.com.au/

Contact: +61363310466

Business Hours:

Daily: 12.00–2.30 pm, 5.00–9.30 pm

[Travel Tasmania] Lobster Shack Tasmania @ Bicheno

This place was just 10 to 15 minutes ride from The Pondering Frog where we had snacked prior to lunch. 

we're here!

the restaurant is down the stairs

 

enjoy the cold outdoors

seaside view

I was freezing, so nope, we didn't sit outdoors. The shop feels like a fast food type of place. Order at the counter and make payment, then the food and drinks will be served to your table. We chose the cold seafood platter that had oysters, half a lobster, and prawns, and placed additional ala-carte orders for fish and chips, salmon and salad.

menu

live crabs in the tank

eyes on the prize

The staff was nice and helpful with her recommendations when we seemed a tad lost when choosing the menu.

water

We didn't wait long for the food to arrive as the cold seafood platter was already pre-packed I believe.

half a lobster, prawns and oysters with 2 dips; tartar and seafood sauce

juicy fresh Tasmanian oysters

firm tiger prawns

The oysters here were clean tasting and not too briny. Thus far, all prawns that I've tasted in Melbourne and Tasmania were pretty firm in texture.

half a lobster

After tasting the cold seafood platter, I'd say skip the rest of the stuffs like prawns and oysters and just order up your lobsters! So sweet and half a lobster is not enough!

Greek Salad @AUD12

The last  bits to arrive was the hot food. We had the Greek salad, crispy skinned salmon and the fish and chips. Hmmm, I think I liked the battered fish and chips more than the salmon.

Tasmanian Gummy Fish and Chips (Battered)

Crispy Skinned Salmon @AUD26

A nice pit stop to enjoy some lobsters.

whole lobster, next time perhaps?

Lobster Shack Tasmania

Address: 40 Waubs Esplanade, Bicheno TAS 7215, Australia

Website: http://www.lobstershacktasmania.com.au/

Business Hours:

Daily: 11 am–7 pm

[Travel Tasmania] Finding Tasmanian Devils at Unzoo, Colourful Tessellated Pavement and Lunch at Lufra Bistro

We visited the Unzoo after breakfast to see some Tasmanian Devils irl and we only had an hour or two to spare before heading towards the next destination. The tickets can be booked online but we just dropped by at around 10am and got the tickets on the spot. We paid AUD55 per pax.

Welcome to Unzoo

excited to meet the Tasmanian Devils

what's an Unzoo?

let's explore!

"An Unzoo would be a reversal of the traditional concept of a zoo."

It is a novel concept and happy to have the opportunity to experience for myself, the Unzoo in Tasmania. The lady at the counter (perhaps a member of the Hamilton family?) was really nice and her grandson was accompanying her that day. He's an adorable cutie at 4 years old.

We were just in-time for the guided tour and were informed we should still be in-time to catch Nathan (guide) for the Tasmanian Devil presentation. Ahh, so we hurried and indeed, we found Nathan talking about Tasmanian Devils with a small group of visitors.

wonder, who's looking at whom

Tasmanian Devils

Was surprised to see the Tasmanian Devils being so active in the day, as these are supposed to be nocturnal.

waddling along, everybody

hi there!

Next, we helped Nathan to feed the Kangaroos/Wallabies.

where are they?

ah, it's brunch time

up-close and personal

We'd scoop a handful of feed from the buckets that Nathan was carrying and head on towards the kangaroos/wallabies sunbathing in their small circles.

We could pet the them but do avoid places that they disliked to be touched. Ask Nathan, if unsure!

Davies Waxflower (exceedingly rare)

Nathan would also introduce some of the flora/fauna that we met along the way and it feels amazing being able to view it in real life.

look who we found

Then, it was lunch time for the Tasmanian Devils so we walked with Nathan to his next stop.

separated by just a glass barrier

Do observe the safety precautions as the Tasmanian Devils are carnivorous marsupial and feeding time means they are hungry!

 

The Tasmanian Devils feeds on wallabies carcasses and boy, we could hear the teeth crunching on the small bones of their feed. 

Next up, we were brought to Birds of the Bush presentation. It was now noon time and the sun was super hot.

Nathan, with a bottle of nectar for the birds

hopefully, they will come

So we waited after Nathan rang the little bell for the birds to come for a sweet drink. And we waited some more while Nathan shares more stories and we waited but all the birds decided that today was not the day. Hahaha, it was still a fun experience and Nathan was very entertaining, very helpful and one could just ask about anything to him.

support the conservation program

We enjoyed the visit, the interactions and the experience. Do support and visit if you're in Tasmania!

Tasmanian Devil Unzoo

Address: 5990 Arthur Hwy, Taranna TAS 7180, Australia

Website: https://tasmaniandevilunzoo.com.au/

Contact: +61362503230

Business Hours:

Daily: Saturday, 9 am–5:30 pm

Blow Hole

came across a fishing place

so many fishies to catch

mesmerized by the view

Next stop, Tessellated Pavement. According to Wiki, a tessellated pavement is a relatively flat rock surface that is subdivided into polygons by fractures, frequently systematic joints, within the rock. It got its name because the fractures into polygonal blocks that resemble tiles of a mosaic floor, or tessellations. Of course, I didn't research a thing until after the visit... now you know.

Tessellated Pavement

One could enjoy the view from the top or walk a bit to the front where there are steps leading down to the pavement for a closer look.

nice view

close up view on the seaweed

enjoying nature

one last look

After we have feasted our eyes, it's time to fill-up our empty tummies. Nearby, was the Lufra Hotel and we decided to have lunch at its bistro.

We were there at about 130pm and were still in-time to order something from their light lunch menu. Staff was nice about it and we were grateful that kitchen was still open for lunch service.

guess what I ordered

But, I was super duper thirsty and opted for an ice coffee. "Would you like to have cream with it?" Staff asked. I didn't think too much of it but said yes.

iced coffee with cream

Wow, I liked that cream with a touch of choco dust. Sweet and cold! Made the iced coffee all the more yummy.

yummy cream

Lufra Seafood Chowder @AUD25

The chowder was thick and warm. Lovely with the toasted crisp pita.

Chicken Schnitzel @AUD30

let's eat

Ivan ordered the Chicken Schnitzel and I stole some of the salad to eat. Wow, am impressed. Chopped vegetable bits with a light flavourful tangy dressing. Good.

Steak Sandwich @AUD20

Lamburger @AUD20

Shermaine had the steak sandwich while I opted for the Lamburger. Yeah, let's try something new! The burger / sandwich came with the lot which means, a side of fries/chips.

The Lamburger was juicy and tender, with a tad of gamey. There's a fried egg, caramelized onions, slice of tomato, lettuce and beetroot.

Staff was  nice to let us finish our lunch at our own pace while they've already break for a rest after lunch service. Thank you!

Lufra Bistro

Address: 380 Pirates Bay Dr, Eaglehawk Neck TAS 7179, Australia

Website: https://www.lufrahotel.com/

Business Hours:

Mon - Fri: 10 am–2 pm, 5:30–7 pm

Sat - Sun: 10 am–5 pm, 5:30–8 pm