Vineyard is a restaurant nestled amist the lush greeneries of HortPark and is a beautiful venue for romantic or quiet dinners. Garden parties, solemnization are also often held at Vineyard. One could escape from the hustle bustle of city life and enjoy the tranquil surroundings with good food.
Cucumber Tea & Tonic @$8
Cool down with the refreshing Cucumber Tea & Tonic, a beverage well suited to our humid climate. Was given an amuse bouche of Duck Rillete Bruschetta. Regular olive bread is available as well. The duck rillete was tasty and it got us anticipating for more.
Duck Rilette Bruschetta
For starters, the Garlic Parsley Frog Leg and Warm Truffle Shoyu Mushroom Spinach Salad were both excellent. I liked both. The flavours from the spinach salad were bold and good with a glass of bubbly. The meaty frog leg cooked in parsley garlic butter served with mesclun salad was love at first bite. So good.
Warm Truffle Shoyu Mushroom Spinach Salad @$17
Garlic Parsley Frog Leg @$18
For brunch, one could opt for the strong flavours of Moroccan Lamb Baked Egg, or the lighter Prosciutto Ham Croque Madame. For the carb lovers, the Big Breakfast Aglio Olio Pasta came with a large amount of the noodles!
Moroccan Lamb Baked Eggs
The Moroccan Lamb Baked Eggs had plenty of spiced tomato braised lamb in it, and topped with melty mozarella cheese. The yolk was perfectly running and bread was used to soak up the golden lava. The spice was not overpowering and there's enough sauce for two. Best to be shared.
each bite loaded with lamb
The Big Breakfast Aglio Olio Pasta is sure to satiate any ravenous appetite. It tasted healthy and loved the omelette. For me, I'd prefer the Prosciutto Ham Croque Madame.
Big Breakfast Aglio Olio Pasta
This croque madame had aged prosciutto ham, spinach cream sauce, duo of cheese hidden underneath the wholemeal bread, topped with two gorgeous sunny side up eggs, served with mixed salad. Mmm, my kind of breakfast.
Prosciutto Ham Croque Madame
How about the dessert? Tried two and found my favourite from Vineyard. For a little bit of unconventionality, opt for the Vanilla Panna Cotta. Its flavour was not something that one might expect out of a panna cotta, so it was rather interesting with the apricot jam and mango gel. The pudding itself was lovely and not overly sweetened.
Vanilla Panna Cotta @$12
For the old-fashioned (I meant myself of course!), the Signature Italian Tiramisu had me scraping the bottoms for more. Kahlua expresso soaked sponge with Bailey Mascarpone Cream. That's double dose of goodness!
Signature Italian Tiramisu @$14
The calm surroundings made the tasty food even more enjoyable. Thank you Jennifer (@jellymagically) for the invite and Vineyard for the tasting.
Showa Hakata is located at the Jurong Superbowl near McDonald's. I remembered Superbowl was one of the dining destination way back in the 1990's when Jurong Point was non-existent yet.
Was there again for lunch on a Saturday and it was really quiet. Maybe about 3 tables occupied. Utilized eatigo app to make the reservations and redemption was fuss-free. Just show the staff before ordering and they will note down the reservation number. There's a whopping 50% off on non-promo food items for 12pm lunch on a weekend.
sushi counter
drinks promo
order via iPad
There's a 1-for-1 drinks promo which included orange juice, beer, umeshu and sake. Guess what I chose?
Chose sake although I suspected my bro might have wanted beer...Nevertheless, it's good to try new things. The cold sake was poured to the brim and then some.
to the brim!
The taste of Gekkeikan sake was light and clean. Nice to pair with sashimi. Food arrived fairly quickly, especially the teppanyaki beef. The beef cubes were tender and tasted better on its own. The sesame sauce, was...not quite it. This meat dish was leaning on the salty side, so better have it with a drink or rice.
Beef Teppanyaki @$18++
Dashi Maki @$6++
The dashi maki was leaning towards the sweeter side and served lukewarm. Am always on the lookout for good dashimaki tamago but it's quite rare to come across good ones. Both Hokkaido Izakaya and Aburi Sushi Heishinrou are my current favourite go-to places for the dashimaki tamago.
Dynamite Maki @$16.80++
When the first dish, the beef teppanyaki arrived, I had a hunch that the food portion here would not be ideal. It was reinforced when the plate of Dynamite Maki landed on our table. The size of the roll, was really tiny. For the original price of $16.80++, felt that this did not offer value-for-money. The taste was good nevertheless.
close up view - aburi salmon, unagi and cucumber
The Three Kind Sashimi priced at $48++ for 12 slices of fish meant that customers are paying $4.68 per slice. That's a rather premium price, don't you think? Thank goodness for the brilliant eatigo app which allowed consumers to enjoy the fresh salmon belly, hamachi and mekajiki slices at $24++.
Three Kind Sashimi @$48++
Got a complimentary salmon mentai sushi for liking Showa Hakata's Facebook page and by posting the photo online. This aburi salmon was well-oiled and melt-in-your-mouth kind of good.
Salmon Mentai Sushi @$6.80++
There is a bus stop right in front of McDonald's, otherwise a car is definitely necessary. This place is pretty far out.
They do have 1-for-1 curry ebi rice (@$17.80++), so that's a good deal coupled with the 1-for-1 drinks promo. Overall, staff was friendly and service was efficient.
During the daytime, one could visit Hon Kee for a bowl of simple porridge, or Koon Kee for its famed wanton noodles. Koon Kee (冠记云吞面) has two outlets in Petaling Street. One at its original place where it has the whole entire coffeeshop for itself, and another stall at the Tang City Food Court. When we were at foodcourt, we shared a table with an uncle (stranger) who was having Koon Kee wanton mee. When we sat debating about whether we should be trying the noodles, the uncle shared that the taste of Koon Kee wanton is not as what it's used to be. Oooh.... He said the taste of food at Jalan Imbi is better but congested with tourist.
If you prefer to eat light, there's dim sum along the way.
Or, simply stroll into Fung Wong Bakery for its spongy kaya roll, baked fresh daily. It's a nostalgic taste and best paired with hot tea or coffee. I love their chashiu puff and my sis liked the egg tarts. My mom said the wife biscuit also pretty good.
puffs and tarts
young boss preparing the kaya rolls
bought for the family
kaya roll
For a better coffeeshop ambiance where it is of a lesser 'street' kind of experience, one could venture a little further to Lai Foong Coffeeshop for beef noodles. Read more about first visit here.
Lai Foong, seen from Petaling Street
The coffeeshop is huge and it takes the whole entire ground floor of the building. If the main dining area is full, just go to the next unit where it is separated but still operated by the same owners. The beef stall now has two helpers (foreign talent that knows a smattering of dialects inclusive Cantonese) and one could order through them although their regulars still prefer to talk to the chef.
Recently, there's IG posting of lala (clam) bee hoon from this coffeeshop but they weren't open for CNY, so couldn't try.
char kway teow
pork noodles soup
My sis had the char kway teow and it was pretty good with the plump bean sprouts. Mom's pork noodles soup had small intestines beside the usual meatball, minced meat, pig liver and slices of lean meat. But, Kajang's pork noodles broth still trumps!
Beef Noodles (mixed parts) - RM10
They do not have 'lai fun' (similar to laksa noodles) for the beef noodles but am not sure if they're not selling that noodles anymore or ran out of it or no stock for CNY. Either way, I had it with hor fun (flat noodles) and they gave a mountain of noodles in it.
close up view
As per last year, the parts were all good and nicely tender. Broth a little weak, still tasty nonetheless. Can be shared amongst two pax.
For dinner, one must eat the Claypot Chicken Rice with Grilled Fish. Just head towards the bookstore / Bee Cheng Hiang street around 6+ in the evening and let the staff know the number of pax in your group. They will allocate the seat or open up a new table where necessary. This is basically roadside stall eating along the five-foot walkway of other shops (which had closed for the day).
calamansi with sour plum
Expect to wait for about half hour at the least. Weekdays sees lesser people but still pretty busy.
claypot chicken rice (medium) - feed 4 adults
There is a a set meal that has a soup, vegetable, a claypot and a plate of vegetables. We did ala-carte so didn't have soup. Claypot comes in 3 sizes; small, medium or large. We got a medium and the four of us were full by the end of it. The vegetable plate is a simple bean sprouts stir-fried with siu bak choi. For grilled fish, we chose tilapia instead of the stingray. For sauce, we had spicy assam sauce.
look at that beauty
assam grilled fish
That's all for Petaling Street for Year 2018! Have fun and enjoy the food!
To get there, simply take the MRT to Pasar Seni. Upon alighting head towards Central Market but turn right towards Petaling Street. Happy Exploring!
If you enjoy cafe, there's Merchant Lane. For the hip and happening, you could visit ChoCha.
Did a staycation in Petaling Street (茨厂街) over this CNY period. Stayed at Hotel Geo (3 star) for 4 days 3 nights. It's pretty close to the Pasar Seni MRT, hence one could venture to nearby KLCC or Pavilion too! Central Market is within 5 minutes walking distance, as with Petaling Street.
MRT ride to Pasar Seni
Hotel Geo (Triple room)
Hotel check-in was 3pm. The room cleanliness need vast improvement as the floor was still dusty and the mini-fridge was sitting in a dusty cupboard. Heck, we even found empty wrappers of previous occupants instant noodles in one of the cupboards...
Due to heavy rain, we spent first day having fast food for late lunch. The only food outlet connected to Hotel Geo is Texas Chicken. For CNY, they were having the Spicy Szechuan flavour. Pretty good, as far as fast food goes...
Texas Chicken
Ventured out to KLCC and chanced upon Lion Dance performance. Just nice for CNY!
During CNY period, lots of foreign workers had their off-days as well and KLCC seemed to be the spot for them to hangout. The mall was very crowded.
There was such a thing as 'premium' toilet in KLCC for one of the level. Its entry fee was RM2. Tried it and can't say the experience was good. The toilet was crowded and yes, there was an attendant located in the toilet and there were moisturizers for the hand after washing. But that's about it. I didn't loiter in the toilet to use the hand cream. The toilets at other levels do not have entrance fee.
KLCC night view
water fountain show
The water show was of Bollywood themed in the initial before playing Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On'.
In the mall, there's Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts going for RM14.90 for 3 selected flavours. That's less than SGD2 per piece.
For breakfast, we ventured to Tang City Food Court but my favourite beef noodles stall Kew Yee was closed for CNY. Had to make do with prawn noodles soup was the lam meen was sold out too. For CNY, expect food prices at foodcourts and hawker centres to be up-priced by about RM0.50 to RM1 per bowl.
prawn noodles soup @RM7.50
After breakfast, it was a stroll along Petaling Street to suss out stuffs to buy.
Petaling Street
Apparently, there's a Family Mart and of course, we went in to take a look. More like, we went in to enjoy the air-conditioning. Prices for a matcha latte or coffee were exorbitant. Korean products in this Japanese convenience store was too pricey. For example, a packet of 330ml banana milk drink (Bingrae) costs RM5.80?! Good thing was, there's soft-serve in-store and the flavours were cheesecake and matcha. So interesting, so I tried the cheesecake flavour.
Cheesecake and Matcha soft-serve from Family Mart @$M2.90 per cone
Walk along the alleys and you'll come across the famous vendors for soya bean and also muah chee. Often times, one would see a queue at the Kim Soya Bean stall. The soya bean stall is now at the third generation. On weekdays, you'll likely encounter the second generation and on festive periods, you'll see the younger ones manning the stall. The beancurd (tau foo far) is delicious too with its smooth as baby skin texture and fragrance of soy bean when taken warm.
queue for Kim Soya Bean
The most disappointing lunch went to the Kim Lian Kee Hokkien Mee 金莲记福建面. We tried in the afternoon for lunch, and ordered the famed black hokkien mee and a ying yong 鸳鸯 (mix of fried beehoon and hor fun, cantonese style).
Kim Lian Kee Hokkien Mee 金莲记福建面 (Medium @RM23)
The hokkien mee looked decent but once you pick it up with a chopstick, one sort of knows that the noodle was not braised enough. The noodles were dry and not separated. Ingredients wise, there were pork slices, cabbage that tasted a tad raw, pig liver and lardo. The main chef was around but unfortunately, he did not fry our plate. It was done by his foreign talent assistant.
al-dente lukewarm noodles
The ying-yong was more well-fried and tasted as per expectation. The small squids were pretty unique.
ying yong 鸳鸯 (small @RM11)
Kim Lian Kee had two outlets within Petaling Street. One with the old sign-board next to the porridge shop, while another is larger with upstairs air-conditioned seating. We were at the older (original?) shop but seated opposite at the bank area. The hygiene at this area was dubious and used plates were left on the table or chairs by previous diners. The afternoon crew seemed lethargic and we saw a plate of side-dish that looked like fried spring roll, and they asked us if we ordered it. We said we didn't and the staff just left the dish on an empty table. What?
Left unsatisfied, we bought some snacks from Fung Wong Bakery. The piglet siew bao (猪子包) was nicely sweetish savoury. Best eaten when it is still warm from the oven. RM2.50 per piece. Goes well with a cup of hot unsweetened tea.
piglet siew bao (猪子包) @RM2.50
Other breakfast option in Petaling Stret, include the famed Hon Kee porridge 汉记靓粥 or Koon Kee wanton noodles. If you venture abit further, then one could enjoy the laksa and chee cheong fun.
Hon Kee Porridge is of Cantonese style and thus, the porridge was silky smooth. However, the porridge lacked 'depth' in its flavour and hence, add a bit of the soy sauce to 'lift' the taste. Lots of ingredients in the porridge and our favourite was the crispy fried intestines.
Hon Kee Porridge 汉记靓粥
crispy intestines and other porky parts
Interestingly, we found a Dong Teh Mun Market in Petaling Street. A distant cousin of Dongdaemun, South Korea?
Dongdaemun?
Stay tuned for Part 2, for better eats in Petaling Street.
Read more about previous experience at Petaling Street here.
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