Melaka: Bunga Raya Pork Porridge @ Plaza Mahkota

Located at one of the alleys at Plaza Mahkota, and quite near to the hotel when I was in Melaka recently. Lunched there and to pass time while waiting for check-in time.

inside of the shop

Order and pay at the counter, then sit down and wait for food and drink to be served.

lone newspaper clipping

To tell the truth, the shop does have a dated feel to it. Apparently, it's now run by the 4th generation, so ordered pork porridge to try. The lady at the counter asked if I'd eat internal organs and I said yes, so they did a mixed parts pork porridge.

pork porridge (small)

small intestine, minced pork balls, sliced lean pork and liver

On first sip of the porridge, it tasted predominantly of soya sauce. It lacked flavour. The liver and lean meat were very overcooked. Fortunately, the small intestine was soft and tender. And the best tasting ingredient, was the minced meat balls. It has bits of salted vege (was it chye poh?) in it. Kind of something that ah ma (grandma) would make at home. Retro.

Somehow, this bowl of light tasting porridge kind of grew on me as I was eating it. Perhaps, it evoked a sense of nostalgia.

sour plum

The sour plum drink tasted like sour plum, but the sour plum didn't look like the kind of sour plum that I know.

sour plum

This meal costs RM5.50 in total.

Chye Seng Huat Hardware @ Tyrwhitt Road

Finally visited this place. It sure was busy! The entrance had a partially opened steel door, so we slipped past it and into the alfresco area of the shop. Was surprised to see that much of unused space in the compound. Order and pay inside the shop. NETs and cash only.

view of the entrance from our seats

Had latte and a piece of tea cake to go with it.

latte

pistachio tea cake

Liked the coffee. Smooth and not too acidic. The tea cake ($3 per piece) was dense, and sweeter than expected.

there's something on my saucer

satisfied with this cuppa

It rained while we were seated outside, and our table being right at the edge of the awning wasn't spared from the rain. Even so, customers can still be seen coming in at a steady pace, no matter rain or shine.

Sarang - Modern Korean Dining @ Orchard Central (Part II)

Located at Level 7 of Orchard Central. Second visit and this time round for dinner. Chose indoor seats and thankfully, the music wasn't that loud. At one glance, its patrons were made up of mainly young adults. We were the oldies there.

drinks menu

indoor seats

For drinks, we tried the Makgeolli Mojito, Makgeolli Orange and Maesil Cha (plum tea). The makgeolli drinks were $10++ each, while maesil cha was $4++. The makgeolli drinks were very very mild. One would be inclined to think these were mocktails instead of it being a cocktail!

Makgeolli Mojito

Makgeolli Orange

Its food menu had undergone some changes. For example, chicken bong bong and ginseng porridge are no longer available. Anyway, we ordered the Sarang Japchae (@$9.80++), Modeum Pajeon (pancake with seafood and bacon @ $13.80++), Dak Gangjeong (tangy fried chicken @$12.80++) and a Kimchi Jjim (braised kimchi and pork @$15.80++). And two bowls of rice to share amongst the three of us.

This place doesn't serve complimentary banchans. Nope. But if you order a bowl of rice (@$1.80++), then that does come with three types of banchan (two types of kimchi and one peanuts). Unfortunately, this was the first time that I didn't like any of the banchans. There was one hard and crunchy strips that tasted like chye poh, the cabbage kimchi was nicely soft but it was shredded and overly salty. The peanuts were the crunchy type.

chye poh radish? No idea, but it was hard and crunchy

kimchi and peanuts (crunchy)

Sarang Japchae

The Japchae was very tasty and oily but nevertheless, we slurped it all.

yums chewy strands

Kimchi Jjim, or kimchi boiled marinated pork belly in sauce. There was only little bit of sauce but enough to slather some over the rice. Nice.

Kimchi Jjim

layered with shredded eggs, tofu, pork and kimchi

braised pork belly on rice

tap water

Watch out for the super salty kimchi at the bottom of the bowl. The meat wasn't cooked till tender soft. In fact, it was rather chewy.

Supreme pancake or modeum pajeon, was served in an elongated plate. The seafood ingredients seemed to be just squid. Liked the vege in the pancake!

Modeum Pajeon (Supreme Pancake)

closer view

The Dak Gangjeong was five pieces of deep fried drumlets in tangy sauce. Crunchy batter and well-seasoned.

Dak Gangjeong

Service was friendly and the meal costs about $32 per pax.

Harry's @ Rail Mall, Bukit Timah

Was there on a weekday night. Outdoor seats were pretty limited and close proximity between tables.

Ordered a pint of Erdinger and some bar snacks; mini fish & chips and prawn wantons.

Erdinger draught @$16++ per pint

food's arriving

mini fish & chips @$13++

There were two fish & chips listed. One in the regular menu while the other from the bar snacks menu. Price difference of $3, so asked the waitress what's the difference between the two. The regular menu Fish & Chips would be two larger pieces of fish while the mini version would have smaller chunks of about four to five pieces. I remembered that I had half portion of the regular fish and chips at Harry's @ Boat Quay and remembered liking it. Not sure why but the ones here at Harry's Rail Mall were much greasier.

prawn wantons @ $12++

small prawn

There's a 15% discount if paying via StanChart credit card.

Bornga 본가/本家 @ Star Vista, Buona Vista

Located at Level 2 of Star Vista, Bornga was one of the few restaurants that piqued my interest, especially if its "WooSamGyup" 우삼겹 (new style Korean beef BBQ) recipe by Chef Paik Jong Won, is a patented one.

Was there around 7pm on a weekend and the waiting time was about 20-30 minutes.

BBQ meat prices ranges from $18++ till $45++. The intention was to try their trademarked dish "WooSamGyup" ($22++), but the minimum order is 2 portions so we ordered the Samgyupsal 삼겹살 ($18++) as well.

table setting

Complimentary drinks came in the form of a plastic jug of tea (room temperature), which is left on the table for the diners to help themselves with.

complimentary tea

help yourself

For those having BBQ, there would be a flurry of activities as the service staff will bring sauces, vegetables platter and side dishes to your table.

special sauce for the WooSamGyup

tasted like sesame oil

garlic slices

The special sauce tasted salty, tangy and sweet. The assorted vegetable was kind of impressive due to its length. Covered the entire width of the table. WOoo!

Ssamcheban (assorted vegetables platter)

The Ssamcheban has lettuces, cabbages (boiled), spinach (raw), carrot sticks and large green chilies and some unknown vege.

There were four types of side dishes; lettuce salad, shredded spring onion kimchi/salad, kimchi (non-spicy) and radish kimchi served in medium bowls.

lettuce salad

shredded spring onions

radish kimchi

watery kimchi (didn't fancy this)

The radish kimchi was the nicest of all side dishes. Juicy and tangy! The shredded onions was nice too, if you like onions but I choked on it the first time because of its 'spiciness' (similar to wasabi but not as powerful).

Samgyupsal (pork belly, lightly seasoned with pepper)

WooSamGyup (marinated thinly sliced beef brisket)

Once the meat arrived, and the grill has heated up, it was time for BBQ!

slow and easy

looking good

Grilling the meats were easy-peasy. The thinly sliced beef sizzled right away, and it'll taste good no matter how you cooked it (unless it's burnt to a crisp..)

beautiful looking ready-to-eat WooSamGyup

Then, enjoy the meat by wrapping it in wonderfully fresh lettuce.

lettuce wrapped WooSamGyup

For pork belly, the grilling time was definitely much longer and it always made the grilling plate dirty pretty fast. Service staff who happened to walk by would then offer to change the grilling plate to a clean one.

grilled pork belly

almost finishing the bean paste sauce

Chomped down lettuces upon lettuces and pretty soon, the platter looked like this:

where has all the greens gone to?

Ate the green chili and found that, actually there wasn't any heat in it at all. Just seeds. Lots of seeds.

hot stuffs

All the side dishes are refillable, but the two of us barely managed to finish them. But we did request for one more small plate of lettuce. If you're really not into grilling, then perhaps can ask for assistance as I saw the floor manager (presumably) going round and helping diners with the meat grilling. But he didn't help us. But that's because I think we were grilling too slowly (like two to four few pieces at any time) to require any assistance!

At the end of the meal, the staff will serve diners with a complimentary drink: omija (오미자). Also known as 五味茶 or five flavour tea. Its berry is called the five flavour berry. According to wikipedia, this berry has medicinal values but should not be used by pregnant women.

omija drink

Omija was served in a small bowl, with crushed ice. Tasted salty, sweet and tangy (sour). Didn't taste any bitter nor spicy taste though. If you like sour plum drink, then you'll probably like this drink too. 

orangey coloured

Service staff were friendly, and they were pretty alert on dirty grill plates. After the BBQ meal, we smelled like BBQ ourselves.

This meal costs $49.45 for two pax and it fed us well.