Ginza Cafe @ Pavillion

Tokyo street has finally opened on 29th July! We were so looking forward to Santouka Ramen, which is my absolute favourite ramen in Singapore. But since they don't serve the full menu yet (especially no pork cheek) i dont see the point of writing about it just yet. P/S i didnt think it was as nice as the ones in SG!

What i want to share today however, is GINZA CAFE. A JV Project that involves Asian Reknown F&B group named En Group (whom focuses on japanese cuisine with establishment all over the asean countries, and with strong presence especially in Hong Kong). This time, they are trying something different, GINZA cafe focuses predominantly on bakeries yummies, which i would love to try some day. But what i really want to talk about today is their COFFEE. Brewed fresh from Lavazza coffee beans, this is some serious good coffee, and im loving it. But what really caught our attention was this! THE COFFEE ART

Hello Kitty Cappucino!!!

We girls were so amazed on the sheer detailed that the barista manage to potrait

Got so excited we started being a bit playful

Thank you Raymond (owner +director of en group) for being so accomodating! Apparently his barrista was hailed from JAPAN, a very cute japanese at that.. hahaha. whats better to have a cutie making you cute coffee right?

So apparently Raymond says his barrista can make any cartoon character we want, so we tested him out with this....

DONALD DUCK!!!

HK famous piggie- MAK DAO...

hahaha think he has some difficulty with this because we requested for HOT chocolate, which is probably harder to work on. 

Aside from being good to look at, i'm glad to say that this coffee would be loved by those passionate about coffee

P/S, those coffee art is not guaranteed, and should not be expected on normal coffee orders, but no harm requesting!! :)

GINZA CAFE

Level 6, Tokyo Street

Pavillion

Tel: 03-21480369

ms. jazz ultimate melaka guide- Part 2

Refer to our Melaka Food Guide (Part 1) here.


Previously for part 1, we've covered quite a surprising number of eateries for a weekend trip including:
~ Hing Loong Taiwanese Noodles (Beef Noodles)
~ Seafood @ Portugese Settlement
~ Jonker 88
~ High Tea @ Majestic Hotel

~ Pak Putra for the tandoori chicken

~ Orang Belanda Cafe

~ Donald & Lily
~ Nadeje Pattisserie


This trip round, it was a shorter trip of barely one day, but i'm quite satisfied with what we've had, and there were repeats for those i love from my previous trip. P/S, if you realise, a lot of these places are more localised and differs from your usual tourist congested places. I've got some good guidance from someone who claimed herself to be local after being there for seemingly few months. =)


What We Ate...


TA CHI NYONYA HOUSE
No. 1, Jalan Tun Sri Lanang,
Melaka
Tel: +06 2813777
Opening hours: Mon- Sun 9.30am-10.30pmhttp://www.tachihouse.com/
 With its forte being nyonya baba cuisine, you can assure to find the usual nyonya delicacies here from chicken pongteh, rendang, house special seafood- such as the nyonya assam pedas fish, to veges like pucuk paku sambal belacan. This is more of a localised area, hence you don't see many people around with cameras. True to its traditions, Ta chi nyonya delicacies is slightly spicier compare to other nyonya restaurant we've visited. Fear not, you are welcome to drone your burned tongue in a good selection of coffee, which turns out pretty decent too! At least malaccans seems to be able to get their coffee right.

Clean and simple settings allows you to enjoy your meal comfortably

Their bestseller- Nyonya Lemak Laksa (RM8.90)

Sambal Petai Squid- RM12.90

Lemak Pineapple Prawn RM12.90 came with measly 5 pieces of prawns

Durian Cendol RM4.80- Decent. Will be better if the durian ice cream is creamier.

Freezer rose marie mocha RM9.90

Overall Rating: 6.5/10

Revisit? Maybe

KLEBANG COCONUT SHAKE
Roadside stall beside Caltex (along jalan klebang besar)
GPS coordinates: N2 12.920 E102 12.365
Opening hours: Sunday-Thurs: 12.30pm- 6.30pm, on Fridays and because TGIF (thank god its friday), they work shorter hours, 2pm- 6.30pm


I remembered asking a colleague of mine who frequent Melaka for food what would be his ultimum recommendation, he waste no time on hesitation and firmly said "Klebang coconut shake", and i was forewarn on the possible queue for it was so famous that people flocks there to buy drinks in bulks.
This was in my itenary for my previous trip unfortunately my princess here refuse to lined up under the scorching sun, so this time round, after my whining, and my promise that i would line up to tapao and she can sit and wait inside her air-conditioned car, she reluctantly agreed.


The coconut shake basically consist of ingredients such as coconut flesh, coconut juice, ice, and scoops of walts' vanilla ice cream, blended together. . It's that simple and hardly rocket science but the crowd was just ridiculous. Lucky for us, the service was very efficient and fast, they produce the shakes in bulks hence although the line was long, we've gotten our drinks within 25 minutes.

Evil strategy at that, letting us queue and physically heated for a good 20 mins or so, hence the coconut shake taste much better! =D j/k

RM1.80 for normal, and RM2.30 for special (which gives you an additional scoop of ice cream)

Little unrelenting rich and slightly too sweet for me on the specials, but good enough to quench my thirst

I like how there is still bits and pieces of flesh to bite with, rather than a thorough blended coconut shake,

bite me if im wrong, but apart from the whole refreshing-thirst quenching effect, this- to me is just one of those shake easily imitated at home.

I'll try making some and shall name it JESSICA coconut shake, and u come try, sounds good? haha =P

Poor me, left alone to brace the scorching sun!

Overall rating: 7/10

Revisit? Maybe

OLE SAYANG

198-199, Taman Melaka Raya

75000 Melaka

Tel: 06-2831966

Opening hours: 11.30am-2.30pm, 6.00pm-9.30pm (closed on Wed)

Ole sayang really should deserve more recognition on their simple home-cooked style nyonya cuisines, and most importantly- they have the BEST cendol i've had in Melaka so far. There i said it.

Forget the Big Clock Tower Cendol, or even JONKER 88 (which their cendol does not catch my fancy), the ones served in OLE Sayang came in a small portion due to intention of being just an after meal dessert. But the combination was precise and their gula melaka seemed to add an extra oomph to a simple shaved ice dessert. What was also note-worthy was their cendol- plump and short with a nice bite to it. Speaking of which, i'm already craving for it again. *slurps*

Overall rating: 7/10

Cendol rating: 8.5/10

Revisit? Yes.

KINGTU SATAY CELUP
9, Jalan CU, Jalan Cheng
Melaka
Tel: 012-6068805
GPS: N"2 15.674 E102" 13" 428'
Opening hours: 7pm- 12am closed on Monday and Tuesday


Now Now, if you can just forget about CAPITOL satay celup for one moment and divert your attention to Kingtu @ Jalan Cheng, you will find yourself in luck, because this my dear friends, this is one satay celup that is BETTER than Capitol or even Ban Lee Xiang (according to my source which i'll have to trust since i havent tried BLX). I reckon those two just has better marketing (i.e. food bloggers) but this particular restaurant is still relatively unknown to the non-locals, and here i am, sharing it with you :) Their underlying secret is definitely their hot piping oh so delicious spicy peanut sauce, it's so addictive and we can't stop eating sticks after sticks without feeling too overwhelmed by the thicken sauce which the owner thoughtfully came to stir for us from time to time.
It was definitely a thumbs up place for us, and the best thing is? you don't need to line up in those ridiculous queue.


P/S: it is located in some pretty hidden housing area, it was some drive away from the town (towards jalan cheng), so it’s best to flip out your GPS and put it to good use.

The only shop that operates in that area within the whole stretch, it's actually quite dodgy

Kingtu charges RM0.60 per stick, not as much varieties as the famous ones, but good enough to satisfy the cravings. Look at those gorgeous satay sauce. In a typical lok lok style, just dip those sticks in and as soon as it's boiling, it's ready to indulge!

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Revisit: YES

LAO QIAN ICE CAFE on JONKER ST
33, Lorong hang lebat,
Tel: 06- 2828381
GPS coordinates: N2 11.705 E102 14.902
Opening hours: 10am to 10pm daily


This is what i would call another "TOURIST TRAP". Despite reading so much about their Ice White Coffee, it was much to our dissapointment, too tooo too tooooo sweet. Given credit on the strong aroma of coffee but overall, it was nothing to shout about. Their durian cendol was a joke too.

Icy white coffee

packed with tourist

Overall rating: 4/10

Revisit: No

FAMOSA CHICKEN RICE BALL (GU CHENG)
No. 28-30, Jalan Hang Kasturi,

Off Jonker Street,
75200 Melaka
Tel: 06-286 0120
GPS coordinates: N02 11.815, E102 14.921

Opening hours: 9.30am- 9.30pm


Not in my itenary- with good reason (i was aiming for Chung Wah) but unfortunately, the queue was at its usual length, and we had no intention to stand under the sun for it, we opted for gu cheng down the road which seemed to have available tables. So it was my first time experiencing chicken rice balls, having piping curiosity on what's all these hoo-hah's all about. So we ordered 6 chicken rice balls to share along with 1/4 of roasted chicken and 1/4 of roasted duck. I personally did not find those chicken rice balls amusing, and it certainly did not taste good- AT ALL. The rice was dense, and the texture was sticky and grainy. We ate half a ball each and left it aside. The chicken was also unfortunately a letdown. Dare i say, stick to the original chicken rice, will you?

Overall rating: 4/10
Revisit? NO

NADEJE MILLECREPE
Details refer to my melaka guide-part 1


I've been getting my regular supply of NADEJE lately directly from Melaka as my sister tend to travel back to and forth to KL almost every week, and i'll just order it off her. (refer to my previous post, NADEJE is famous for their mille crepe). So far, i'm still not getting sick of it, so i dragged my eating partners again to this ever-congested place. Minus the crowd, the dine-in area is actually pretty relaxing and if time is not your concern, a suggestion to indulge your mille crepe in the shop itself as it serve pretty good illy coffee that goes REALLY well with the dessert.
On a side note, you see that boutique shop that occupied 2 shop lots opposite Nadeje? Go check it out as sometimes they have pretty decent clothes with reasonable price! Madamoseille it’s called.

litche iced tea

Original millecrepe & Yuzu ice soda

The drinks which are quite sweet doesnt go well with the cake, so i opted for an illy cappucinno which was PERFECT compliment to the creamy lusciousness cake. The coffee foaming and temperature was done just right, no complains there.

Revisit? Yes

BUNGA RAYA POPIAH
on jalan bunga raya
GPS coordinates: N2°11.975 E102°15.084
Opening hours: 1.30pm- 5.30pm

Operate near the Madam King Emporium Mall, this small stall popiah was named by some as the best popiah in town. Now that's a big claim which i will neither defend nor offend, as i wasn't given much to compare. But what really motivates me to try it out was when the word "pork lard" was came into the conversation. Now everyone knows how loyal i am to my pork lards. =) With combinations of eggs, bean sprouts, jicama, and PORK LARD, rolled in a thin layer of popiah skin, the smell of pork lard was intoxicating, it was too bad there was a sitting area to indulge this hence we brought it home. If i had to complain, i'd say there wasnt enough of those sinful lards, taste wise- pretty decent but perhaps a little dry.

Overall Ratings: 6/10

Revisit: Maybe

DONALD & LILY
Refer to my melaka guide-part 1


DONALD & LILY




It’s back on my list! Because I simply could not get enough of their nyonya laksa! So, not too bad considering the limited time, to summarize, these are our visited areas for this trip

Revisit? Yes

That is all for now, hope you enjoy this simple guide!

Augustdiners Cooks (NOT!): Gourmet Dinner @ Home

We're grateful knowing that you are still keeping it up with us and our post, here's another one to share with you, i mean two post within a week could be our new record, that's super frequent for Augustdiners style whom seem not be able to cope with one entry per month.


We’ve recently got our hands on some gourmet ingredients- the larger than palm sized foie gras, few kilos of Spanish ribs, and the o-so-tempting pork loin. We’ve also given some really good imported Spanish pork belly which I’m probably going to make char siew later (any good recipes to share?)
So Crazieapple was heading the kitchen that night because she’s still living the life of a jobless bummer. Whilst I came whizzing in after work to assist her with the dirty work, i.e. cutting and shredding vegetables =P

1/Crazieapple preparing to baked her ribs

2/ Foie gras- yums!

3/ *loves*

4/ Pork loin in the making

5/ Almost there

6/ I claimed the biggest piece!

We started our family off with some dips and crackers- 4 types including smoked salmon, caviar, tzatziki, and cream & chives. The dip goes really well with Tucker’s natural crackers, you’ve got to try it! It’s so addictive.

Our menu of the night was pan-seared foie gras with caramelized apple, which had a wonderful combination of flavours. It was an easy done dish, and with Crazieapple doing re-runs on how to properly dissect the foie gras on youtube more than 10 times, it’s safe to say she’s a pro in the area already.

Then there was the Jack Daniel’s spare ribs, which we ran into minor hiccups, but in the end it just turns out so beautifully that I was eating while licking my fingers at the same time. Mr. KFC would approve because it’s so finger lickin’ good. *laughs*


Then the pork loin was expertly wrapped with bacon and stuffing, the presentation was enticing as the bacon was baked to a sexy brown tan, the downside however was that the pork loin was slightly over-cooked for my liking. I enjoyed mine with some slight pinkness to the flesh. But again, she’s hit jackpot with the flavours

Some Roasted Veges on the side: butternut squash, capsicums, and tomatoes.

Also on the side is the rosemary flavored mashed potatoes.

For dessert. =)

Check out the mess we made =)

P/S Just a little excitement to share. Whilst we were pan-searing our foie gras outdoors with the portable gas stove (2 of them), the gas leaked and our whole pan caught major fire, whereby we were all rushing to find water or ways to diffuse the fire (only to find it inflamed bigger), in the end, we manage to kill the flame by throwing two big bucket of water from the swimming pool. But, what is really noteworthy is how all of us re-acted to the situation.


~The ever so smart Chyn puts her hand into the fire to attempt to turn off the gas


~ PK was nowhere in sight….


~ Mom, being the one who always know what to do, ran all the way to the sink area (which is super far away) to get a bucket


~SY gave dad half a glass of water from our dining table as if she thinks that the mere glass of water can save the situation


~ Lil Twin sisters screams “mommy… mommy….!”


And what was Augustdiners reaction?


Ms. Jazz: “It’s GONNA EXPLODE, GET AWAY FROM THAT PLACE”*whilst hiding in the dining room as far away from the fire as possible”- Damn Dramatic OK…hehe


Crazieapple, on the other hand was the classic one…..




“SAVE THE FOOD, SAVE THE FOOD!!” she screams- whilst flapping her hands up and down.


Lucky for us, dad manage to push most of the food away from harm before the mom’s buckets of chlorine filled water came splashing down. But unfortunately, 5 pieces of foie gras had died in vain.


So all excitement aside, the dinner was thoroughly enjoyable. If I knew Crazieapple can deliver a meal so well, I would be willing for myself to sit back with my knife whilst she graces the wok for our next cooking project.