Remember 126 @ Bukit Tinggi Bentong, Pahang

Those who have been reading my blogs regularly (lol! not that I'm that popular) would know that I travel between Pahang and KL regularly. Living in a rather small & quaint little town can be quite boring after a while so what can be better than driving to KL which is like only 2 hours from my hometown :) it used to be more than 3 hours in the past but the route from Bentong-Raub-Kuala Lipis had been straightened up so it was a JOY for me.

In the past, Jenn & I could afford to stop wherever and whenever we wanted. Now with 2 kids in tow, planning is essential and most of the time, we would end up in Bukit Tinggi area around lunch time. With a lot of restaurants mushrooming in this area, you would be spoilt with choices. However, only a few of them really stand out from the pack and Remember 126 is definitely one of them :) despite its rather funny name, the food is good and service is relatively fast. Jenn & I have become their regulars and they would greet us with huge smile on the face. They even know Jenn's parents who dine there too!

The restaurant is HUGE and airy, something that we absolutely love. This restaurant is one of the most popular (if not the most) restaurants here and the evidence is shown by the almost full house state despite weekdays.

At the time I wrote this post, I had gone there countless times hence the amount of food that I am going to post in this blog. All in one mah :P

What I love most about the food is that the consistent standard. One dish that stood the test of time is the stir fried baby water cress with chopped garlic. The green was just so fresh and they would use finely chopped garlic than crushed garlic cloves (I'm very particular on this), therefore the aroma of garlic was infused into the water cress evenly. There were times that I would order the second plate as I could not get enough of this.

Another must-order dish in Bukit Tinggi area is the deep fried pork belly with caramelised sauce. For some reason, I never grow bored of this dish. I simply love the fact that the pork belly is very crispy , so crispy until I forgot the fat layer which I avoided most of the times. The sweet gravy was a pefect companion to the rice and enhanced further by the chopped onion. One grouse though was that the amount of onion sometimes more than the meat.

Another porylicious dish that must not be missed is the claypot pork belly with salted fish. As sinful as it sounds, I could not resist the aroma of high-grade salted fish that was used to cook this dish. However, their version was quite oily so for those health-conscious people.. stay away from this OK?

A trip to Bukit Tinggi is not complete without the fish! Yes... FISH specifically river fish. Here are some of the versions that I'd tasted - starting with steamed bak sou gong (silver catfish) with shredded ginger and superior soy sauce. Cost only RM30/kg.. even though this fish is not caught in the wild, it's meat was sweet and flaky without the dreaded muddy taste normally associated with reared ones. The fish is reared in the river uphill with constant flow of clean water. You can opt for the wild ones which easily cost double the price but generally still cheaper compared to KL's standard.

Steamed "wan" fish with crushed ginger is another favourite of us. Heaps of famous Bentong ginger were used to provide extra pungent taste (in a good ginger way) to this fish. Just beware of the fine bones which are literally everywhere in its body!

Steamed asam tilapia - without the muddy taste normally associated with this fish, the sourish and slightly spicy asam gravy was a heaven for us. It never fails to persuade me for a second bowl of white rice everytime.

Claypot curry fish head - garoupa head was used to prepare this dish and even though the name was exciting, the curry somehow failed to make its mark! I had better version in KL and in my hometown.

However, the fish head was fresh and the meat was definitely succulent! Just look at it :)

Other dishes include this stir fried bittergourd with egg - simple yet satisfying dish that I could not get enough of. It was a little bitter but I love it.

Claypot taufu with assorted vegetables was passable but not memorable.

Leo's verdict - on average our lunch here (3 dishes) cost approx. RM50 with the fish! Can you get a better deal anywhere in KL? Parking is ample and given that this area is less than 30minute drive from KL, a weekend drive here is not really that far away right?? Given the fact that we are usually stuck in the traffic jam for more than 30 minutes...

Remember One Two Six Restaurant
PT3347, Kg Bukit Tinggi
28750 Bentong, Pahang
Handphone: 012-2251894

Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.

Journey to Ipoh Day 1 - Bagan Pasir, Teluk Intan & Kampar (Part 1)

The clock was ticking! Once the prince comes out, Jenn & I knew that we can't afford to travel like this anymore. We will be grounded at least for 6 months... yup! Having children is not easy and requires a lot of responsibilities (as parents), and let's not forget countless of sleepless nights. Throw in the stress when the baby gets sick and it completes (more or less) the nightmare of being someone else's dad or mom :P when Sher Ryn came into my world, she really tested my patience. I admit that being someone with short temper, I got upset whenever she behaved badly... but she also melted my heart when she smiled. Now I can't even imagine on how to take care of 2 little children!

One month or so before Keith came into our lives, both of us had the opportunity to travel to Ipoh - business purpose and to attend my friend's wedding. We took off from PJ after having light breakfast - we wanted to save space for the seafood feast later in Bagan Pasir. YES :) to the one that everyone has been raving about! Locating this place wasn't hard, as I had gone for rekki few months earlier while on my way up North (business trip).

To be honest, this place looked a bit rundown and the makeshift wooden public toilet was still there - you'd know where the residue would end up at... lol! You would also notice that they have renovated part of their restaurants into swiftlet's house.

It was rainy season during the time we went to Suang Le so there wasn't much live seafood to see... all the makeshift plastic tanks that you'd pass by on the way into the restaurant were mostly empty. I only saw some flower crabs and clams. To our worries, we asked the waitress if there was any other seafood available... and we sighed with relief when she said YES.

We chose to sit in the back part of the restaurant that overlooks the river and fishing boats. This part was definitely cooler and windier compared to the front part.

Purposely took this picture in Black & White to make it nostalgic (^_^) love this one!

Feel free to help yourself to get all the things that you need for lunch - spoon & fork, chopstick, glass, bowl, plate, etc...

After taking our orders, they brought in a basket of prawn crackers. I wonder if those were FOC :P feeling hungry, we grabbed a packet and I tore it open with my teeth. Very good tasting indeed!

The first dish - Steamed clams with ginger shreds, cili padi and fried onions - wow-ed us! The fresh and succulent clams were prepared in a simple way and the best part was that the stock (soup) at the bottom of the stainless steel plate was oh-so sweet & savoury!

Next was salt-baked prawns & mantis prawns. In fact, those were the very last remaining mantis prawns that they had, since supply had dwindled during the rainy season. Perfect choice I'd say. Not overly salty, the crunchy prawns were so delicious that I ended up devouring the shell too but since the shell of mantis prawn was harder, I didn't attempt to do so.

to our delight, both meats were fresh, juicy (moist) and sweet. A closer look at the peeled mantis prawn (Jenn was my hand model). A right choice to order the prawns prepared this way as I could taste the natural sweetness of the flesh. If they have any more of those mantis prawn in stock, we would have ordered the second plate.

Instead of the usual white rice, we opted for seafood fried rice that was full of wok hei & non-oily. Throw in egg and prawn bits and it was good enough.

Their Kung Pao baby squid deserved a special mention. This was one of the best Kung Pao sauce that I've ever tasted in my life! The sticky, sweet and not overly spicy sauce enveloped each and every baby squids in the plate. At the end of the meal, I was still turning the curry leaves and onions away in the hope of finding the very last piece of the squids.

Take a closer look at me! You want to taste me.. don't ya? I'm very crunchy you know? :P

The Kam Heong crab came highly recommended by the waitress and it didn't disappoint at all. Lucky for us, the shell was crushed as they didn't provide any utensil to pry open the thick and hard shell at all. Its flesh was good and sweet too!

Our steamed red snapper with soybean paste sauce was the only thing that we did not like. Even though the fish meat was fresh and flaky, the sauce was disappointingly bland and very starchy.

In the end, we finished almost everything except for the fish and some fried rice. The waitress who took our orders earlier was actually surprised as she said that the portion that Jenn & I had could easily serve at least 4-5 people. We were feeling greedy obviously :P

Leo's verdict - we definitely had ordered too much food than we could handle. In the end, the bill came at slightly less than RM100 which we considered dirt cheap.. judging at the amount of seafood that we ordered. even though the river was not exactly clean and you could literally see a lot of garbage/waste washed up the river bank, the great food makes up to the flaws. It was rather windy that day so both of us could dine while the cool breeze swept through our faces. I could not ask for a more better companion when it was Jenn who enjoyed the seafood feast with me.

Directions to Suang Le River Restaurant @ Bagan Pasir (from Kuala Selangor towards Sekinchan/Sabak Bernam) : After passing by Kuala Selangor town, drive for a good 15 minutes or so. Take note of a signboard to Kg. Bagan Pasir on the left side of the road. Turn left at a rather sharp curve to some residential area. Go straight until you reach a junction at the end, and keep to your left. You’ll see a row of houses built on stilts on your right, with reasonable amount of trash washed up on the grounds. After a while, you’ll see Suang Le River’s signboard on the right (taken from J2kfm's blog... thanks bro!)

Other posts on suang Le River Seafood Restaurant:
Precious Pea
Masak-Masak
J2kfm Motormouth from Ipoh

Suang Le River Restaurant & Karaoke
Bagan Pasir, 45500
Tanjong Karang, Selangor, Malaysia
Tel No : +6019-690 6788 or +6019-233 5296

Opens for lunch and dinner.

Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.

East Coast Trip Part 1 - Kuantan @ Alor Akar Seafood

Jenn and I had gone for a short vacation to the East Coast recently. The reason behind the trip was that she would not be able to travel once she gives birth to our second child in late Dec 10 or early Jan 10. And she wanted to bring Sher Ryn to the beaches rather than showing her pictures of beaches in the children books that we bought for her... you know? Experience the real thing :) she is definitely easier to take care of compared to when she was smaller. Her dad and mom tagged along during this 4D3N trip. It has been more than 10++ years that both of them have not gone to Kuantan. So Jenn & I planned everything for them - all they have to do was to pack their bags.

By the time we exited Gambang toll on our first day, it was already late in the afternoon and therefore we called it a day. We headed for dinner at Restoran Alor Akar Seafood which is located near my house in Air Putih area. My previous blog on this place can be found here. As usual, this place was hot & stuffy even though we got a table which was directly below a fan. Words of advice - wear light and choose a table next to the alley or facing the road. One of the famous restaurants in Kuantan, make sure that you come early during weekends or pre-book a table.

Now.. this is something to cool down the body from the heat :P

The green was the first dish to arrive - feeling hungry, we almost finished the whole plate before the rice was served!

Next was one of their signature dishes - Ginkgo Pork Knuckle (half portion). The presence of ginkgo made this sinful dish looked healthy!! Marinated with soy sauce before it was deep fried (this explained the dark-ish skin) & later braised with mushroom, ginkgo, fu chuk (beancurd skin) and their own sauce... this dish was truly exceptional! Fork tender & juicy meat with melt-in-the-mouth texture.

Steamed bak sou gong (catfish) - a different twist by using chicken stock & ginger to steam this fish instead of normal soy sauce. Topped with coriander, the fresh and succulent catfish won Jenn's parents over.

Oyster omelette - forget this! It tasted like normal fried egg without many oysters inside.

Salted egg crab - This dish was done so good that all of us licked the salted egg (infused with curry leaves) off the shell before devouring the crab meat. However, the shell was crushed too much to the extent that the tiny bits of shell was not visible to the naked eyes. I accidentally bit on one pieces too :( having said that, this is a dish to be enjoyed!


Leo's verdict - Total bill came at less than RM100! I realised that my parents ordered same dishes everytime we came here for dinner. There are still a lot of dishes that I have yet to try. Given the fact that they have been in the business even when my parents were still young, this restaurant stood against the test of time and still going strong! I just hope that they will solve the hot and stuffy condition of the place. Below is their contact details:

Alor Akar Seafood Restaurant
Lot 7695 & 7696,
Jln Kubang Buaya Off Jalan Beserah,
25300 Kuantan,
Pahang
Tel: 09-568 0720/016-952 7811

Open from 5pm-12 midnight (Mon-Sun)

Non-halal!

Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.

The most memorable meal in Krabi

What??? How can I put an ending to my Krabi trip without posts on food??? I don't come here just for the view! As soon as I made booking through goholiday.com 2 months before my departure, both of us agreed on not to eat any Thai food until then. And even though Ao Nang is nothing short of international food such as Italian, French, Irish, Swedish, Indian... we saved our stomach for one and only one food... THAI!!! I'm so determined to find good Thai food in Krabi to the extent that I googled the internet to look for recommendations from fellow travellers.

After Chinese, I think that my next favourite is Thai :) and I don't mind having Thai food everyday but the same cannot be said for Japanese, Korean, Italian, French, German, etc. I also love eating spicy stuff which means that a trip to Thailand is definitely not complete without their signature tomyam or anything spicy. I have learned a few Thai words recently and one word is "ped" or spicy. There is not one meal in Krabi without tom yam, and everytime I order this dish, I'd say "ped ped" and the waiter/waitress would just smile at me and nodded his/her head. Never mind that my stomach can't stand the spicy-ness, as everytime I had something spicy... I would have a case of stomachache. My motto when come to eating... EAT FIRST, THINK LATER!!! No wonder my waist is getting bigger and bigger as time goes by :P

Lae Lay Grill Spices Seafood

This is the first place that we went to as we arrived in Krabi. Frankly, this place is not in my list of place to try but it came highly recommended by the staff in the hotel. We were also told that the restaurant provided transport to pick us up from the hotel. Feeling lazy to be adventurous on our first day, we decided to settle for the restaurant. It turned out to a wise decision. Nestled on a hill overlooking Ao Nang area (Noppharat Thara Bay to be exact), the view was nice from up there.

The restaurant had just opened for business and we were their first customer of the day! Everything in the menu seemed enticing as out stomachs were literally growling (We only had breakfast but not lunch). So after placing our orders, I took some time to take pictures around. They adopted an open kitchen concept with tanks of live seafood placed nearby. Feel free to pick your very own seafood if you have a deep pocket and they will be more than happy to grill or do whatever you want with your selections - be it lobster, mantis prawns or even crabs.


If you come here during sunset, you can choose to sit at the wooden tables and chairs next to the panaromic terrace where you can enjoy the view of Noppharat Thara Bay.

How could we come to Thailand without having their fresh coconut??? My choice of pure blended coconut drink was equally refreshing :)

Initially we were given their bird eye chilly sauce for dipping (3rd from the front)... however we wanted more. So we asked, and being served with (from the front) tom yam sauce, tamarind sauce and spicy seafood sauce. All sauces were very good but the highlight was the tomyam sauce so don't forget to order it should you have the opportunity to visit this restaurant.

Tom yam goong @ 250 baht was served first and it immediately opened up our appetites. Perhaps the best tom yam that we had here during our 5D4N stay in Krabi.

Crispy soft shell crab with chilly & salt @ 250 baht - not oily and the chilly & salt alone went well with the rice

Roasted duck in red curry sauce @ 180 baht - there was occasion that the curry duck that we had in Ao Nang (not here) was tough and hard to chew but Lae Lay had nailed it right. The duck meat was very tender and the curry was done perfectly.

Steamed seabass with chilly & lime @ 400 baht - our favourites for the evening. I wonder how they actually de-boned the fish. Plenty of crushed garlic, lime and bird eye chilly were laid on top of the fish before it was steamed. We didn't even spare its head :)

Steamed tiger prawns in soya & garlic sauce @ 420 baht - Another winner for us. Fresh medium sized prawns steamed perfectly with sweet soya sauce. The meat was succulent and bouncy with each and every bite.

Fried rice with salted fish @ 180 baht - decent dish.

Pineapple fried rice with curry powder & crab meat @ 220 baht - look at the amount of crab meat on top of the rice. I like the fact that they gave cashew nut too (sucker for this stuff)
Their famous Thai fragrant rice also doesn't come cheap, costing 20 baht per bowl

Leo's verdict - Price is slightly on the high side but it's worth the money paid, given the beautiful scenery and delicious food. Do bear in mind that 10% service charge and 7% VAT is applicable while dining here. We paid 2700++ baht for all of the above. Bear in mind that some other places in Ao Nang do not charge those tax. It's best to come when the sun is about to set. Otherwise, the sun will shine directly at where you dine and it can get pretty hot too. This is what you get when you dine here.

Our very first sunset in Ao Nang
Address: 89 Moo 3, Ao Nang
Website: http://www.laelaygrill.com