The Vegas of China, Macau

Macau, known as the The Vegas of China. It's gambling revenue has made Macau the top casino market surpassing Vegas. I've been there about four (4) times now as my family loves going there. It might be hard to believe but we are not there for the casino. Instead, we are usually there for shopping and food which is kind of weird. Every time I am there, there would definitely be a new hotel which I have not visit and always new hotels being built.

I thought I should document down what I have visited so far in the my four (4) visits. The most popular sightseeing location in Macau is none but the Senado Square. Its also where the popular St Paul Ruin is located. 

Senado Square

Also, known as Senate Square, it is an UNESCO Historic Centre of Macau World Heritage Site. The square consist of a few other historical building such as the St Dominic Church and a Cathedral. It is also a shopping area which has clothing boutique such as Wanko, Bossini and also sourvenir shops. 

This is the least crowded it can get if you go there in the early noon. It always pack with tourist. Been there three times and not once I can get a clear shot. 

Close up shot. As close and clear it can get...

Taken about four (4) years back, damnn.. I was young back then

Senado Square Decoration during Christmas. Depending on the festival at that point in time, the square will be decorated based on it.

St Dominic Church

Post Office around the Square

Apart from Senado Square, another place to visit is the Fisherman's Wharf which I have not gotten to visit yet despite the multiple visits. The historic building gives you the feeling of being in Rome, Italy based on the photos that I've seen so far. Probably make it there on my next visits. 

My visits there were always around the hotels. Visiting each of the new hotels build on the reclaimed land or across the bridge for the old hotels. When in Thailand, you do island hopping. When in Macau, you do hotel hopping. So here's the list of hotel that I've been to this time round. 

Sheraton, Sands Cotai Central

My stay was in Sheraton this time round. I like how my parents are not so adventurous in travelling and sightseeing but they do try all the different hotels in Macau. Every time a new hotel is built, they would try it. Compare to the other hotels around the area, this hotel decorations is more of a jungle themed in the mall, with a lot of palm oil trees around. 

Walkway to where you either go big or go home $$. Had a round trip around the casino, and damnnn.. its packed and crowded.

Wynn Palace
This is one of the latest hotel built in Cotai area and one of my parents favourite. This hotel is only 10 minutes away from the airport and its beautiful. The deco there gives you a real royal palace feel and I love how the entrance to it is a complimentary cable car ride to give you a feel of the hotel before entering. Each hotel has its own unique shows and rides that you can go on. If you are staying in the hotel, most of it, you usually get complimentary tickets to the shows and rides.

There are three side to the hotel as you can see in the first photo of the overview of the hotel. Every side has a short show or decoration that is really pretty. The shows is repetitive every 15 minutes. This time round they have the toy popping out of the jukebox. During Easter, there was the easter egg mini show. I really like the theme of this hotel and most importantly is that this hotel is less crowded compare to the others, 

These will the decoration around the palace on the three different side this time round. Each area has a different deco as well and I love the ceiling on this hotel. Its simple but beautiful. The hotel walkway itself feels majestic and of course the stores here are all the luxurious brand which you can do window shopping but not buy it. Apparently, its more expensive here in Macau as these are bought by those people who win in the casino so their willingless to spend is much higher,

The temptation of the pastry shop was strong. We decide to get a bit of coffee and pastry to eat before heading for a buffet feast back in the hotel. The pastry were good especially the strawberry tart that we had. It was indeed a Sweets Shop, pure dessert shop with cotton candies, macaroons, cakes, croissant, bread and tarts.

Small piece of goodness. My favourite was the tart. The pastry was super crispy which is something that most tart do not have. 

The most interesting shop in the hotel to me was the Starbucks, so atas man. Starbuck has its own branding and you can usually can tell that its a Starbucks but not this one. It was right beside this Sweets shop and I was just shock when I found out it was starbucks if not for the logo. 

Right right? Does it even look like Starbuck if it wasn't for the logo. I wouldn't. I think Wynn Palace in Cotai is my new favourite go-to hotel, not for shopping but to walk around. It was not as crowded as other hotels such as Galaxy, City of Dreams or Venetian.

The Parisian
This is also one of the new hotel that was opened last year. Name after Paris, there was indeed a replicated Eiffel Tower right in front of the hotel. The tower light up at night and it's actually really pretty so being me, I had to go there at night to get a photo and then got another one in the afternoon. I did not walk out in the afternoon as it was scorching hot.

This was one of the nicest photo I got to take but the bus had to pass at that very moment. I am not the photogenic kind of person and maybe 1 out of 10 of my photos are only nice. And well, there goes my 1 out of 10 nice photo with the night view for Parisian. 

This hotel themed was a European theme which was a bit similar to Venetian except that Venetian is a pure Venice theme hotel. This has three different deco but all European theme. All of these hotel has different side to it and each side is another different deco. So here goes...

In case you are wondering how is this different from Venetian, the sky ceiling clouds are actually moving. The building are also different but still european style. Like i said, Venetian is a pure Venice theme

And hey, I met a European lady on the way back, on my way to Venice.......

I had high expectation for Parisian but this was okay for me only. Probably because I already had the expectation and it didn't meet it. It was rather gloomy environment for me and I don't like gloomy. I need sunshineeeee...

The Venetian

I feel like its a mandatory visit for me to Venetian everytime I am in Macau. Probably because the shopping is good. All the other hotels are top notch brand but Venetian has a great mix of all of these and it like summer sales so everything is really cheap there especially the Zara and H&M there. Its also where we will always get the famous Portuguese tart @ Lord Stow Bakery. 

I stayed in Venetian the first time I was in Macau. I still remember I insisted on it. It was a really funny story and a childish one indeed. I watched boys over flower and they film it in the hotel itself so I thought to myself that I have to stay there. At that time, they didn't have wifi and me and my brothers have to sneak to the lobby cafe to get free wifi. I was surprised that we were paying so much but no free wifi. This time round they have it already so okay lah not so bad.

Without fail, I also took photos of the hotel again but this time with people everywhere. It was so crowded that everyone was pushing around. There were groups of tour everywhere and it was just so noisy. Look at the amount of people in my photos. It was nearly impossible to get a clear shot anywhere in the Venetian mall and trust me, it's a damn big mall. 

I wasn't joking when I said it was deadset crowded. However, Venetian was still one of the hotel which I did a lot of embarassing things with my brothers. I remember the first we were there and because we were too young, we werent allowed to enter the casino. So, we were obviously unhappy and decided to play poker right in front of the casino with the guard beside us and sitting on the floor. 

And, we were so playful and bored waiting for our aunties and uncles that we played the game where we see who can kick the slippers furthest right in the hallway where everyone was there. I gotta admit it wasn't the right thing to do but we were young and thick skin. Those were the carefree days. If you ask me to do it again right now, I wouldn't want to as I know its not a civilised thing to do at all. We were even chase away from the cafe because we decided to sit there and order nothing but use the wifi. 

Its funny how four (4) pass so fast and its already 2017. Venetian still look the same so I guess they really maintain it well. It was our last stop of the trip as well before heading to the airport. With all the hotel coming up so fast, I wonder if Venetian will always be the mandatory hotel visit even in the future. 

Apart of these hotel, there was another new hotel which is Studio City. I wanted to visit it but I didn't get the chance to do it but I did get a shot of it.

Studio City Hotel

So what's the attraction point of this hotel ? I guess its known for its ferris wheel in the 8 design of the hotel. Not sure how to really put it into words but photo speaks a thousand words.

I think i prefer the night view of Studio City. But yeah, the 8 thing in the middle is the ferris wheel. They also have a 4D adventure Gotham City Adventure and a magic show in this hotel. You can get a promotion package for the price in the this website here. If you are staying there, then it is free. My parents stayed here before and they thought it was okay only. They still prefer Wynn Palace and Hard Rock Hotel,

If you are not a casino person and wonder what to do at night, there are a lot shows in the each hotel which you can look out for. My favourite of all is the House of Dancing Water. Love the gymnast and how they did it with a storyline. It was just amazing.

Not sure when would be the next time, I will be here again but I guess when there are more hotels up, I'll be back, This is my second post on Macau and it pretty similar to my first post just that this one has hotels on the other of the bridge. Same content different hotels. And yes, if you are interested to know of my visit that time, the link is here.

" There's no way that you are born to just work and pay your bills, getting through everyday but make your pay worth, start exploring the world and experience life"

Read More

Yellow Brick Road

When people first hear yellow brick road, we think literally 'yellow brick road', an address or a yellow brick road.  But guess what, it's not but instead it's a cafe located in Damansara Heights. A friend of mine recommended that we should try the food there as it was pretty famous. So, I went there after work for dinner with a couple for friends a month ago and totally enjoyed with food there. So an overview of our meal before starting, here's a photo of it. :) 

It's seem more like a place to have brunch but I was there for dinner. I can't remember the last time I did brunch but it felt like forever. This cafe reminds me so much of brunching in Melbourne and yes, it gives you that Melbourne brunching feel. I like how the cafe is decorated and is totally the kind of place where you would spend time catching up, chit-chatting and hanging out with your friends. 

The first thing I saw on the menu was sweet potato fries in "The Big Breakfast Bash". I didn't see it in the side orders but I had to just order it and I got it! There's this saying 'If you ask, you get. You don't get, you won't get'. So there it is, MY SWEET POTATO FRIES... 

The other four dishes came after. The special thing about this cafe is the pancakes are not just desserts but main dishes as well. All the food was pretty good and I have to say, the pancake menus were really creative. It was just the typical pancakes dessert but they made them into main dishes pancakes with takoyaki called the "Lucky Takoyaki" or even "Lets Salsa" serve with pancakes, turkey ham and mozzarella cheese. 

Here's "The Impasta", Aglio Olio Pasta served with in-house Chicken Char Siu slices, tossed tasty marinated soy beans.  (RM22)

I like how the pasta wasn't over cook and just right, just perfect with the char siu slices. The combination of both totally did the job and we clean up the plate soon enough.

Balik Kampung, Percik Chicken with Tumeric Rice served with a zesty Mango Kerabu Salad, topped with a Poached Egg (RM23)

If you notice, they have really creative names for the dishes as well. This dish is really Malaysian-Western fusion kind of dish where they mix Mango Kerabu Salad with Poached Egg. A malaysian and australian bunch kind of fusion. Love the tumeric rice and the percik chicken was flavourful as well.

Apom Terbalik, Crushed Nuts, Sweet Corn, Hawaiian Coconut, Gula Melaka with Coconut Candy Ice Cream (RM22)

Another fusion pancake of our Malaysian Apom flavour and trust me, the taste was on point. It taste what Apom should taste like. This was our dessert of the night. Love the ice cream, the hawaiian coconut and the pancake was the way a pancake should be. Its not overwhelm by the whole Apom flavour and it wasn't even soggy.

Mushroom Pancakes, with variety kind of mushroom topped with mushroom sauce. (RM22)

Simple pancake dish but it did not taste boring at all. It blend really well with the pancakes. When you first hear pancakes and mushroom, you'll be like 'whutttt? would it taste good' but yes this wasn't bad at all. But then again, when it comes to pancakes, i might be really bias.

Overall, I really like the food in Yellow Brick Road and would really come back to try all the other dishes on the menu. I have a thing for cafe with creative dish name as it really gets you excited of what the dish would come out as. 

The price would seem pricy for pancakes but, then again, good food always come with a price. 

For the full address,

7, Jalan Batai,

Bukit Damansara,

50490 Kuala Lumpur,

Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

Read More

Thean Chun Coffee Shop, Ipoh

This time, I went all the way to Ipoh to food hunt. Well, not exactly the main reason I went to Ipoh but I actually went there for a business trip for work in purposes. This so happen to be one of our lunch spot. Since it was only an hour of lunch break, we quickly headed to Thean Chun Coffee Shop to have lunch. They are well known for the Kai See Hor Fun which is Chicken Kuey Teow Soup.

We had to wait about 20 minutes before we got to eat this Kuey Teow Soup. I always eat this dish in Pappa Rich or Old Town. After having this bowl of the original Kai See Hor Fun, I now know the actual taste it is suppose to be. And oh my... It was so delicious! The Hor fun was not like the usual Hor fun you would have. 

Kai See Hor Fun

This coffee shop is also famous for their Egg Custard! I kid you not, it was PERFECT! The texture was on point and it was tasty. It wasn't too sweet at all.

You know how they say if the Panna Cotta stays steady, it's a successful Panna cotta. So we can confidently deduce that this was a successful Egg Custard! 

Our beautiful Egg Custard

A colleague of mine was from Ipoh so she order all their famous food from the coffee shop. She even order Pork Satay and Chee Cheong Fun which has filling in it! It was spicy so I didn't get to eat but everyone says it was good! 

Hehehehehe. Here comes my favourite! Popiah and this time we even have fried popiah! I have never tried fried popiah before and this was the first time! And it was so so so so so good! I even wanted to dapao it back all the way back to Klang but it wasn't possible. It probably be bad already. 

Even the normal popiah was good! But my favourite was still the fried one! Not only it was something different, but it was tasteful! We would normally expect that when u fried it everything would just comes out or be over fried. This wasn't the case at all. Everything was just simply PERFECT! My tummy was so happy that day. I was so full, definitely overeat but it was totally worth it at all!

So here's another place you can explore when you are there in Ipoh.

" One cannot think well, sleep well, if one doesn't dine well"

Yeap... thats me!

Read More

Pince & Pints, KL

My friend bought me to this place to have dinner last weekend. We had this in London previously. I've also blogged about the place quite awhile go. So, this shop Pince & Pints is quite similar to Burger & Lobsters except instead of 3 style, they offer 4 different style.

Pince & Pint is located in Bangsar, KL, super far away from my home all the way in Klang. 

Took the photo from Google image because I didn't take it from outside. All I took was the food 😂😂

So, the menu for food was just lobster done in 4 different styles which is the :

a) Live Whole Lobster with a choice of Grilled or Steamed with Chef Salad, Straight Cut Fries and Herb Butter Sauce

b) The Lobster Roll with Chef Salad, Straight Cut Fries and Garlic Aioli

c) Chilli Lobster with Fried Mantou, Homemade Fresh Tomato & Chilli Sauce 

d) Lobster Noodles - Wok Fried Lobster, Egg Noodles, Ginger and Scallion

All of the dish is price RM158+++

And yes, it's super expensive. We ate it in London for about 20 pounds so I guess its more expensive in KL.

Anyway, we ordered the Grilled Lobster and Lobster Noodle. In fact I think the lobster noodle is to suit us Asian taste because in Chinese restaurant, the lobster is famous cooking with noodle and in this style as well.

Lobster Noodle 

Grilled Live Whole Lobster

Totally love the lobster. It was fresh, tasty, delicious! The Grilled Lobster was good as well especially when dipped into the Herb Butter Sauce. It mix so well, just perfect! The lobster noodle was tasty as well but the noodle did not beat the noodles in the Chinese Restaurant.

If I have to choose, I would say the Lobster Noodles was better if its to compare the lobster meat. The lobster was more well done for this dish then the grilled lobster but don't get me wrong! Both were equally good. It's not everyday I have dinner here as it's extremely pricy only on special occasions. 

On a scale to 10, I would give it an 8.5! The ambiance of the restaurant is actually really nice. It's not the noisy restaurant and actually look classy. There is also a bar at the side. They do serve alcohol as well! So, if you are looking for a place to have lobster, I would say this would be a good dining place! 

Read More