Havana Alma De Cuba

Address: 94 Christopher Street, New York

http://www.havanavillagenyc.com

Phone: 212-242-3800

I have never tasted Cuban food before coming to New York, and I doubt that there are good ones (if any) in Malaysia. But I have became a big fan of the cuisine ever since I tasted it for the first time at Sophie's downtown, a very popular Cuban lunch place in Wall Street area. After that, my quest for good Cuban food had brought me to Cafe Habana, Cafecito, La Isla (Hoboken), Havana Alma de Cuba etc. Although I really like going to Havana Alma De Cuba, just because the people are really nice, the food is good and the sangria is awesome.

If you do go there, make sure you try the grilled skirt steak with chimichurri sauce (Churrasco Con Chimichurri) - medium rare , shrimp in creole sauce (Camarones Enchilados) and Tamal Cubano. I like to order the white wine sangria there too, although depending on who makes the drinks, your sangria might taste more like fruit juice than wine, sometimes. The restaurant has a nice dining room at the back and a cute garden seating area, an ideal place for small parties or romantic candlelit dinner with your date ;)

Tamal Cubano - Stone ground corn wrapped in corn husk

Maduros - fried sweet Plantains

Camarones Enchilados - Shrimp sauteed in a fragrant Creole sauce of tomatoes, garlic, onions, peppers, thyme and white wine

Churrasco Con Chimichurri - grilled skirt steak with traditional Chimichurri sauce and cassava

Paella Valenciana - saffron rice mixed with shrimp, scallops, mussels, monkfish, chicken and spanish chorizo

Lechon Asado Al Estilo "La Floridita" - Roasted suckling pig served with cassava, fresh mojo and served with congri

Flan de Leche - Cuban caramel custard - not too good here at Havana restaurant

Koko Black

Address: 167 Lygon Street, Carlton, Victoria, Australia

http://www.kokoblack.com/

Phone: 03-9349-277

I was helping my sister Alyssa check out wedding favors online when I discovered that there is no GODIVA store in Australia, at all. First thing that came to my mind was, how is that possible? Not that Godiva chocolate is the best in the world, but they have shops almost everywhere. After visited Koko Black café at Melbourne’s Lygon Street, I understood why. There is no need for a Godiva store in Australia.

Koko Black is a local gourmet chocolate boutique/cafe that started in Melbourne. The one we went in Lygon Street sells everything that were made from cocoa – chocolates, hot chocolate, ice chocolate, chocolate ice cream, chocolate liqueur....you name it. There are other chocolate stores in Australia (most of them boutiques rather than chain stores), but nothing really caught my attention. What differentiates Koko Black from others is perhaps its commitment to world-class chocolate experience – from product quality/creativity to packaging to services, they aim to be the best. Koko Black is still currently a local Melbourne store, but it will not be long before they expand and succeed in Australia and in other countries.

Alyssa and Vince (her hubby) brought us to Koko Black twice, and I was totally addicted to their delicious hot chocolate. A perfect drink for chilly evenings in Melbourne. Just wished that they would let me take pictures of its wonderfully decorated interior so that I can share it with everyone else. Anyhow, this is a must try in Melbourne if you do go there.

my cup of hot chocolate

Group portrait

Chat Thai

Address: 20 Campbell St, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Phone: 61 2 9211 1808

We wanted to have dinner at Siam I am initially, since I read that the restaurant is considered the best Thai restaurant in Australia. Unfortunately, it was closed on the day we went there, so our friend Kris, who lives in Sydney, brought us to another Thai restaurant around the corner call Chat Thai instead. We could see a crowd gathering outside of the restaurant as we were approaching it, which is always a good sign. We joined the waiting crowd and waited for about forty minutes before we were seated.

The food at Chat Thai was good, slightly more authentic than the food served at most of the Thai restaurants in NYC (except Sriprapai of course). We ordered pad grapow (minced meat with basil and chilli), panang chicken (red curry), beef satay and a tamarind soup. We really liked the pad grapow, in fact it was the best I have ever eaten, but the tamarind soup tasted a little funky, even for me. I was very excited when I found out that they also served mango with sticky rice dessert. In case you haven't heard, mango with sticky rice is one of my favorite desserts, ever since I tried it in Phuket. It was totally to die for!

Chat Thai was worth the wait. Thanks again Kris for meeting up with us and bringing us there!

Crowds of people waiting outside of Chat Thai restaurant



my glass of Thai ice tea



BBQ Beef + awesome dipping sauce

Tamarind Soup

Pad Gra(Kra) Pow minced pork

Panang Chicken

Mango with sticky rice dessert

Laksa King

Address: 320 Racecourse Rd, Flemington, VIC, Australia

Phone: 61 3 9372 6383

Laksa King was the first restaurant we checked out in Melbourne. I specially requested my sister to bring us there because we were quite deprived of good Laksa Lemak here in NYC. Laksa Lemak, just in case you do not know, is a Malaysian style curry noodle soup (with coconut milk). To me, it is best darn curry noodles soup ever created.

The Laksa Lemak in Laksa King was actually pretty good. We liked that the restaurant served real, bloody cockles with the noodles soup, just like how we have it in Malaysia. (Bloodiness may sound nasty, but it's actually really good). We thought the curry broth was slightly heavy; we were more used to the lighter curry broth back home. I also ordered a bowl of fish head noodles soup. The fish broth was so milky, delicious and comforting, I drank all the soup instead of eating the vermicelli.

It was lunch time when we ate at Laksa King and I noticed there weren't many people, given the restaurant's popularity. But I was told by my sister that the restaurant usually gets really busy during dinner time and there'll be long wait for tables. So good thing we went there for lunch. Thanks again Alyssa and Vince for bringing us there!

Laksa Lemak

Seafood Noodles

Fish Head Noodles Soup


ice grass jelly drink

Bills Restaurant: Surry Hills

Address: 359 Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW, Australia

http://www.bills.com.au/restaurants/surry.htm

Phone: 61 2 9360 4762

We wanted to check out another restaurant for breakfast after arriving in Sydney, but a couple detours later (road closing because of the Sydney Marathon), we discovered Bills at Surry Hills. Since I have read some pretty good reviews on the restaurant before going to Australia, I convinced Gan to stop by Bills for breakfast.

Apparently Bills is a restaurant named after the owner Bill Granger, a Melbourne born food writer who moved to Sydney and ended up opening his own restaurants there. For a person who is not trained as a chef, he is doing pretty good. He owns two other Bills restaurants in NSW area. He also has a cookbook and he also appears frequently on tv/magazines. But I don't see what's the big deal though, the food was just ok.

Since we were there for breakfast, the menu focused on healthy and organic ingredients ie. sunrise drink of orange, banana, yogurt and berries, ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter, sweetcorn fritters with roast tomato, spinach and bacon, scrambled organic eggs with organic sourdough toasts etc. Yea, the ingredients were fresh but it was not worth the price. That was one of the more expensive breakfast that I have had, the bill came up to 58 bucks. Honestly, it was not even as good as Norma's in NYC.

Gan couldn't let go of his crackberry even when he's on vacation. argghh......

sunrise drink of orange, banana, yogurt and berries

ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter - this was not bad, it has ricotta inside of the hotcakes

sweetcorn fritters with roast tomato, spinach and bacon