Backpack to Busan and Seoul, South Korea - Part 1

It has been months I didn't blog and this time I will blog about Busan, South Korea. I'm not a fan of K-Pop and what made me interested to visit Korea instead of Taiwan? One of the reasons it's maybe I don't really like Taiwan food compared to Korean food. 

Gimhae International Airport (Busan) and thats Air Asia X at the middle of picture   =P

I bought the flight for RM800 return ticket including tax, choosing seats (RM70 return) and luggage (15KG for RM50).

First time flying so far and in my mind telling me for sure this trip will be very expensive for a student like me! I spent RM2000 for 9 days including (flights, rooms, foods),  RM200 (Shopping) and another RM300 for bullet train to from Busan to Seoul. Total whole trip spent RM2500 for 9 days. I will type down the whole list that I spent for the whole trip.

I'm staying at Gwangali Beach at one of those budget motel nearby here for RM130 (Air Cond + Wifi + hair dryer + Big TV) and bathroom attached. This is exactly the Sun City Motel entrance was and it is facing the beach.

Sunrise at the Gwangali beach

A must eat seafood noodle at Busan! Just for  6000 Won (RM18). Inside of the noodles consists of 7-8 mussels, 1 crab and squid. The noodles is spicy and it was perfect to eat at that weather there. Seafood was very fresh too especially the mussels.

This shop is located at the same row as Tae Jong Dae park entrance and just beside the bus stop where all the drivers wash the bus there. You can't miss it because it is the cheapest food at that same row of shops. No English menu so I'm just pointing at the pictures on the menu or pointing at the next table.


List of Expenditure @ Korea
Day 1 (Busan)

1200 (LRT)
1400 (Interchange Train)
11000 (Pork ribs with potato soup and vege) -Dinner
= 13 600 WON / RM41

Day 2 (Busan)

4000 (Daily pass train) RM12
25900( Mugunghwa Train to Seoul on day 3) RM78
5750 (Dinner)
820 (Coffee)
6000 (Seafood noodle)

Day 3 (Busan and Seoul)

2350 (Waffle for Breakfast)
6500 (Beef ramen and curry udon for lunch @ Hongdae)
1150 (Airport Train from Seoul Station to Hongik University)
5500 (Korean chicken chop style dinner @ Hongdae)
2500 (Bread)
500 (Water)

Total 3 days = 70750 WON / RM216.50

Advantages of backpacking at Korea
*Sky juice free at every restaurant and refillable too
*No service charge or government tax
*Nett price as shown in menu

Backpack to Busan and Seoul Part 2

Backpack to Busan and Seoul Part 3

Vegetarian Indian Banana Leaf Rice at Lakshmi Vilas

Good evening!

As I have promised you last night, this post I will be writing on a similar note of indian banana leaf rice, but a slight different restaurant, although they are operating just next to each other in the same street. LOL.

Introducing Lashkmi Vilas, also a pure vegetarian restaurant which my friend, Deepa has introduced to me my first vegetarian banana leaf rice about 3 years ago.

Here they called themselves the Superior Vegetarian Restaurant. LOL.

Their operating hours are pretty similar, runs only during lunch hours, assuming from 12pm onwards and they do not serve other meals in between of the banana leaf feast.

They are served with water on every table as well and you can request for canned drinks of you wish to have a little carbonated after burp in your tummy. :)

Introducing their thick dhaal version. I love this as it is very flavorful and less spicy as compared to Woodlands.

They had the long beans too but this is definitely has more kick on the overall flavor but a little too cooked for my preference.

Another potato dish where you can it a little more solidified compared to dhaal. :p

Fried Brocolli! (in red color) I loike this. Its great that they deep fried with their own curry powder and it has more indian taste to it. Definite refill dish for me.

This tasted almost like the white sauce you usually eat with Thosei, where Thosei is complimented with two of its distinctive sauces, one of it looking like this, but a bit more liquified and the other in pale orange. The pale orange sauce is the spicier one and this tastes almost the same, with less spice and a bit more savory and generally more appetizing.

Served with a must, the Papadam! We will always refill this 2-3 times. Hehe! Also, take note that they pour the sauces into your rice, making somewhat like a whirlpool of different sauces and almost drowning all of your white rice. Or I like to call it, Banjir. ;D

Notice the difference between Woodlands and Lakshmi now? They are still served with banana leaf, just that the presentation of food rather sets them apart from two different vegetarian restaurants. This way, it is more authentic, leaving the original shape of the banana leaf, a bit trimmed to have a standard size, but nonetheless, there is nothing else served below it. if you're gonna have your sauces, flowing out, then so be it. LOL. And this way too that the restaurant workers will know if you enjoyed the food! Closing one side of the banana leaf into your direction (folding inwards) is to show that you liked their meal and would come again, Closing on the opposite direction (folding outwards, from you) is to show that you're not satisfied with their meal. How cool is that?? (and yes, my friend taught me this too. :p )

Another  new version of Payasam! Its supposed to be a liquid dessert which I have been looking forward to try but instead I got this. It had the same taste. just that this time they made it into a pudding-like, kuih texture. Very milky and you can taste the fine bits of it. Yums!

I do not have any interior picture of the place but note that they too has two floors and the upper floor is opened for air conditioning seating and when the lower floor is full. I think half the time I sat at the upper floor because it is always packed with people at the lower floor!

I understand that because in my personal opinion, I actually still preferred to dine here than in Woodlands. Its simply because I find the place more homely (comfortable) and the people are just as friendly, but the definite reason that sets apart are meals served here is definitely cater to my level of tolerance to spicy food, the overall taste of the vegetarian meal and the originality of the meal is presented.

Do take note too that they bring in their banana leaf supply everyday so do not worry of being re-used, like the satay celup concept in Malacca which I find it horrifyingly disgusting.

All in all, my meal here cost only RM6, one ringgit cheaper than Woodlands, and sadly, you do not get to have Wi-Fi services here (although you can go surf the net at the Cyber Cafe located at the upper floor) so you will enjoy your company/ friends better and chatter mood in the restaurant.

To keep it simple for you readers, here is a quick comparison between both restaurants which I have tasted in two consecutive days;


Type of meal served: Indian Vegetarian Banana Leaf Rice

How they are served: Bakti Woodlands: Circled-shaped banana leaf in a metal pan
                                   : Lakshmi Vilas: Standardized banana leaf rice

Food serving: Eat-All-You-Can/ Unlimited with an average of 6-8 side servings including vegetables, sauces, curries and sambals with rice and local dessert/ sour milk.

Price: BW: RM7
         : LV: RM6

Operating Hours for Vegetarian Meal : Lunch Hours only (preferably from 12pm onwards)

Wi-Fi hotspot: BW: Yes
                       : LV: No


Address;

Lakshmi Vilas
57 Leboh Ampang, Kuala Lumpur 

Contact
03- 20722166.
  

There you have it! Do give it a try! Not many people will be open to such a new taste but its definitely worth the trip!

P.s: Since Lakshmi Vilas is just next to Bakti Woodlands, you can just look up for directions in my previous post on Bakti Woodlands and head up there!


Cheers!

Vegetarian Indian Banana Leaf Rice at Bakti Woodlands

Good evening everyone!

I know my timing to post such delicious meal at this hour is really tempting your taste buds and I admit I am being mean of doing this but more the reason for you to look out for this restaurant!

Can I see how many hands up for Indian Vegetarian Banana Leaf Rice?
Has any of you heard of it before?

Well, I have been a vivid fan for vegetarian banana leaf rice since back in my college years (which was only 3 and a half years to be exact!) when I was introduced by my dear noisy loud friend, Deepa (she's gonna be so famous now).

However, throughout the years, I have only tried one particular restaurant in Masjid Jamek and little do I paid attention to the other vegetarian restaurant just next door!
This time, I was introduced by my friend, Denise and I decided to bring along my partner in crime from university, Coddy to try out the difference offered by this Indian Vegetarian Restaurant.

Its called Bakti Woodlands- Pure Vegetarian

One important thing to know; they only serve their banana leaf rice ONLY during lunchtime on weekdays, from 12pm onwards. If you come any later than 2pm, you may miss out some of the side dishes as they are served finish because Indian Vegetarian Banana Leaf rice is Eat-All-You-Can concept!

In Woodlands, their banana leaf is cut into perfect round shaped to compliment the size of the metal plate and served with 8 different size dishes comprising of vegetables, potatoes, sauce, dhaals, curries and desserts. I personally think this way is served cleaner and more systematic as compared to Lashkmi Villas (that will be another restaurant I usually go to blog post). However, it losses the authenticity of eating from a pure banana leaf rice style as served in Lashkmi. The usual dishes offered in a vegetarian banana leaf rice comes with till-you-say-stop rice intake, papadam (fried cracker), some dried fried chillies, and salted mango sambal and the side dishes as mentioned above. Apologies for not remembering all of their specific names, I'll keep a note to ask and jot down next time!

One of the 8 dishes served in mini metal bowls. This is long beans served with dried chilli, carrot, and peas.

One of my likings goes to this side dish, Potato with curry leaves, onions and curry powder.

This is their version of payasam. Its supposed to be the dessert which tasted like sweet gingerish taste to it, almost similar to one of their candies. This version is something new to me as the other restaurant I tried does not have such creamy bits of texture to it like this. I think they blended the ginger, some hidden indian sweets, cinnamon, another type of spice I forgot the name and sago! I always look forward for the dessert as it gives me the final taste of the banana leaf adventure.

Sour milk, or they call it fermented cow yoghurt. Its very sour yet has the milk-ish taste to it. I am not used to it as it is too sour for my preference. Those who are not familiar with this at all may thought that this has turned bad.

Of the many variants of sauces to compliment your rice. Some may come a little sour because of the assam they put in, but usually you'll get the hang of it when you throw all of the sauces into your rice altogether! :D

I am not too familiar with this, but I am guessing this is the old cucumber (in chinese they call it 'lou kua') with clear curry sauce to it. Take note that all of their sauces do not use santan, all pure curry taste.

Also one of the curries, this is the sour type. You can see that the curry is cooked with curry leaves, carrots, onions and perhaps more condiments. Since this is a vegetarian restaurant, the materials they use are pretty similar, they mainly played on the taste and the spiciness. ;)

If you notice the fried cracker, the next companion to it is the salted, sour mango sambal. Don't, don't throw everything into your rice, before having a small taste before. I did throw half of it into my rice and Denise stopped me, 'Don't put all of that! It's really sour!'. Imagine salty and sour comes into place. A bit of mind and taste bud tingling for me. Oh btw, during this time of the hour, they DO NOT serve any other meals like mee goreng, roti canai or even teh tarik. The best way (complimentary drink) is to have it with water, which they serve on every table. You can opt for canned drinks, if you think it is too hot to handle with just water. :p

View from the inside of the shop. In case of the lower floor too packed with people (don't mess with their lunch hours), they have a second floor equipped with air-conditioner. yeap, You heard me. Air conditioned comfort while eating. :p Also, it is preferably to be eaten with hands, as the culture is to eat with hands, but my hands were dirty from traveling by train and my nails were long at the time. I'm not saying that they do not provide a wash hand area and toilet, I'm not used to eating with hands in public just yet. :p I tried before awhile back, its quite exhilarating. You'll get all messy in the end. Hehe.

All in all, my meal here cost RM7, slight dearer compared to Laskhmi Villas. The great thing is, Vegetarian Banana Leaf Rice is eat-all-you-can concept, where they serve you rice and the side dishes until your stomach can't take it anymore.

Other than that, this restaurant offers free Wi-Fi hotspot, and Uni-Fi powered too so you will expect fast speed internet checking in while eating. Password is given upon request.

In my opinion, this restaurant is definitely equipped with friendly workers serving us meals and rice every time and their command for English/Bahasa Malaysia are slight better compared to the other restaurant.
But take note; their vegetarian meals here is spicier too, than Laskhmi, which I find it a little struggle to consume but nonetheless, the authentic taste of the Northen Indian meal is definitely lived up to its expectations and I had been a satisfied half vegan for the day. :D

For easy access through public transportation (do it like me!), it is very easy to locate by just hopping into Star LRT and stop for the Masjid Jamek station. Upon leaving the station, you will see a busy two-lane road with a McDonald's at the corner lot. (McDonald's is just next to Guardian's, very easy to spot on.)
Walk past McD and you will see a junction with a traffic light and turn left. You will notice the street is filled with Indian ornaments, and just at the opposite you will see the signboard in bright lime green that says, Bakti Woodlands. :D

If you wish to have another alternatives,
Here's the address;

Bakti Woodlands
55 Leboh Ampang  50100 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur
03-20342399


View Larger Map



P.s: I will do a comparison post soon between Bakti Woodlands and the much talked about competitor restaurant, Lashkmi Villas. They're just next to each other! LOL.

So stay tuned!

Till then, cheers!

Teluk Intan-Ipoh x AJNH (Day 1)

Hello and good day everyone!

This is my third post for Food Archeologist and apologies for being such an MIA (Missing in Action) person. Can't help it since I am stuck with uni life (assignments final exams bla bla bla) but now, I have a semester break! How cool is that?

P.s: This is my first semester where I look forward so much to a semester break. *hums away*

Anyway, back to food!

I have been outstation for the last weekend with my family to our yearly le family trip to Perak!
Every year I have perceived that Ipoh will be somewhat a dead place (I know I shouldn't say that but lots of my friends find Ipoh boring but I don't because I enjoyed the less crowd of that city), however, I was very disappointed with the crowd last weekend because we have decided to take the weekend to Ipoh on Raya Haji day, aka the PUBLIC HOLIDAY weekend. Ughh. First time came across such busy Ipoh. Lol. Which I was not too happy about it. Why? Because food will be a huge demand and you have to queue, or worse, WAIT in front of people's tables while they're eating. How rude is that? I had to fight for tables in one of the restaurants in Ipoh for breakfast! Not to mention a tug of war with a guy who stood on the same table as me. -_- I decided to let it a go when I later found out that my mum has a more daring approach of 'cop-ing' tables; by sitting in one of the tables. LOL.

Alright alright. Enough with all the fighting tables stories.

Day 1: Teluk Intan

Le family has decided to stay for 3 days 2 nights in Perak and our first pit stop of the night was Teluk Intan, formerly known as Teluk Anson. We left KL in late morning, we have reached our destination at about 3pm. No, we didn't take a tuk tuk ride to TI that took us that long to reach TI. We have stopped over at Bidor to have really really awesome lunch meal, Indian style! cooked and served by my mum's friend. They have such adorable baby that got close with my sister after getting bribed with candies, chipsmore's and chocolates. Hehe.

We stayed at a homestay and the cost per night for a room only costed RM40, with air-cond and two big beds and a toilet of your own. AND with toiletries. How cool is that? Not cool part though; we had to stay with a bunch of middle aged ol' chaps whom decided to 'greet' us in the living room wearing nothing but just shorts, kaki terkangkang (open up legs, one leg rested on the side of the chair) while one of them was rubbing his huge beer belly tummy. It was horrifying. I got freaked out. It was not a pleasant sight. Kinda killed my food mode for dinner. Lol.

Nevertheless, we took a rest and we left the house early at about 6pm to scout for dinner in the old Glutton Square, TI.
Trust me, this place packs with loads of good hidden treasures. Nyam nyam.

The outside of Glutton Square Food Court where we had our dinner.

Outside of the GS

Upon entrance. Reminds me little of Singapore's food court style. Or any Malaysian Food Court style. Lol.

Mmm. The dessert stall where we ordered one of every kind of their desserts. It is called Do Re Mi.

One of the guys working on our desserts. I think it is run by one family.

One part seen from the inside of GS

Glutton Square as I realised has irregular hours of operating hours for the stalls. Some open in the morning, few open in the afternoon and the others open in the evening. So, you may or may not be able to get the food you want based on such timeline, which will be inconvenient for some who travels to TI just to savor some of the food I soon to cover. :p

TI Laksa with prawn sauce. RM3. Not bad. It is not spicy but yet has the authenticity of the laksa taste. I like it and they are generous in their portions too.

This, I tell you. IS the best yau char kuay in town. Probably in whole of Malaysia! KL cannot find this! (well, if some of you do, do let me know!). Its so crispy to the extend to every bite into your mouth, and the taste is almost melting. Although this Chinese delicacy is fully deep fried into hot pan of oil, you have little to taste it and you can't stop eating it until well, you're sick of it. Not too healthy anyway. Haha. RM0.70 each. There are many variants and one my family favorite is the 'butterfly' style, or they call it the horse leg. I forgot what they call it in Cantonese.Why horse leg? I also don't know. Let me know the history of it if any of you knew. Sells out really quick and we tried to buy it the next day in the afternoon but I think it was closed, seen from afar. :(

Mm.mm.mm. Doesn't this picture of our local dessert ABC makes you drool? Okay, not on a rainy and chilly weather like we're having these past few days but this sure is the perfect thirst quencher for all Malaysians on a typical hot weather! We didn't even buy any drinks. Just had 'em all desserts. This I think costs RM3. Not too bad huh? Supposed to be the famous one in the whole area. To me, it was just fine, with the sugar and sweetness level just up to my par and the additional ingredients seemed to be fresh and appealing. This stall has good presentation skills. I like. Wait till you see the others.

The No. 1 dessert of all. Presenting the Sai Mai Lou (Shaved Ice with Honey Dew). Notice the ice is a little different compared to other desserts available in this stall. This use a finer version of shaved ice, rather than the typical ABC ice shaving machine that gives a rougher texture of the ice. This however, is the soft type, which means that it is delicately thinly sliced of ice into this bowl of mashed awesomeness. Or was it simply just normal shaved ice but this has managed to melt my heart? I ain't too sure now. On top of that, the milk they used is amazing, perfectly complimenting the taste of the honey dew syrup they used. And that generous amount of sago as the top of the cherry and precisely placed balls of watermelon, longan and pineapples, what else are you asking for? This I think costs a bit more, about RM3-RM3.20.

On the contrary, this provides the worst taste of all. I mean, there is nothing special to it. And I think this costs the most expensive because apparently there are more fruits served in it. But other than that, its just ice. Plain ice. How disappointing. This is called the Mix Fruit Lolo. Nothing to fancy about unless you want to eat plain ice with fruits. :/ There is a bit of sourness to it so I am guessing they used small lime (limau) for a bit of taste. P.s: I used the word think because I kinda got mixed up with their pricing. Sorry for that! Will further explain how the price works below.

This is the sour version of the Lolo. It is called the Ai Yu Ping Lolo. It is called that way because of the lemon jelly on top. The sourness comes from the assam boi, but to me, I'd rather have it a stronger assam taste to it because overall it tasted rather mild to me. I like sour stuffs and this is not up to my par. This one is served with longans and even bigger longan! Lol.

This is called the Hawaiian Lolo. Not bad because the syrup they used was passion fruit and I love passion fruit. A fruit that is hard to come by nowadays and with good tasting natural ones. This one is added with some homemade jellies and a huge longan at the top.

Hawaiian Lolo taking the full frontal picture.

All le 5 lolos on picture!

Ahh. Char Keow Teow. Another sinful food we all love. This CKT is cooked to perfection, to the finest and one of the most distinctive complimentary ingredient to all CKTs', the cockerels, or also known as the 'Si Ham'. This CKT has the cockerels cooked a little that gives a more meaty taste to it rather than half of the CKT I ate are served raw. The cockerels are also very fresh and my mum, who is not a 'Si Ham' fan, apparently likes it very much. The overall taste of the CKT has a burnt taste to it, but a good type of burnt taste, not too heavy, just enough to actually think it was cooked through charcoal fire. Yums. This dish only costs RM3. CKT in KL can easily be found, and also can be easily charged as much as RM5-RM10 per plate, depending on locations. Cheap much? Yes, oh yes.

This is a huge disappointment. For RM3.50, this 'Kon Lou Mee', or also can be called as wanton mee can easily be found at any parts of KL. Heck, even KL can serve better ones. Lousy presentation and their preserved green chillies got us to think whether they're gonna get us tummy sick. And don't you think the wantons looked damn sad too? Lol.

Okay, about the pricing for the lolo's (shaved ice desserts as shown above) I admit, I messed up on the pricing. All I know for the price of the 5 lolos' we ate it had sum up to about RM13+. Each bowl costs from RM3-RM3.20. That's all I can remember.

Done with dinner (not really!), off we tried our luck on the oh-so-famous midnight chee cheong fun. Dad says there are two very famous brands that sell the midnight chee cheong fun but we only managed to scout for one, the other we couldn't locate in time. :(
For all of you who don't know what is midnight chee cheong fun and what is the difference between our usual chee cheong fun and also hong kong chee cheong fun is that one; you can only find it at night, usually in the wee hours of the morning which is from 12am onwards, but in my case, my dad knew the factory and we headed straight there to buy the freshly made ones and two; the special ingredients they used for the chee cheong fun and finally three; it does not have a sauce, instead, we eat it with juicy, crispy salted/preserved green chillies.

Random photo: Spotted the moon falling directly to the the mosque's head piece.

The Liew Kee Chee Cheong Fun

Processing rice into liquids for later make into yummy chee cheong fun!

They have people queuing at the factory as early as 7pm. Yeah, this is the factory.

Interesting sight to see right opposite of the factory. Now I kinda reconsider the cleanliness of the factory. On the other hand, the factory employees can save their time and just throw their rubbish over.

They are called 'Sa Kot' in Hakka, or also called as turnips. Part of the ingredients to make the midnight chee cheong fun.

This is the packet size and they wrap it ol' style, newspaper style.

Opening up

Ta-da! The black spots you see are the onions, small prawns and some meat, which I think is pork

The salted green chillies to compliment the taste. Too bad they are so kiam siap (kedekut/ stingy) about their green chillies. Very very little, compared to the size of the chee cheong fun.

Closer look of the chee cheong fun.

This whole packet costs RM4 and to me, it is rather pricy for a small packet like that. And according to my dad, TI midnight chee cheong fun is not supposed to be rectangular based, more of the elongated and thin version. They also said that within a short span of few years, the chee cheong fun has rose from RM2.80 per packet up to RM4 as of now. For the locals, they will think the quality has degraded. I have not tasted midnight chee cheong fun for awhile now and my vague memory of it is just the green chillies.
When I first try it, I like it but it was a little too oily for my take. The overall taste was alright, not too heavy on each other, I kinda forgot to taste if there is any turnip taste in it. Also, the green chillies given are just too little! I know it is good, with its juicy and crunchy texture but don't be so hard on the quantity already. You're already charging us RM4, at least we deserve a little more of the chillies next time?

Oh, for another surprising news, when we went out to Jalan Maharani (the next day) for breakfast, it was found out that Liew Kee has many vendors and resellers for them in stalls located in many areas, and Jalan Maharani was one of them. The shocking news is that, we found out that in one stall they are selling RM3 per packet and the other end selling RM4 per packet! Imagine it from the same factory who manufactured it. Guys, you gotta have some standard pricing over here.
If we do drop by next time in TI, we'd definitely have our mental note taken to just head back to stalls and buy it at RM3 per packet, rather than buying it at the factory. As for freshness, I am pretty sure there is nothing much of a difference, unless you have a mentality that you need to consume food with 'freshly served' motto in your head.


Okay, this will be the end of Day 1 post. Continuation of the Jalan Maharani food search will be on the 2nd post where I will be covering the last part of Teluk Intan and off to Ipoh food!

Hope you guys enjoy the pictures and descriptions as much as I do. Because all the pictures taken were used to be in my tummy. LOL.

P.s: I am afraid that this post I won't be providing most details of the stalls (exact location with address, contact numbers and google maps) as I am not too familiar with the rounds of TI and Ipoh myself.
But the landmarks are pretty much there from the pictures and Glutton Square is a name that I think you can find easily on Google for directions to go there. Don't get confused though. They have the new and the old Glutton Square Food Court. We went the old Glutton Square Food Court.
Teluk Intan has a lot of food to find, just don't underestimate the overall look of the city. Even I know I have not fully explored TI yet.

Cheers to all of you and have a safe trip! (If you have any plans to go there in future)
Be right back on the second post soon.