Aesha Corner (KK FoodieVenture #19)

I want to declare something before proceeding any further. This is my last entry on my KK food trip back in December-January. I'm sorry if I'd bored you to death with my babbles but I promise you, this is my last one. Really, pinky swear that I won't 'accidentally' forgot anything ;-)

My entry this time is about Aesha Corner restaurant, situated at the Anjung Samudera Waterfront (the high end one, not the one at the other end of the waterfront). It's literally in front of the Warisan Square shopping mall and nested in the middle of a row of pubs so it is kinda like a breath of fresh air. The view from their place is spectacular (which is a big plus point), especially during sunset. And I have no troubles with their service since the waiters were pretty attentive.

Now for their food. This is not my first time visiting the restaurant so I do need to compare their previous meals with the recent ones. And I have to say that I'm really disappointed with the recent quality of their food. When we were there, we decided to take on their Nasi Goreng Claypot (for my partner) and Nasi Goreng Kampung, and both of us were thinking of the same thing; that is was bare! It was so bare that the only difference that we can see between our meals was the color. Apart from a piece or two for their side decoration, there is absolutely nothing on the fried rice other than the rice. I'm so baffled when the waiters put down the dishes in front of us that it took me around 5 minutes just to decide whether I'll eat it. Which I eventually did since I do need to comment on their taste (which are both average at best - trust me). I'm so disappointed since the last time I was there, the food was waaayyy better than it is now. I don't really know what happen though..

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Chicken Rice Shop 1Borneo (KK FoodieVenture #18)

Another franchise restaurant that I forgot to mention before is this place called the Chicken Rice Shop. And believe me when I said that a lot of Tawaurian had actually memorized the jingle to their commercial/advertisement eventhough we do not have it here (hint! hint!). The shop that we went to is located at 1Borneo hypermall, at their LG floor. You'll definitely notice them once you see their huge chicken head logo at the side of their restaurant.

This is actually my partner's favorite place to have a bite whenever we were in KK. He's actually a huge fan of chicken rice so it's a no brainer for him. So when we got there recently, we decided to ordered their Honey BBQ Chicken Rice set (my personal preferences of course), Butter Chicken Rice set (a new promotional dish that my partner decided to try out) their Pai Tee (for some reason I don't really like it that much but my partner looovveeed it) and another new dish that I actually forgot what it is called but it turns out to be a fish cake type of dish (which is pretty good - but not really a home run for me)

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Ayam Penyet Ria (KK FoodieVenture #17)

I've said it before that (my previous post) is my last foodie review on a franchise restaurant while I was in KK. And now I'm gonna officially eat my own words because it seems that I actually forgot a few franchises on my KK trip list. Sorry folks! So here we go again, and this time with an Indonesian food franchise called Ayam Penyet Ria.

Honestly, it took me just recently to realize that this joint is a part of an Asian based franchise. Although I do wish that we had it in Tawau, I'm still happy to sample the food whenever I'm in KK. If you're looking for this place, make sure that you go to 1Borneo hypermall and stroll down to the LG floor, and don't worry cause you'll definitely see it (especially if you take the first escalator you see coming from the main front entrance).

So while me and my dear partner was there recently, we'd ordered a few of their staple foods (the place is semi-self service though - they give you the menu and after checking your desired orders, you need to bring the list and pay at the counter before they're able to process your order). We'd ordered their Bakso Penyet (a very unique take on the bakso I'm used to - and I actually loved it), Ayam Penyet (delicious as well) and their rendition of a sate dish (a little on the salty side but I still like it) as well as gado-gado (yummylicious).

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Restoran Nasi Padang Ibu (KK FoodieVenture #16)

I know I have mentioned before that I'm a huge fan of Indonesian food. So it's no surprise if I found myself being attracted to such places like two sides of a magnet. But unlike my other posts, this is not about Javanese or Bandung food but this time it's all about Padang food.

For those that are not familiar with padang food, it's actually comprises a selection (actually, a large selection to be more precise) of dishes that's usually eaten with rice. Available dishes such as Dendeng Daging, Gulai Ayam, Kari Ayam, Tempe and other local as well as authentic padang food are usually pre-cooked and on display for your choosing pleasure. There's actually a padang food restaurant previously opened at Tawau but due to the lack of customers (which was baffling since the food was actually quite good - didn't have a chance to review them) it has sadly been closed up recently. So now the only place for me to get some good padang food is this place, which is situated at the well-known Jesselton Point (the somewhat legendary jetty of KK).

The restaurant is appropriately located by the jetty, overlooking a spectacular view of the open sea and the small islands nearby. We were there during the Christmas holidays so we even spotted a Santa (yes, a dude wearing a Santa suit) coming out from a ferry, assuming he's from one of the islands (since the islands also houses a few high end resorts). Food wise, we had a slew of dishes (sorry, can't specifically remember what we had) and I'm extremely satisfied with their delicious offerings. What I do remember vividly was their tempe (my fave!) and their begedil (again, a top choice) which was awesome and very tasty.  

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The Klagan Hotel Lounge (KK FoodieVenture #15)

While we're still on the subject that is the Klagan Hotel, I would also like to introduce to you their (somewhat) newly (re)opened Lounge Cafe. Now when I was staying at the hotel about a year ago, their lounge area is still pretty bare so I'm pretty glad to see that it's up and running now. It's on the ground floor of the hotel, visible on your left side as soon as you entered the hotel's main entrance.

I was mainly attracted to their selection of pastries being displayed inside a glass cabinet (because it's hard to ignore their delicious looking pastries when it is promptly displayed right next to their entrance door) and decided one day to have a little taste of them. I've picked up their Turkey Ham Sandwich (which was very tasty despite the plain look) and their Chocolate Muffin (personally I'm a bit underwhelmed but the muffin itself was pretty moist). There's also other selection of pastries and fresh breads available on the counter and judging by their breakfast pastries and breads (which I assumed are from the same pastry chef), it's pretty good as well.

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Wanyan Rooftop Cafe (KK FoodieVenture #14)

It's fortunate for us that when we checked into The Klagan Hotel, we were also given free breakfasts for our stay there. So here I am, putting up review on their food.

The cafe is situated on the rooftop of the hotel, and to actually get there, you do need to take the lifts to the 10th floor before continuing your journey on a flight of stairs visible to your right. Overall, I'm actually impressed with the variety of main breakfast dishes as well as several desserts while staying there for a week (as oppose to their previous selection a year back which was average at best). Everyday we were given a choice of different types of local and westernized breakfast, and I'm really happy with that arrangement. And I'm also happy to report that the quality of the dishes were also above average (not great or anything but still very satisfying). You guys can look through the pictures below to see the variety of breakfast that we had throughout the week.

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