Restoran Al-Mubaraq

This post might be a bit short since I'm actually in a hurry (and yet here I am with my 2nd post for the day). So this time around we’re heading to Bandar Hotspring (yes people, this is a first) at Jalan Air Panas to visit Restoran Al-Mubaraq, an Indian Muslim restaurant that had caught my eye for sometime now. It’s been awhile since I visited an Indian restaurant (depending on my mood of course) so I’m pretty excited about it.

So obviously this establishment caters to Indian Muslim staple food. Me and my partner decided to try on their Nasi Goreng Mamak (this is the first time I’d actually tried such menu – and it’s quite finger-licking as well. It’s close to Nasi Beriyani in taste rather than the actual Mee Goreng Mamak) and their Roti Canai (one of the crispiest that I’ve ever tasted). Would I go back for seconds? Definitely!

** Current status - Still in operation (as of Nov 2014)

Updated on 03/03/2016 - We'd came back recently and tried out their Roti Cobra (yes, I know what you're thinking) and the beef curry was pretty tasty

Updated (again) on 12/12/2016 - My dad brought us here recently & I'm impressed to see that not only that the place has expanded (they're 3 shops long now) so is the variety of their food. Mom & dad tried out their Fried Mee Hoon and Singapore Mee Hoon and both said that the food were delicious.

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Cafe Sri Melaka (Semporna FoodieVenture #3)

A short work-related course brought me back to the good old, tiny town of Semporna recently. Now since this time around the course was only a couple of hours, me and some colleagues decided to just drive to and fro (because it's only around an hour or so from Tawau) and so we did have some spare time to try out a restaurant that catches our eyes. So while walking around the old town of Semporna (the one nearest to the jetty) we found ourselves going into this establishment. Now since I'm not that familiar with Semporna, all I can tell you about the location is that it's within the town area but maybe nested a bit far from the main attractions. But there's a Sipadan Inn hotel very close to the restaurant so hopefully that helps.

Now onto the food yes? Generally their dishes consist of popular local and Indonesian staples. Unfortunately since our choices of food are almost all the same, I can only give you comments on two of their dishes; the Nasi Goreng Daging (which a friend said was pretty tasty despite the simple look) and Nasi Goreng Lalap (I would say the 'sambal' was up there on my chart but the chicken might be a tad salty. But then again I like salty things so...). Another friend actually ordered their Sup Tulang but I forgot to take a photo of it (and it doesn't help that said friend was the fastest eater among us). But we do wanted to give a shout out to their drink maker (does that even exist?) for his superb drinks. Cheers dude!

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BFTP: Le Meridien Kota Kinabalu

I came up with this special segment called BFTP = Blast From The Past (which will popped up from time to time) to feature some of the hotels/ eateries that I've previously been to (especially outside of Tawau but not strictly to that), that I also haven't done any reviews on (particularly because most of them were during my pre-blogging days, and I probably won't be going back any time soon). And no, I'm not doing this to show off (puh-lease!). It's more or less my way of going down my own memory lane since I had lots of fond memories on such places. And it will be a shame not to share some of those memories with y'all (wink wink). I'll only highlight some key points so ready or not, here's my first entry...

Le Meridien Kota Kinabalu Hotel 

When - I have been to this hotel several times but the most recent one being on Dec 2012
Where - It's located just in front of Kota Kinabalu's popular Filipino Market.
Room(s) that I've stayed in - Classic Room, Deluxe Seaview Room & Club Junior Suite
Reason for staying -Mostly due to the holidays (because the place was very strategic)
Pros:
* Definitely one of those high end hotels in KK, with spacious rooms and even your personal DVD player on every room (which is not common for hotels in Malaysia)
* Do choose or upgrade to the Deluxe Seaview room for a spectacular view of the sea and the Filipino Market especially at night
* Free parking spaces (just bring along the ticket to be stamped at the reception counter)
* Love the fact that their suite also comes with its own (again, very spacious) living area as well as 2 separate bathrooms.
* Superb service at their in-house restaurant Circle, as well as pretty extensive dinner buffet selection
 Cons:
* The price has recently been revised and hiked up so do expect a heftier price for your favorite rooms
* The decor might be a bit dated (but still pretty classy in my book)
* Do be extra careful when using the bathroom since the tiles can be pretty slippery (as evident with my personal experience of tripping and spraining my foot during a stay there - but that is entirely my fault)
* Swimming pool was great but there can be some 'fishy' smells coming from the nearby fish market
Memorable Event(s) - People still did not believe me when I tell them about this (but I swear to God that it is true). It was my stay back in 2011 when I was woken up by a banging on my door at around 3am. I peeped through the peephole and lo and behold, there's a naked Caucasian dude banging on my door like there's no tomorrow. Upon close inspection (hey, not that type of inspection okay..) the dude probably had a little too much fun and got himself drunk and locked out of his own room, which apparently was beside ours. A quick call to the front desk quickly solved the problem and I pretty much continued on with my slumber, as if nothing had happen (as if).
Overall rating:  * * * * (it's still one of my preferred choice due to its very strategic location)

(P/S: Pictures below are mostly 'borrowed' from Tripadvisor.com so credit goes to them)

Outer look plus a view of the Filipino Market

A fabulous view of the pool & the sea

An example of a spacious classic room

A similar bathroom which I'd sprained my foot (my bad!)

Notice the DVD player at the bottom of the TV?

The entry/hallway for the club junior suite

The suite bedroom is on a separate room

An original view from the deluxe seaview room (from my personal collection)

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QD Cafe

I have to admit that I'm actually a sucker for small eateries. Numerous times I found out that there are a lot of places with pretty good food in those types of establishments, just waiting to be noticed (since they're not nearly as big as say... KFC). One such places was this QD Cafe.. which me and my partner discovered coincidently. My partner was waiting for his blender (yes, a blender) to be fixed next door so we decided to try out the relatively quiet eatery. If you're wondering where the heck is the place... it is actually situated at Jalan Chen Fook at Sabindo's main town area, specifically at the row of shops in front of an in-famous local Chinese seafood stall called Kam Ling Seafoood (more on that later).

Now what attracted us to actually step into the cafe ourselves were the very enticing looking pictures of their available menus being prominently displayed all around the cafe's walls. And I do appreciate the fact that most of their menu pictures (which consist of popular local dishes and Western treats) were actually pictures taken by them (as oppose to just downloading unrealistic looking pictures from the internet). Also another plus for them was the fact that they do have a ready-stock for all of their food even though there were very limited patrons around. We were very drawn to their Nasi Goreng 1Malaysia (my partner gave his thumbs up), Nasi Goreng Lalap (very tasty and spicy sambal, I loved it) as well as their version of Cheesy Wedges (rather small in portion but still very delicious).

** Current status - Has been closed (as of Jan 2016)

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Empire Building Food Stalls

So I did mention before in my previous post that there are around 3 major nightly food stalls in Tawau, Sabah and another one of those is this place. If you do visit the place, you'll see that the place will be jammed packed with people during the weekends as well as the Ramadhan fasting month. And obviously from the title above, the food stalls are situated right beside the very nostalgic Empire Building (said to be as old as my grandparents, or more) and in close proximity to Tawau's police headquarters in town.

Personally I prefer this place (as oppose to the previous one that I've reviewed) as it is brighter and cleaner looking but food-wise, they might be lacking in variety. Food stalls generally had very similar menus to one another so the competition were very stiff here. If you're a keen observer (ehem!) than you'll notice that some of the stalls are more popular than others so logic says that those places might be better in terms of taste than their rivals. So to test that theory, me and my partner (who'd frequent this place these few years) decided to try a stall with lesser customers this time around. We decided upon their Nasi Goreng Aspar (similar to that of Nasi Goreng Lalap but with more side dishes - which was not bad in taste but I admit that there are better ones nearby) and their Mee Goreng Ayam (my partner does not like it though, he said that it tasted weird and a bit hard to chew). So I guess we can conclude that yes, there might be some truth to the deliciousness (wow, even I'm impressed with myself for finally being able to use that word - har har har) of the popular stalls. Other than those heavy duty food, there're also a burger food truck (courtesy of Tawau's very own Nang Burger - man, those food trucks are everywhere!) and a single grilled chicken wings stall within the area for you to try.

** Current status - Still in operation (as of Oct 2014) 

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