Breakfast at MacDonald

Normally I wouldn't step anywhere near a McD compound. But the breakfast offerings changed my mind. Oh, I just couldn't stay away from hotcake/pancake/waffle. McD's hotcake didn't disappoint.

Light and fluffy, even Princess gives the thumbs up (she won't eat the pancakes I cook :( and told me to put back in the fridge to eat 'later'). She's also digging the hash brown, keep saying she wanted to have it again the next day.

Comfort food - risotto

I love cooking and eating risotto. Perfect winter warmer.

The blog...got neglected cos Rabbit is super busy with Taiwan's Superstar [超级星光大道] , I watched all the episodes over and over and over again. But I haven't forgotten to seek out good food in Brisbane!

[Brunei] Ambuyat

If there is any dish Bruneian can proudly proclaim uniquely Brunei's own, look no further than ambuyat. Oh, if you must know the history and how it was invented by a Princess, please google it up.

Made from sago flour and boiling water, ambuyat is taken with a two head prong. You dip the prong into the gruel, give it several twists and dip the formed ball of gruel into a spicy and sour condiment, either binjai (fermented mango chutney?) or tempoyak (fermented durian chutney). Personally I prefer to mix the two with extra sambal, more intensio flavour and more kick as the gruel itself is tasteless.

Side dishes to go with the ambuyat

There are quite a few to choose from and the above are my usual order. Clockwise from top left: ulam (raw vegetable salad served with sambal), stir-fried pakis (fern indigenous to Borneo Island?), deep fried fish and ayam masak merah (chicken cooked in spicy and sweetish sauce).

The above sells for roughly B$20 a set.

Aye, a bargain.

[Brunei] RMS Diner

I've been downunder for a little over a month and I still haven't finish the Brunei post. Just this and one more....

For starter, we shared a salt and pepper calamari served with tartare sauce. I have a thing for salt and pepper squid/calamari/tentacles. I've just got to order it soon as I learn it's on the menu. Lovely tartare sauce with lots of bite. Calamari was a tad overcooked but we quickly cleaned the plate. I was hungry!

For mains, Big King had spicy cajun chicken strips with fries on the side. I had to have the burger, for B$5.00, it's too good to pass eventhough I don't normally eat beef. Love everything in the plate, the soft toasted bun, the coleslaw, the caramelised onion, the salad leaves in the burger. Everything was super fresh. But I've got to say Swensen's burger patty still rule in my book.

Dessert was fresh mango crepe served with vanilla ice-cream in a pool of mango sauce. Crepe is too thick but the mango serving was generous.

I enjoyed the food so much so that I returned with sis and a friend within a week!

Attack of the double C

I better post this before sis die of anticipation.

Bubble quilt in oh so delicious choco brown

Yes!! Finally I am the proud owner of one of the all time classic!! Woohoo! Ok ok, so I am a shallow designer bag freak in case you don't already know. I own less than 10 including the 'small goods'. It's not really a big collection if I dare say.... Awww please don't kick me.....

Model - Pocket in the city, small double flap

What is an old lady bag?

Yesterday I was on the phone with Big King who was in Deauville, France. We were talking about bags and suddenly I told him I am going to bin my Longchamp dumpling bag.

He laughed out loud and said it is an old lady bag. Hello?? A sexy lilac mini dumpling bag with leather handle? It's all the craze among them Jap ladies. Or until it became the craze among the above middle age ladies in town.

Oh well, mine is tatty looking already. Sis keep asking when I'm gonna bin it. I can't bear to part with it, maybe I'll just keep it in the darkest corner of the drawer. I can use it when I venture into the Valley so I can just smile it off when it was jerked away from my grasp and disappear with the pitiful thief FOREVER.

[Brisbane] Cafe Mi

Cafe Mi Sunnybank
Foodcourt
Sunnybank Plaza
Mains Rd
Tel: 07-3219 6288
10:30am - 10:00pm


Photos taken with Nokia E65

A Hong Kong style cafe famed for it's barbeque pork. I have tar-powed the char-siew twice and I can vouch it's quite good, albeit without the beautiful marbling but the meat is still moist.

We had initially wanted to have dim-sum, oh, I was craving for salt and pepper squid. We got number 60+, while the number being called out were 40+. Sigh...it would be a long wait, maybe 45 minutes. We left and went inside the plaza for food. We settled on Mi as the turnover was quick. Within couple of minutes we were seated.

Big King ordered the 'Golden Rice' (A$10.80); deep-fried pork cutlet with fried rice topped with fried egg. The rice is cold and the pork cutlet is dry, obviously over-fried. But taste is ok.

I ordered '5 Treasures Rice Noodle in Fish Stock' (A$9.80). 5 treasures were fish beancurd, fishball, fish springroll, cuttlefish ball and lobster ball. The so-called treasures could be bought frozen fromChinese supermarkets. Well, what do I expect from a cha-chan-teng when instant noodles were on it's menu. To make-up for the frozen ingredients used, soup stock is actually tasty.

I spied a covered tray laden with egg-tarts near the entrance and they were going for A$3.50 for two. Ah, why not, it's Princess' favourite. She was so eager to put it in her mouth, shouting she wanted tan-tart and fingers pointing vehemently while we peruse the menu. After I cannot tahan and shove some into her mouth, she diam-diam finally. When I tried to feed her some again, she said, 'mai bah, chin tee bah (no, very sweet)'.

[Brunei] Emperor's Court

Where: Hua Ho Mall at Jalan Muara, 3rd floor

We celebrated Chloe's second birthday with a dinner with family at Emperor's Court.

We had mixed hot and cold platter (lusted after the shark's fin scrambled egg), fried chicken in ginger sauce (for the fussy niece), claypot beancurd with seafood (crowd pleaser except the niece of course), braised lamb shanks with buns (restaurant's specialty) and spinach cooked in broth with salted egg yolk, century egg and fried ikan bilis (I love this dish! No photo, lost).

We finished with honeydew sago pudding blended with vanilla ice-cream and a beautiful Torte de Mama (chocolate custard sandwiched in between chocolate hazelnut sponge) from Sheraton.

Nothing except the shark's fin had pleased the guests with the served cake only half eaten and left ever so lonely on the plate. Mind, the cake is delicious and cost a bomb. I was secretly pleased that I had cut each a small piece and tar-powed the rest for my sisters and brother. It was gone within a day.

[Brunei] Dim Sum Cafe

Where: Same block as Trader's Inn Gadong, corner end close to Scouts Centre (pork free)

Usual suspects in a dim sum joint:

Top left to right Fried sesame balls with red bean filling and egg custard (very good)

Bottom left to right Steamed chicken in black bean sauce and chicken char-siew rice sheet roll served with fried shallots and sambal

Top left to right Fried hockkien noodles (it's sooo good) and dry fried noodles

Bottom Stir fried spicy sambal radish cake (yum, a Brunei delicacy)