Good Deal @ Elegance Suite Hotel, Bangkok

I love to plan my family vocation trip, but, I always facing a issue - high hotel accomodation cost.  Last year, KH and my family decided to celebrate our 2010 New Year at Bangkok. So, five of us flied to Bangkok on 31st Dec 2009 and stayed at Elegance Suite Hotel, Bangkok; which I believe is a pretty good deal we had make. We spent about SGD629.55 for 3 junior suites, 3 nights. It means SGD69.95 for a junior suite per night (even includes breakfast), is it unbelievable good deal in such a peak period.

All the rooms are in the well-appointed suites and it offers a range of amenities to ensure a relaxing stay. You can’t imagine that you even can enjoy Thai massage in your room. As all the massagers are stationed at the opposite of the hotel, and they will serve you at your room after you make arrangement with the hotel staff. It sounds good as a 3 stars hotel, and worth for money as the hotel is located at the Silom area (where is home of Bangkok's top luxury hotels). Besides that, we were satisfied with the location as this hotel is located near the Chao Praya River, within walking distance of Silom Road and Saphan Taksin Skytrain Station.

That night, we went to find a space on the river near Saphan Taksin, where there is an incredible fireworks display lights up the night at midnight.

Mutton bone marrow stew

‘Dear, they have mutton bone marrow stew, do you want?’ KH

‘Of course.’ I said.

‘Ok, we order a little bit for tasting. But, do you know how to eat?’ KH.

‘Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be too difficult.’

I have mentioned many times in front of KH that I am keen to try the mutton bone marrow stew after I have read an article by a famous foodie (蔡澜).  So we were so excited when we noticed that the Indian food stall have provided this dish.

I was completely clueless when the red mutton bones, which stewed in a spicy sweet chilli, tomato, a little cabbage and mutton stock, arrived with a useless fork in front of me. Since the fork was useless, I found myself clumsily in handling this sticky and slippery bone by my hands. I picked up the bone, sucked it and tapped it repeatedly, tuk! tuk! tuk! ... tuk!tuk!tuk! Finally the buttery marrow slid out.

This greyish brown matter is soft and smooth; you can have it by spread on the toast. It tastes wonderful but not everyone can accept it, for instance KH totally can’t accept it at all.  But still, I suggest you to try once before you come to conclusion. (And always remember not to wear in white when you are trying this dish, hahah)

Tuk! tuk! tuk! after fighting hard with my bone marrow, I went home with red-stained fingers, a ruined shirt and a feeling of happy.

My recipe: Steamed chicken wing with salted egg

Since I was busy in preparing my exam, I didn’t cook for quite a long time. This is the first dish I would like to share with you – as it is a simple and delightful dish. I must admit the idea for this dish came from one of the contestant of a Singapore cooking show (Wonder Chef, 我要当食神) – when I saw him make it on TV it left quite an impression. I don’t have the original recipe, so this recipe is the result after testing and trying, hope that you will be inspired and create yours too.

Ingredients:

8 chicken wings mid section (you can use wing drumette too)

1 salted egg

3 heaped tbsp shredded ginger (depends on your preference, but more is better)

3 heaped tbsp shredded garlic (depends on your preference, but more is better)

Bundle of coriander, cut it to ½ inch

1 tbsp of Chinese cooking wine

½ tbsp of sesame oil

½ tsp of soy sauce
Pinch of salt and pepper (control the amount of salt as you have salted egg)

Marinate the chicken wings with sesame oil, soy sauce and pepper for 15 minutes. Put the salted egg yolk in the centre of the chicken wings.

Put all the gingers and garlic on top of the chicken wings.

Follow by putting coriander stem on top of the garlic and ginger.

Pour in the Chinese cooking wine and salted egg white evenly, and steam for 15 minutes over medium flame.

Dang! Put the rest of the coriander and serve it in hot.

This is a rather soupy dish, so I can enjoy the soup while I am enjoying the chicken wings. Remember having the chicken wing with all the ingredients (like garlic, ginger, and coriander) especially the salted egg yolk, as it enhances the chicken wings.

Hokkien Mee @ Kim Lian Kee, Chinatown KL

While we were waiting for our bus at Pudu Raya, we rushed to the Kim Lian Kee, Chinatown to having Hokkien Mee(Hokkien Noodles) as last meal at Kuala Lumpur. This is definitely not our 1st time having Hokkien Mee at Kim Lian Kee, and we never forget how tasty it was when we have had it in our 1st time. Since then, having Hokkien Mee at Kim Lian Kee is a must in my Kuala Lumpur’s itinerary.

Chinese Cuisine @ Restaurant Oversea, KL

Our last stop at Kuala Lumpur – Oversea Restaurant, the restaurant is famous for fine contemporary Chinese cuisine which emphasis on Cantonese cuisine. The group has 7 branches in Malaysia, and we went to the one which located at Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur.

Klang Bak Kut Teh @ Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh, Klang

I longed for the Klang bak kut teh so long since I gathered the information from the book by a famous foodie (蔡澜) saying that Klang Bak Kut Teh is originated from the restaurant, where is under the bridge (the location is next to a pedestrian bridge, not really under it as I thought.). Since we were in Kuala Lumpur, we woke up in an early morning and rushed to Klang to have Bak kut teh as our breakfast.

Turkish cuisine @ Istanbul Café at Pavilion, KL

We seldom have chance to try the turkey cuisine, so it’s a unique dining experience for us in this KL trip. We found exotic offerings of the well-renowned Turkish cuisine at this Istanbul café, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur.