• Best Nasi Lemak (9 MYR): Village Park Restaurant, 5, Jalan SS 21/37, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya
• Seafood dinner outdoors: Restoran Siu Siu, Lorong Syed Putra Kiri, Taman Persiaran Desa, 50460 Kuala Lumpur
• Hainanese coffee shop for breakfast: Yut Kee Restaurant, 1, Jalan Kamunting, Chow Kit, 50300 Kuala Lumpur

Pick and choose

Since the area doesn’t cater much for non-Thai holidaymakers, most restaurants don’t have an English menu. Luckily most have pictures in their menus or better, you just point.

Seafood for lunch and dinner is what you’ll eat there. Very reasonably priced at 500-700 THB for a big meal for two.

A big meal for two at 719 Baht (<€20)

During my stay I checked out two places: Paya (click here for some great photos on another blog) and Jaepornpaktai. The former is a bit more of a proper restaurant while the latter is closer to a makeshift kitchen on the beach. They are within five minutes walking distance of each other. I didn’t really check out any reviews before going and just picked the places with the most people in and was very happy with both choices.

Not a single dish disappointed

Fresh Seabass

Anybody know what this is? Tasted very good.

Paya actually has an impressive and entertaining fire show on the beach around 7.30pm that is worth checking out.

Fireshow in front of Paya Restaurant

As I’ve previously written, Mae Ram Phueng is very quiet and there is not a whole lot to do. But eating Seafood all day long is certainly a pastime that one should not miss.
Location of Paya Restaurant:

Lunch with a view – Sardine Restaurant, Seminyak

If you’re in the area, check it out. The view alone is worth it. The fact that the food (all seafood) is very good, is a bonus.

Jalan Petitenget No. 21, Kerobokan

We discovered the Talpe Beach Restaurant & Bar through Tripadvisor as we were looking for a place to relax and enjoy a nice meal along the beach. Unlike most other restaurants along the coast, this is not part of a hotel resort but rather just a standalone restaurant. I won’t describe much but rather just let the photos speak for themselves. We got there shortly before sunset and enjoyed the views of fishermen catching dinner from the sea along while sipping on a cold Lion beer.

View of the dinner section & bar

For those who need it, there is a pool. However, the place has direct beach access so I far preferred the ocean for a dip.

Beach access from the restaurant

View from Talpe Beach Restaurant

Fisherman

Great way to end the day

Sunset at Talpe Beach Restaurant

The dinner we had was all local food done in a very good way. The setting is very romantic and even though the restaurant is on the main road, you can’t really hear any noise. We ended up paying around 7’000 LKR (€45) for some drinks and two main courses. Highly recommended.

Changi airport has countless restaurants both before and after security and nobody will go hungry. While prices are mostly reasonable considering it is an airport, they are higher than what you would pay downtown. One option that is priced similar regular prices are the staff canteens. I’ll cover them in a future post, I’d like to point out one gem. The Terminal 2 canteen has a Western stall called Wild Olives that is well known amongst the airport community. Generally I am not a fan of Western food in Singaporean food courts as it usually equates to pork chops with french fries or mediocre spaghetti bolognaise.

Wild Olives is different. There are creative and well executed pasta dishes as well as a range of pan-fried dish & chicken dishes. Additionally there is a range of side-dishes such as mushroom rice, coleslaw or salad that are all tasty. Prices range from S$3.50-6.00.

To get there, go to Terminal 2 departures and at the far right of the terminal take the escalator up one floor (near Starbucks). Go to the right towards the parking lot and you’ll see the sign. Wild Olives is easy to find as it is usually the stall with the longest queue.

If you’re early for your flight, this is an option I would recommend if you’re after good food at cheap prices (don’t go there for the atmosphere).

Pan-fried fish with mushroom rice and coleslaw

While our hotel was beautiful, we felt like we wanted to experience a bit more local kampung (village) flavor for dinner. We found just that at Warong Syahirah BBQ Seafood, as small street-side restaurant in the village of Tekek.

We were a group of eight and ordered a combination of fish head curry, black pepper prawns, grilled fish, jumbo prawns and then some more. All dishes were very tasty and made up for the typical halogen light bulb atmosphere. All in all we ended up spending a very reasonable MYR227 (€58).

Choose…

…grill & wait..

… enjoy the black pepper prawns

grilled fish

Everything at a very reasonable price

Without going into details, I think Wikipedia gives the best summary of what the dish is all about:

The name literally translates as “meat bone tea”, and at its simplest, consists of meaty pork ribs simmered in a complex broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic) for hours.

The restaurant we went to is called Yeoh’s Bah Kuh Teh and is located in the Publika Shopping Centre. To give you an idea how away from downtown it is, we ended up taking a taxi from the Petronas Towers which brought us to Publika (northwest) in around 20-30 minutes.

We tried the soup and dry version of Bah Kuh Teh and unanimously agreed that we prefer to dry version.

It was a dish that most of us had previously not known and likely would have never tried, given that it is apparently mostly sold in restaurants advertising their “pig’s organ soup”. We were told there were no pig’s organs in our soup… And while we might not be 100% sure, I still recommend to give Bah Kuh Teh a chance, I found it very delicious.

Yeoh’s Bah Kut Teh @ EAT Food Village (Publika Shopping Gallery)
Solaris Dutamas, 1, Jalan Dutamas 1, 50480 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Tel: +60 17-500 6634

Yeoh’s Bah Kuh Teh at Publika Shopping Gallery

Our favorite, the dry version whereby the broth is reduced to a thick gravy

Dry Bah Kuh Teh along with a soup

The “classic” version

We didn’t need to search for long until we found the ABC Restaurant. And with ABC being an abbreviation for “Always Best Choice”, we knew we were in the right place.

ABC Foods Corner

Our order consisted of Butter Chicken, Chicken Khorma, Chicken Tika Masala, Palak Paneer along with bunch of different Naans. None of the dishes disappointed, in fact all were outstanding. I let the photos speak for themselves and recommend this place for good and cheap Indian food.

Naan selection

Naan selection and chicken dishes

The three chicken dishes along with the paneer

The bill for four persons (€23)

I’ve tried Kebabs in various countries, including Turkey. My all-time favorites are those served at Lokma, in my hometown Hamburg and those at Tadim in Berlin. I vouch for both of them.

Back to Singapore. While the city has an incredible selection of food from all over Asia & beyond, after a couple of months I started to get a craving for Kebabs. I do have very high expectations, so I wanted to see what the city has to offer – the quest for the best Döner Kebab in Singapore (or let’s start out by finding a decent one).

One place I stumbled upon by accident is the Turkish Kebab House at Suntec City Mall. While not a place I would want to linger, it seemed fairly busy on a Satuday afternoon. Behind the counter were two Turkish guys, so I had some trust in the food they were serving.

Compared to German Kebab standards, I was disappointed. The bread lacked in taste and the selection of vegetables used left room for improvement. Considering the constraints faced here with supplies, I would say it wasn’t too bad. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there again but if I am again in the area by coincidence (as was the case), it’s S$8 well spent.

Decent meat, small selection of vegetables

Turkish Kebab House at Suntec City Mall

The restaurant opens at 11:20am for lunch (yes, it is unusual to open at :20) and by the time we signed for a table around noon, there was already a 30 mins wait. There are no English menus, signs, or pictures of the food. So we where very happy that our fellow traveller was Australian with Chinese roots and was able to help out.

The inside of the place is absolutely nothing to write home about. It might as well have been a inconspicuous noodle bar. But behold, the food was definitely something to write home about (or blog!)

Since we could not read the menu, we basically just went with what was recommended to us. The highlight supposedly being the electric eel which is only served three months per year.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves below. We walked out with a total bill of NT$1’500 for the four of us, which is around US$12 per person.

Here’s the address if you want to give it to your taxi driver: 台北市萬華區貴陽街二段116號

Otherwise just click on the Google Map below. Opening hours are 11:20am-2:30pm and then again 5:10pm-10pm.

Menu back page

Menu front page

We are at the top left of the waiting list

About a third of the food we were served

The electric eel