Penang Trip - Nov 2015

Went Penang for a short trip and chosen to stay at Golden Sands Resort as I have 2 kids. Booked our flights with Airasia 6 months back for $135 per pax (exclude baby). Our flight was at 11.45am and we arrived before 1pm. I manage to find a driver that provide us 2-way airport transfer, 1 day tour (2nd day) for 8 hours. If you don't have any itinerary they can plan for you. English speaking, chinese or dialect they are able to converse. We took their 7 seaters car service and paid $360RM in total. I find it pretty reasonable since I have kids and could go anyway I like, instead of getting lost and taking cab around.

We cleared the custom in Penang pretty fast! But the journey to our resort was 1.5 hours! All because of the jam, weekend and school holiday.  Finally we arrived at Golden Sands at 3pm! Checked in was smooth, our room was quite far end. I booked Deluxe room that comes with balcony and a free extra bed. But the extra bed was quite annoying as it was blocking the walkway and we knock against the 'legs' many times! Room was a little worn out and hopefully they will do some upgrading soon. And the air-condition was so hard to maintain. We set at 29 but woke up to 19! Call the maintenance also pointless! The kids love the balcony, especially my 2 years old. But it was raining all afternoon when we were there and it can get quite wet at the balcony area. Poor tv channel, which I find it important if are stuck in the room. Poor wifi connect and some stains on the sofa.

Our room 

Balcony view

Stain on sofa

Bathroom

Complimentary tea, nicely kept

The extra bed with the irritating legs lol

Irritating aircon

Since is already 3pm, we just went to one of their restaurant to have a simple lunch.

Calamari - Nice 

Hawaiian Pizza - Some cheese are not even melted yet

Very expensive lunch! We spend about $40SGD just for all this. This restaurant is close to beach so I guess if you come during sunset the ambiance will be very nice. After lunch we head off to the pool. Since there were many kids around, the pool wasn't that clean. And you can expect some files and leaves in their pool too,  After not long, the rain start to drizzle and we head back to our room, relax and waited until dinner time to head out. 

The night market which is located right beside the resort open after 7pm! We are slightly early and they were just preparing to open their stall. We chanced upon this foodcourt and settled our dinner there. This is the 1st foodcourt which is the most closest to our resort. There is another one which is just a distance away. But the 2nd one seems lesser crowds than this. Food is pretty cheap, expect for the so-so pancake which my girl ordered. I always bring my totseats along as I have doubts on the public baby high chair. Weather wasn't that good again, it starts pouring after our dinner and there isn't much stall to see so we head back to rest for the day. 

Foodcourt

Penang Laksa - $4RM not the best one but not too bad overall

Plain naan - $3RM which I buy to let my little boy snack lol

Chocolate pancake - $10RM super chocolately and super sweet

Oyster omelette ($8RM) and Chicken Wings which I forgotten to take picture 

Fried Noodles (Char Mee) - Black fat noodle which hub ordered. I didn't tried it but I guess it was from KL or origin from Penang?

Drop me a comment if you need the driver contact 

Penang Day 1

Penang Day 2

Penang Day 3

Satay Culture

My girlfriend saw this Satay Culture on qoo10.sg and asked us out to try it. So we went on one Wednesday evening, it was crowded at all. Only 3 groups of diner there.

We alight at Farrer park, went into City Square mall, cross the traffic lights towards Pu Tien restaurant and walked for another 8 mins to reach this restaurant. They do have baby high chair if you plan to bring your little one.

We went for their buffet, if I am not wrong we paid around $24 per pax. For ala carte menu, they charge by per colour stick. Range from $1 and above. Since we have 7 of us, the lady boss gave us 2 pots! So we opt for satay based and soup for another one. Basically the soup one is those which you could grilled or boiled. Satay sauce comes with peanut crumbs, not too thick that will make you sick of it! I actually prefer the satay sauce over the teppanyaki pan  and I love the cuttlefish in the satay sauce, it just match perfectly!!

You can find them at:

Satay Culture

Address: 

Satay Culture

219 Jalan Besar

Singapore 208900

Reservation:

+65 9336 1066

Opening Hour:

1200 - 2300 Daily

Punggol Seafood @ Punggol Settlement

Chance upon this restaurant after we cycle at Punggol settlement and we had returned again for their super nice Roasted Chicken! This time round I called and made a reservation because they are usually packed on weekends.

Punggol seafood used to be located at Marina Country Club before they moved over. Each time I was there I saw the boss who is helping to arrange and making sure the dishes is neat and clean before it is been serve. It also seems to me that this restaurant are their own family business. As usual, I will ordered their Roasted Chicken, a Red Grouper fish soup in claypot, Vegetable with Bai Ling Gu, Sambal Lala & Fuyong Egg. Before I start to recommend their dishes, allow me to rant!

On my 2nd visit, I met this super rude auntie! I asked her to take our ordered so I checked with her if there is any smaller sized of the steamed fish? As I planned to get the small one for my toddler so I could ordered more of other dishes. Guess what? This rude auntie start to raise her voice when I only asked her the 2nd time!! She is not wearing the staff uniform which I guess she must be one of the family member who runs this place. And she replied saying that since I kept asking this and that than she go checked with the kitchen 'lor'! What attitude is that? So I ignored her and ask their staff to take my order instead. Things don't end here, that rude auntie came back to us but she told that staff to pass the message to me of what smallest fish they had today! AM I TRANSPARENT? Probably she had a very bad day, I am just unlucky to provoke her!

Roasted Chicken - $15 for half and is good enough for 3 adults and my elder daughter. This dishes evoked nostalgic memories of the olden days where they served this dish on Chinese Weddings. It is served with Prawn Crackers and the chicken was so tender, not dry at all! The best part is the skin, so thin and crispy! 

Fuyong Egg - Nothing to shout about

Sambal Lala ($12) - The gravy was not that spicy and it is quite similar to the chilli crabs sauce. But when I had my 1st bite, I go "OUCH"! The clams was so sandy and it stinks! So disappointed! 

Red Grouper soup in claypot ($36) - After been annoyed by that rude auntie, I decided to order this. So happy that I made the right choices! The milky soup is so rich, fragrant & tasty! I drank 3 bowls of it!

Lastly is the vegetable, I ordered this because of the mushroom. Sorry, too busy eating and forgot to snap a picture The spinach is cooked in gravy with thick slices of the mock abalone (Bai Ling Gu), is quite nice too!

Total damage, we paid around $80+ for all the dishes which include drinks and the white rice. I find their price is pretty affordable and I will definitely be back for their Roasted Chicken again! 

You can find them at: 

Address: 3 Punggol Point Road

#01-08/09

Tel: 64488 511

Punggol Seafood

Sunway lagoon & Malacca 2015

Sunway Lagoon & Malacca 2015

Sunway Lagoon Part 1

Sunway Lagoon Part 2

Malacca

Sunway Lagoon & Malacca - 7th - 9th August

Breakfast area was a long queue when we were there at 0830am! We had to paid for our elder girl as she was not covered in the package we booked. Breakfast was crowded but I guess is was due to the super long weekends in Singapore and that why alot of people came here for holiday. But at least the food was much nicer that the one we had in Sunway.

After we checked out, yep I did many many checks before we leave. We went to Baba Charlie to get the fresh homemade Oneh Oneh. If you wonder what is that? It is a traditional Nonya pastry, a glutinous rice ball that is boiled and rolled with fresh shredded coconuts with a oozing sweet sugary liquid that will burst in your mouth! But this time round their Oneh was a disappointment, it doesn't taste as good as before. I even queue an hour for this! 

The kueh kueh that I going to pack home!

Traditional ways and no machine!

We went to JB, Premium Outlet for a short shopping plus lunch before we finally head home! A very rush, short holiday! I am planning to come Malacca again to visit the Husky Dog cafe and try out more nice food!

Sunway Lagoon & Malacca - 7th - 9th August

The 2nd day we had our breakfast at the newly foodcourt which I mention eariler. Very crowded, quite a spread but the worse about it was the food was not hot at all! Can you imagine having porridge that is not hot but luke warm? Food ran out fast but they don't replenish on time? We head back to our room to pack up after having a bad breakfast! 

After we checked out, our nightmare started! This is the ever 1st time such things happen on me! I actually forgotten about my baby boy 'smelly' blanket! Is was a white swaddle and I could have left it on the bed! And we are already on the road to Malacca so I called up the hotel to try my luck! Some of the staff are just super unfriendly. They returned my call and said they couldn't find it. And later on I received another call saying our PASSPORT was left in the SAFE!!! Can you imagine you have drove an hour and now you got to make a u-turn back? My hub was so mad, it was my careless mistake  He has been driving since yesterday and did not get any proper rest yet, my poor hub, I'm deeply sorry. So we went back to the hotel, picked up our passport and had lunch there. Hub was looking forward to have lunch in Malacca but was ruin by me! We tried our luck again, hoping to get the baby blanket. Thankfully we met a nicer staff who helped us to get back my boy smelly! I double and triple checked and don't missed out anything again before we go off.

It started to jam and we reach Malacca at 5pm! I ruin this trip, feeling very horrible! We checked into Equatorial Hotel and this time round I booked directly from their website instead of going thru the 3rd party. I got a small gift (hotel slipper ) as a returned guest for the 3rd time but actually it was more. But I guess it was not capture if I don't booked directly with them. And there is a welcome note on their TV screen when I entered the room. Best of all, after I submit the survey after my stay mentioning about the thin pillow, they reply and said that they have take note and will give me a firmer pillow for my next stay. How nice! I feel their room are much more comfortable and at ease comparing to Sunway resort. Not because they given me some nice stuff la and I have to review it nicely.

Malacca is a 'hot spot' for most Singaporean since they are just 2 hour drive. Nice locally food, few shopping to go too and historical places to visit. 2d 1n will be good for here, usually the people will come over the weekends.

Our lunch at Sunway, Canton-I

Cute & expensive Piggy bun!

Our room at Equatorial!

The 'extra' bed, that the reason why I booked this hotel

The welcome note!

For dinner we went to Cottage Spice again since Restaurant Makko is fully booked. Cottage Spice is walked in they don't take in reservation, please try to go before 6pm! 

Chap Chye - Kids friendly!

Steamed lady finger - My favorite dishes 

Steamed fish - For the kids

I think this is babi pongteh? lol

This seems like Curry Chicken, I also forgotten lol

Total bill came up to $190RM with drinks and rice. Compare to the BBQ at Sunway I suddenly feel it is kinda of expensive. You can find them at: Jalan Merdeka Taman Melaka Raya 75000 Melaka, Tel: +606 283 5040. 

Next we went to Jonker street, seriously starting to loathe coming to this place. Super crowded and people can still happily pushing their stroller here? And we spotted a couple taking their wedding photoshoot in the middle of the crowded and their poor photographer is sweating like mad!  My friend wanted to get some local pastries and hub wanted to get the Aik Cheong coffee which sell cheaper than Singapore if not I will tried avoid squeezing with the mad crowd! FYI, Jonker night market only open on the weekends. Resource from lonely planet: Jonker Street Night Market. And on our way back it started pouring! So everyone at Jonker start running! Malacca was so jam that took us an hour journey back to our hotel which only require 10mins if there is no jam.

Home sweet home the next day!