Hence, this time, I make sure myself visit the single most popular and opted as the best Dim Sum in Hong Kong by many people, Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum, which is also a Michelin starred restaurant.

Oh, they are the cheapest Michelin starred restaurant too from what I search.

I also had read about the long queues to dine here. Luckily, you don’t need to be in Queue. Just go and grab a number, and come back at a later time.

Oh, a thing to note yes, nearby the shop, is a boy’s heaven. Boys? Well, it sold loads of toys that guys like, especially RC cars and guns. Yes, those air guns. Man, just look at those superbly crafted guns is an art. Ranging from pistols to snipers. Too bad, I can’t bring it back to Malaysia or else I will DEFINITELY get one!!!!

Oh….look at how small our tables are!!

After quite a long wait (almost 90 minutes of waiting), finally it’s our turn. We are lucky as many people had took the number but does not come back in time, hence it jump past few numbers very quick.

At this point of time, I also noticed that at Hong Kong, it’s best to go as a couple for those places that need to queue. You will get your seat faster.

The restaurant is really really small, which can accommodate at max around 30 person at one time only, which explains the long long long queue eh. 

Traditional glutinous rice with chicken (古法糯米鸡) arrived first at our small small table. The first thing I get to notice is the strong lotus leaf smell when it’s on our table. The rice is very soft. However, I don’t really prefer this type of marination. 6.5/10

The Steamed Fresh Shrimp Dumplings (晶莹鲜虾饺） is pretty awesome as the prawns inside is huge, and most importantly, the prawns are still juicy, unlike most places where the ingredients are usually dried up due to being steamed too long. 7.8/10

One of the most famous dish here is the crispy cha siu bao (酥皮焗叉燒包). However, this dish ruined everything. No, it’s not because that it’s bad.

I din’t expect that the char siu inside is so damned hot, and hence the first bite of mine, the whole burning hot char siu fly straight back to my throat. It totally ruined everything as while my throat  is very pain that I can’t really enjoy the food. To make thing worse, Tim Hou Wan does not served any cold drinks at all, and I have to live with the hot tea, which, well, just won’t help in my situation.

However, the char siu bao is really good. 8.0/10

Steamed rice noodle with char siew is pretty good too since the rice roll is silky smooth, something which you can’t get in Malaysia. 7.5/10

Teochew Fun Guo (潮州蒸粉果) seems to be pretty famous in most Dim Sum Restaurant in Hong Kong, but it’s not something which I and LY enjoy. It’s main ingredients are dried shrimp, dried radish, chopped peanuts, mushroom and few more. 7.0/10

The Siu Mai (鲜虾烧卖皇) here, to me is out of the world delicious!!! It’s literally the best ever Siu Mai I ever tasted before. I don’t know the ratio of the pork and parwns, but man, it’s delicious!! Some little bit of mushroom slices make this even more wonderful! 9.8/10

In total, it cost us HKD 110, which is definitely one of the cheaper Dim Sum among all those famed ones in Hong Kong.

Yes, it might be expansive if you were to compare the price to Malaysia, but bear in mind that in Hong Kong, cost of living is very high that almost every meal is at least double the price from what you get in Malaysia.

Oh, and besides, if you were to compare with others Michelin starred restaurant, Tim Hou Wan is definitely far far cheaper since most of them cost at least HKD150 per person to dine there.

However, if you were to asked me will I ever queue up for 90 minutes again for my next trip in Hong Kong, it will definitely a big NO.  90 minutes is just way too long for me.

Another however, since Tim Hou Wan is very near to ladies street, I might as well go and take a number, then walk around for like 1 hour before I going back and wait for my number. A 20 minutes or so queue is bearable.

Total Damage: HKD110 for 2 pax

Operation Hours: 10am-11pm.

Location: Shop 8, Taui Yuen Mansion Phase 2,2-20 Kwong Wa Street, Mong Kok

However, almost 99% of my friend who went to China, they all came back and whine about how sucks the food there is. However, that’s also because 99% of them who went to China, they all follow tour, and as far as I know, if you follow a tour for any trip, the food is usually 99% sucks to the max.

Most Malaysians also complaint that food in China is wayyyy too oily, but you might have to take note that in China, they uses chopsticks and rarely use spoon. They don’t pour the gravy on their rice like what we always do.

And hence, I always have faith for food in China. Luckily, even since the first time I visited Zhuhai, I am in loved with the food here. This particular restaurant - Hong Yu Xuan, which served authentic Szechuan （川菜）is my absolute favourite restaurant when I am in Zhuhai.

Century egg, also being listed as 1 of the most disgusting food by CNN is 1 of the must order appetizer here. I am not a huge fan of century egg back at Malaysia, mainly because we either eat it plain like that, or fried it when eating lor bak.

However, the century egg here are dip with the chilli oil and chillies on top just make this an amazinnnng appetizer. Absolutely perfect! 8.8/10

Their steamed grill fish is also 1 of the signature dish here. The fish itself is briefly grilled before it was steamed. It’s a bit spicy and taste a little sweet, but overall, very nice. However, since most of the fish here are grass carb, a freshwater fish with loads of bones, it’s a minor setback.  7.0/10

And finally, the dish that I loved the most here – Xiang La Prawns (香辣虾）. Although the prawns is a bit small, but the numb and spicy feel when eating it, while drinking some nice cold beer, man, it’s good to be alive! Besides, we also opt to have some black fungus and Enokitake (golden needle mushroom) in it. Arghh…how I wish I am in China now!!! 9.5/10

Usually when the portion is not big, they will mix all the prawns, crab and frogs（牛蛙） in 1 bowl, but since there are 6 of us, they separate it into 2 bowl. The Xiang La Crab (香辣蟹）taste exactly the same as the prawns, and it’s as yummilicious as it. 9.5/10

Oh ya, before I forget, there are 3 level of numbness and spiciness level that you can opt for, which is either small, medium or big. We usually opt for small spicy and small numb, but 1 day I would definitely want to try the big version, hehe.

The forgotten dish actually tasted quite nice too, but well, the overall taste of the crab and prawns is just too strong that makes the fish forgetful. 7.5/10

My absolute No.1 favourite restaurant in Zhuhai. The whole row got many other restaurants, just that I don’t have the chance to try it all yet.

Total Damage: RMB674 for 6 person (Most of the food here including the fish and prawns is very cheap, it’s just that crab is usually very expansive in China. The crab alone cost at least RMB300 already)

Contact: 07563228229

Location: 珠海市情侣南路青蓝食街344号

With high expectation, I am here, at SS2 mall, waiting to eat the food he always put on his mouth – Chicken Hot Pot.

It’s actually a franchise from China. Someone bring it in to Malaysia, and I heard that it’s a hit when they open their 1st shop in Kuchai Lama. Ever since, few more branch had opened and one of them is in SS2 Mall.

The design of the shop is pretty simple, full with wallpaper of the brand’s history, and name of dishes. There are only few 5 dishes to order here, chicken, prawns, pork, beef and fish. You can opt for mild spicy, normal spicy or extra spicy for each of the dish.

Since the shop name is Ji Gong Bao, I ordered the chicken one first.

However, seriously I really don’t like it. I just don’t like how the way it was cooked and I find that it’s too salty.

Being absolutely annoyed, I SMS my dear friend and he tell me that the chicken is bad, I should ordered the prawns and pork instead. Well, let’s give it a try, shall we?

While being considering prawns or pork to order, I was told that the pork is not ready yet, so yea, here comes the prawns.

The prawns itself? Well, same. I absolutely don’t like it. Again, way too bland.

Oh yea, I guess some of you will noticed that there are actually french fries under the prawns. Can you imagine soggy french fries being soaked with oil?

Noticed why there ain’t any rating in this post?

Yes, I am absolutely frustrated. I rarely go down to Kuala Lumpur, and when I am there, I want every of my meal to be good. Consuming this is just a waste of the empty space in my stomach! UGH!

After complaining much to my friend, he went to SS2 mall and try up this branch, and although he had their pork, he complaint it as much as me. He told me that their main branch is much much much better, but sorry, I will not try this again!

And no, no contacts, no damage (too much damage actually), no operating hours, no google map. NOTHING!

Again, here I present, the single food that I loved the most in the central region, the most mouth watering, and consider my top of the list food to be eated every time I go down to Kuala Lumpur, Lan Je Steamed Tilapia!!!!

This time, I visited their Kota Damansara branch instead of their main one in Rawang, simply because Rawang is just too far. Like in the past, I always visited a popular restaurant early, as in way early until I am the 1st few customers. This ensure that I don’t need to stand and wait for a table, or getting bad service due to business too good, or being need to dine uncomfortably due to someone standing beside and staring at me and waiting me to leave ASAP so that he can have my table, etc etc…..

Again, it doesn’t disappoint me. The taste is still the same, I still absolutely love it, and finish up the whole fish myself, and even LY’s one. Both plate, the gravy are dried up, with only the bones there….it’s just too yummylicious!!!!!

Only thing that I would complaint is my fish portion is a bit too big, and hence the meat is not as nice. 9.9/10

Oh ya, before I forget, I opt for their extra spicy version, while LY’s one is the normal spicy version, hence you can see that at the 1st picture, my fish got more chillies than LY’s one.

A HQ with 3 branches up till now.

I really miss those days where I am staying in Rawang, and I can eat my favourite food any time I want. Haizz…..

Total Damage: RM40++ for 2 person

Location: F-50G & 51G, Jalan Teknologi 3/9 Bistari “DE” Kota, Kota Damansara PJU 5, Selangor

Contact: 012 – 380 9391 / 012 – 932 9391

The new Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant which is located very near to it’s old outlet.

However, although choices are there, but it seems that those famous one will always and always be full on customers any day. Most of the time you will be fighting for a place to sit if you arrive any time between 7.45 AM and 10 Am.

Fried shrimp roll with mayonnaise, normal like what served in any other Dim Sum restaurant. 7.0/10

The crowd is even worse at those famous Dim Sum restaurant, and Foh San Dim Sum restaurant is definitely one of the worst. However, ever since they decided to build the mega huge building to cater all it’s customers once and for all, things changed.

Nom nom nom at the juicy Siew Mai (pork dumpling), very nice! 7.8/10

Remembering the old days when I always visit these Dim Sum restaurant in Ipoh at around 9 AM, I need find those diners that are almost finishing their food, stand beside them, using my willpower to shoo them to eat faster, staring at them, hurrying them mentally, and act super duper fast once their butt left the chair. I and my friends will spread out too so that our chances to get a table faster is higher.

The disappointing Har Gow (Prawn Dumplings) as the skin is too thick to enjoy it. 5.8/10

Having need to send LY’s cousing to the train station to catch the train at 5.45 AM, we actually depart from Sungai Petani to Ipoh at around 5.30 AM. I need to blast the music to basically keep me awake.

I forgotten what’s is this called, it looks like Lor Mai Gain (Glutinous Rice) but it taste quite differently. LY doesn’t like it due to it’s unique taste but I find that it’s okay as the rice is cooked nicely. 7.1/10

Arriving here at 7.15 AM, almost all the table at the first floor are already occupied. It was not long until the 2nd floor was opened to customers when all the tables in first floor are full. Man, I seriously doubt that this huge place will be enough now.

Another siew mai, taste as nice and juicy too. 7.8/10

The new Foh San Dim Sum restaurant is beautifully designed, by far the best looking Dim Sum restaurant as far as I know, bar with those restaurants in hotel serving Dim Sum though. The building is tall, making it still quite airy although crowded with people.

Steamed pai kuat (steamed pork ribs) that taste quite normal. 6.5/10

Service here is quite okay for me, much much better than others crowded Dim Sum restaurant elsewhere. Don’t expect them to be super attentive and able to cater all your needs in the brink of eye though.

The Double Layer Milk is something I can’t enjoy though. LY say’s its nice but I just tried 2 spoon and I give up. Yes, it’s very soft and able to melt in mouth, but I find it rather hard to swallow as it’s a bit too dry. Hm….

All in all, my dining experience at Foh San this time is very much wonderful. I can slowly enjoy my food, sipping my tea, rest awhile to prepare my next 2 hour drive to KL without hungry customers standing beside me hurrying me off.

However, I don’t know that if I were to come later at around 9 AM, will it be the same though.

Total Damage: RM42.40 for 2 person

Operating Hours: 6.30am – 2.00pm (Closed every Tuesday)

Location: 51, Jalan Leong Sin Nam, Ipoh

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Hence, I am so damned excited when I learned about Chin’s Stylist Chinese Cuisine is about to open at Tanjong City Marina in Penang.

The ambiance here is amazing, loads of stylish artwork, superbly beautiful hand painted dining plates which you can buy, whole list of red and white wine to pair with your dinner. You will truly experience a casual and elegant dining here, and with the great hospitality from Sam Chin, it just make dining here great!

By saving all the fuss on what to order, Chin’s Stylish Chinese Cuisine offer several set menu for their customers, price ranging from RM78++ to RM218++ per person. The RM78++ and RM88++ set requires 2 person minimum, while the more expansive set requires at least 4 or more.

After reading through the menu, I decided to give the RM88++ set a go.

One of the two hot appetizers served is the five spiced smoked fish. The fish taste great and the aroma is great.  Truly a great appetizer. 7.5/10

The other hot appetizer is peppercorn-salted tofu. Hm…how should I describe this dish? First bite, it’s a bit tasteless. Second mouthful it seems nice, but another bite, seems tasteless again. I can’t say I really enjoy it though. 6.0/10

Century egg in grilled red pepper is one of the three cold appetizer served, which taste like…hmm… century egg. 6.0/10

Hunan shredded seaweed does taste nice, but I think the original dish should be much more spicier eh. 6.8/10

Spicy turnip cubes does taste OK, but really, nothing to be shout about. 6.8/10

Ok, after the hmm….so….average appetizer, I started to feel disappointed and find that the price really doesn’t justify for what it cost.

Luckily, the man in dark rescue everything!

It’s their specialty, Chin’s aromatic crispy duck. Man, it’s truly their specialty and it really taste superb! It was served in full and was shredded at the table by the waiter.

This was actually a variation of the famous Peiking Duck hence you have all the usual accompaniments to match with the pancake, include the Hoisin sauce.

Seriously it’s the best Peiking Duck I had ever eaten. The pancake is soft with a delicate texture, the duck taste fabulous and when you roll everything together, with some chili padi as suggested by Sam Chin, man, it’s awesome! It’s hell of a delicious dish. 9.8/10

Crispy Chili Beef is one of the four main dishes served from the set. It’s a huge disappointment especially after the duck, since I tasted more flour rather than beef in it. 5.5/10

Sauteed vegetables in red rice yeast lead me to think, eh belacan kangkung?? when I first saw it. However, well, it’s cooked with red rice yeast (fu yu) which is something I loved. 7.5/10

Spicy hot poached fish is one of the world most famous style of cooking fish, originated from Szechuan, China. It’s full with chili and pepper,  as you can see when it was served. It supposed to be cooked with a hefty amount of chili oil too, and as you can see this dish is quite oily although the authentic one is way way way more oily.

In order to make their customers life easier, they took away all the chilies from the bowl.  Well, it might be a good move for most people, but I find that this had significantly spoil how this dish should be served. I find that they try to blend it too much with the local taste until this dish is totally different from how it should be.

It’s a dish supposed to make you sweat while you ate it, but since the spiciness of it is significantly tone down, and you can’t taste as much as pepper as it supposed to be, I personally found that this dish had lost it’s point. It supposed to give you a super strong taste too until you basically can’t really taste anything else.

Maybe I had tried the authentic one before in China, and I love this dish and love the authentic taste of it, I just can’t accept it to turn to something like this.  6.1/10

The last main dish of the day will be the 5 color organic unpolished rice, which taste quite blend though, but well, it’s organic rice, what can you expect? 7.0/10

The desert will be Jasmine Jelly/Sea Coconut/White fungus. Hm…really normal. 6.0/10

Chin’s Stylish Chinese Cuisine is supposed to served fine Hunan & Szechuan, but my advice is, don’t come here and expect them to be authentic. It’s no way near authentic.

They focus too much on suiting the local taste (well, seriously, not really everyone can accept the amount of pepper use in Szechuan dishes), and focus too much on health conscious, hence most of the dishes here taste so different from the original one. It might be welcoming for most people, but well, not me.

Anyway, I will still recommend this restaurants to my friends out there who wish to try some fine dining Chinese cuisine, have a leisure and fun dinner for some special occasion. It’s just that I won’t recommend anyone to come here for authentic Hunan & Szechuan cuisine. For those, it’s really hard to find in Northern Malaysia, while Jiu Jiu Szechuan Restaurant come really close, and it’s still my favorite place to have Szechuan food till now.

Total Damage: RM185.60 (RM88++ per set, 2 bottle of mineral water)

Operating Hours: 6.00 PM to 11.30 PM daily

Contact: 04 – 261 2611

Location: Tanjong City Marina (Next to QEII), Pengkalan Weld, Penang

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As the name says so, it’s an cafe with a theme of traditional design, antique style table and chair, with air conditioner on the ceiling, resembles the feeling of modern vs traditional.

All these with the quiet environment certainly makes this place a good cafe to hang around, chit chatting with friends and such, but how will the food fares?

Chrysanthemum tea and Dragon fruit juice.

Since it’s a cafe, choices of food is very limited. First dish, Fried Sugar Pea (tou miao) @ RM10. It does taste not bad, nothing special, but OK. 6.5/10

Braised Black Vinegar Pork Knuckles (Too Kar Chor) @ RM10. Again, another average dish with limited meat, as most of them are actually ginger rather than meat. The soup itself is not sour enough though, as well as the meat is not tender enough. 6.0/10

Braised meat rice @ RM7.50. Personally I hate this dish, it’s not interesting at all. The chicken itself is sorta tasteless…..grrr. Besides, the rice is also too sticky to my liking.  5.5/10

Curry chicken @ RM12. So little portion at such price? If it taste good it’s still ok, too bad it’s not. It seems that they cook the chicken and curry separately as the chicken itself doesn’t have any curry taste inside, and actually taste more like steamed chicken. Sigh. 4.0/10

I think you guys will also notice, the price here is quite steep for the serving. Well, it’s a cafe ma, what can you expect? Cafe food is usually priced higher, but taste average.

However, due to it’s environment, it’s still a good place to hang around, just that I won’t come here for my main meal and that’s all.

Total Damage: RM45 for 2 person

Operating Hours: 11 AM to 10 PM

Contact: 04 – 2622 113

Location: Kimberly Street, Penang

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Since it’s Taiwan cuisine, here are the pearl milk tea. From left to right it’s yam, original and champagne, costing RM4.90 each.

Taiwanese style clam @ RM12.90. Not bad la….. 6.7/10

Oyster and pork intestine mee shua @ RM9.90. I personally much much prefer the one from Shilin snacks, which has a stronger vinegar taste, with bigger and fresher oyster compare to the one here. This one is just very average, and definitely not worth the price you paid for it. 5.2/10

3 cup chicken set @ RM18.90. The 3 cups are rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil that were used to cook it. Although the portion is quite small for me, but the gravy is very thick and taste very nice. 7.5/10

Salted pork and fish with white cabbage @ RM18.90. Another average dish. 5.5/10

Braised beef and duck platter @ RM13.90. It may look nice, but actually quite tasteless, utterly disappointed. 4.5/10

Yam cake @ RM7.90, which is quite good, how I wish the yam proportion is a bit more than flour, but nevertheless it still taste great. 7.8/10

Overall, like most franchise Chinese restaurant in shopping mall, Xian Ding Wei do have some signature dish taste good, while others taste either below par or average. So you just have to choose wisely.

Total Damage: RM118.45 for 4 person

Location: 2nd Floor, Queensbay Mall, Penang.

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Although the restaurant was just newly repainted, but it still gives me an old old feeling when I am here.

Since we are in a chicken rice restaurant, ordering chicken is a must right? So here are the chickens, both the roasted and the steamed one.

However, the chicken is sorta disappointment. When you dine in a restaurant named as XXX chicken rice restaurant, you will definitely expect the chicken will be good, as it is definitely their signature dish. However, this does not apply to Tho Yuen here. No, I am not complaining that their chicken is bad, just that it’s too normal and average, nothing special to shout about. Maybe the chicken RICE is good, but we didn’t try it though. 7.0/10

Forget the chicken, this is what I came here for.

Yes, steam fish head with hor fun. This is extremely good, with the wonderful soy sauce used, and the natural sweetness that came from the fresh fish, oh god, this is good. No, this is AWESOME! I absolutely love it! However, this dish must be eaten when it’s just being served and still hot, or else the hor fun will become too sticky and won’t taste nice anymore. 9.0/10

Next up – braised duck and ginger with sang mee. This one was good too as the gravy is very flavorful and tasty. The duck meat itself is very tender too. 7.5/10

The signboard clearly stated “Tho Yuen Chicken Rice”.

Anyway, the food here is good, which explain the crowd too. I will most probably be back soon for their Dim Sum.

Total Damage: RM40 for 2 person

Operating Hours: 6 AM to 3 PM

Location: Campbell Street, Penang

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The design of the shop is very simple, and just few tables available. The same goes to find a parking space here, damned hard to find!

Honey Longan Wintermelon @ RM3.20.

The main thing to order here is their wine meehoon, and you can choose your serving with different type of ingredients.

Wine MeeHoon with fried fish and prawns @ RM10.80.

The Wine MeeHoon here is surprisingly good, it’s very fragrant and taste very nice. The slight taste of wine, the milky taste made this bowl of mee hoon rather delicious! As I am not a fan of having fried fish in my noodle, I opt of the normal version.

Wine MeeHoon with Garoupa @ RM8.50.

Since a bowl of noodle will never satisfy me, I also order their rendang chicken @ RM3.50. I find that it’s quite expansive considering it just taste very very normal.

Total Damage: RM34.75 for 2 person

Operating Hours: 10 AM to 10 PM

Contact: 04 – 228 6146

Location: 221-E Burma Road, Penang

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