Mt Fuji - Worlds' Heritage

It's a challenge both physically and mentally from the moment we woke. I'd say... The moment before bed the night before Mt Fuji Tour.

We've missed the originally planned bus, first bus that leaves Shinjuku Stn at 7.10am directs to Mt Fuji Kawaguchiko Stn, totally sold out! That leaves us one final option-take local train ... Trains ... Multiple if train changing to reach our destination. This also means we have to leave hotel before 5am = 4am! (our time) waking at 3am! 

Yay... We only managed to run and step onto the 1st change train sharp at 5.35 am local time. Next comes our nightmare. We are lost! We we're suppose to only change 2 more time before we take a 50min tram to Kawaguchiko Stn. A wrong time direction, wrong interchange station and a wrong info given by the Mrt attendance made us late! So late. 

We finally reach Kawaguchiko Stn at 8.55 am (our time-which also meant we were good 1 hour late!) however we had help from the lady from information centre, calls directly to our tour guide, a lovely Japanese lady. Told us to wait for15-20 min while they (yup everyone in the bus) comes back to pick us up from Kawaguchiko Stn so we can continue to join up the tour. While we were waiting, 2 Malaysian (lost, blur sotong like us) ladies join us. 

It was a fantastic tour. 1St stop was Mt Fuji itself. Standing tall, naked for us today. We are so lucky! There wasn't any cloud for it to hide so we had our sweet time taking photo with it. Bear with the cold...COLD weather that is. The highest temp there is not higher than 7°c... I was freezing! Running out of time before we can fully submerged to the breath taking view, like little ducklings, off we go to next destination, the garden of Mt Fuji-another hidden Jem to have Mt Fuji photo taken. Price to pay- has to hike up a step rocky path and few flights of stairs....it was well worth it for the Breath... Life taking view.

Time to break for lunch. A simple lunch from the station cafe. Too tired to walk around. Conserve some energy for 2nd part of our tour. 

The Wind Cave with a good 30 min walk in Mt Fuji 800 years old jungle, the lakes, and finally the Ice Cave. Every stop was killing! The view it is. 

Good story doesn't ends after we say good byes to out driver and tour guide. We planned to buy the 6pm bus bound for Tokyo Stn. I have a glinche that there will be limited seats if available. I basically run over to the ticketing counter after saying byes with our lovely tour guide. Lucky me and devil me... I took the last 2 tickets available. Leaving other couples taking 8pm bus back downtown.

Kedai Kopi 'kaya' Raya 花生包

Keningau is a sprawling timber and agricultural town and major town located in the Interior Division of Sabah, east Malaysia on the island of Borneo. It is the oldest and largest town in the interior part of Sabah.

We've planned for this trip since a year ago or so. Finally! We are here. Okie! I admit I was skeptical when I heard there is such soft, fluffy, and aromatic bread in Keningau. I was stuffing my mouth-full with one bread follows by another right after the lady deliver our bread to our table.

Family run corner shop tuck away from main road, Kedai Kopi Raya. Bread was made by the owner's son in their small first floor bakery and sell in their ground floor shop. Best time to visit is slightly after lunch hour. Freshly baked bread, out from oven around 12.30 pm and continues to add more variety as time near to 2pm. Caters more for tea break.

Apparently their most famous is their peanut bun. One of the kind where their peanuts are smoother and creamier. 

Next, they put a generous layer of peanuts on top of another generous layer of butter. On first bite, the soft fluffy bun greet you, then the crunchy fragrant peanuts flows in so smoothly with the butter. The mouthful peanut aroma lasted till after we finish our bun and elegantly wash down with their yet another famous 'Tea C'

Never waste the tiny space in our tummy and long journey to Keningau, we tried a few other bun and find most of then equally superb. 

We are spoil by so many choices available - the Yam Bun, Nestum Bun, Red Bean Bun, Tau Sar Piang....

The list just goes on and on and on and on....

Above is Nestum Bun (right side) RM1.40  and Cheese Bun (left side) RM 1.40. Personally I prefer their Peanut bun and Yam Bun, simply because Cheese Bun are just too cheeezy-with-butter yet Nestum Bun is a bit bland where its' taste-overtook-by-butter. 

Next round, if you happen to come to Keningau, this is a place that you must come over. Thinking of buy some extra buns and bring then back to KK, all of it are out of shape. Made a mental note, must bring a huge container on my next trip. Then I can bring back this delicious bun with me. 

Pardon me on these low quality photos, I took it with just my Iphone. Will bring along my DSLR and upload more photo on my next trip....

Final verdict? Make a note, must bring a huge container on your trip. Those buns are so mouth watering that it would be great if you have bigger tummy for all of it. 

Ambiance: 4/10 (traditional coffee shop)
Price: 7/10 (so worth the value but compare to Keningau area, consider medium high)
Food: 8/10
Verdict: Must visit

Address: Lorong Bumiputera 4 

There is no complete address but you can refer to map below: turn in from KFC Keningau main road

弹弓面 aka Springy Noodle

Hey y’all…going to Sandakan soon?  On my first trip to Sandakan, I’ve heard that it is a seafood heaven. Well, in fact Sabah as whole is seafood heaven, in case you don’t know. Seafood in KK is already more commercialized if were to compare to Sandakan or Tawau. I’ve seen tourist from all place bring back bags and bags of frozen seafood from Sandakan (and KK of course! How can you resist those fresh seafood calls out to you?)

If you happen to drop by, do make an effort to visit this family run home based eatery (they run it from their own house). We always go for brunch. You will have to walk pass their (now) living room (they turn their original living room to customers’ dining) then kitchen to be seated. Voila…sea view dining! Their cosy yet busy family run uses Mah Jong table and kids study table turn dining tables.

No menu but the lady boss is ever ready to list out (verbally) what they have and all you have to do is ask. Personally, I recommends their ‘弹弓面 aka Springy Noodle with deep fried pork 炸肉 and dumplings皮蛋饺’ or Sandakan version of pan mee ‘刀麻切 aka Knife Cut Noodles’ with a little twist (here).

Dried version of Springy Noodle (RM6) is pre mixed with some broth so the noodle doesn’t clumps together until the last bite. Needs a few more chews – more crunch compare to usual version of wanton noodle. Pork are well marinated before frying while the dumpling  always comes with a slice of century eggs wrap together minced pork and minced fish. There is one similar shop open in Market 88 serving similar noddle. To satisfy your curiosity without having travel to Sandakan, that is the place. You would know the difference  only when you have tried the original Sandakan Springy Noddle in Sandakan.

Final Verdict? Always look for local food and eatery where locals go? Look no further! You should also walk over to the last seafood restaurant at the end corner – they sell all kinds of deep frozen seafood. They provide free packing for all purchase. Just tell them you are taking flight back home.

Ambiance: 5/10 (Partial open air and tends be get warm! during lunch hour)
Price: 8/10 (Sandakan still maintain slightly lower priced food)
Food: 8/10
Verdict: Local food that runs by local.

Address:

Restoran 84,

No.84, Bridge 8,

Jalan Sim Sim

Sandakan

Love Cooks - Rose Steam Bun

I’ve always have special craving for buns. My maternal aunt made superb pumpkin steam mantou that taste so soft, so fluffy that I just couldn’t resist. This time round the year, I managed to squeeze some time and try on this recipe I found over the net. I remember I did tried steaming mantou say some 5 year back and failed miserably…

Today I try my luck again with the kneading and proofing and finally steam it. I must admit, this wasn’t the best buns, wasn’t even close but edible.

Right before second proof, it is shaping time. I tried to braid my bun with every effort left in my bones and fail! Finally, decide to make it into cute buns, just show off to my hubby and my mother.  We all had a good laugh and my mother said as if I am playing ‘masak masak’ (the one we played when we were young girls) instead of making steam buns.

Alright, enough talks and lets get down to the recipe. I will come back with step by step photos on petal shaping soon. 

Ingredients:

1 cup of bao flour (I used Superwhite Bao Flour)

1 tablespoon active dried yeast (pre mix with 2 tablespoon of warm water for yeast activation)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup of water

Jumbo raisin to resemble Rose bud (optional)

Directions
1. Combine the flour, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl. Make a well in the center. Whisk water into the well of the dry ingredients. Knead until your dough comes together and then add in the vegetable oil and continue kneading (would be easier if your transfer to table top for kneading). If you own a breadmaker or a food processor powerful enough to knead dough, I HIGHLY recommend using it. The dough takes a long time to knead, about half an hour by hand. The dough will start out to be extremely sticky.  Keep kneading until the dough is no longer sticky and is elastic. You should be able to stretch the dough without it breaking right away.
2. Knead the dough into a ball shape. Take a large bowl and grease with oil.  Place dough into greased bowl and cover with a wet towel. Let it proof until it’s doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

3. Transfer to a clean surface. Divide the dough into two equal portions. You may add in some red food colouring to resemble pink colour rose petals.  Knead into 8 balls each portions. Roll flat each ball and cut into half.  Wrap each half piece overlapping the other half to resemble Rose petals. Cover with cling wrap, let rest for 45 minutes or triple in size.

4. Steam for 15 minutes over boiling water.

TamJai SamGor 譚仔三哥米線

Hungry for big big bowl of Yunnan Noodle? Give this a try. We gave it a try mainly because we saw one of its branch nearby our hotel. We got to know latter, this turn out to be one of the local favourite choice. We were the second customer that walks in (just open up for lunch rush at around 11am) and even before we start dig in, trails of customers start. The place was packed by the time we leave with few customers waiting for seat. Mind that table sharing is a common norm in HK.

We were spoilt by their choices. Store manager recommends their big big bowl – Noodle Set that has all the 18 available ingredients. You could go for plain soup or top up HK1 to HK3 for spicy + sour or spicy soup. Good to share among 3 to 4 small eater. We weren’t fan of chili so we requested for medium spicy but you can go up to two times spicy.

There is also noodle ala carte at HKD24 with topping at HKD5 each. Apart from noodle and rice based, they have variety of snacks (Yunnan style) to choose from light to refreshing list. It seems that their spicy cucumber and chicken wings is quite popular.

Ambiance: 7/10 (air-con and mind the lunch hour rush)
Price: $$
Food: 8/10
Verdict: Worth trying if you plan to try on Yunnan delicacies

Address:

Hong Kong Day1

G/F. 24 Tai Tsun Street,, Tai Kok Tsui HK
大角咀大全街24號大同新村大貴樓地下

Mak's Noodle 麥奀雲吞麵世家

Nah…finally! Posting good food all the way from “The Island of Lights” - Hong Kong.

Recent trip to Hong Kong with just ONE thing in mind – Food! I’ve been doing my search on recommendations over numerous websites and food blogs. Then finally found one “openrice.com” HK site that has probably all eateries available in whole HK.

Due to time restrain, I had to pick and choose probably those suited my travel partner and I taste buds most. Feel free to use your wildest imagination to taste (with your eyes) below…

First off, the famous HK Wanton Noodle, Mak's Noodle 麥奀雲吞麵世家. They have been around for a long time since 1968 and pride itself with having been awarded with a Michelin guide recommendation (it is also one of the World's cheapest Michelin starred restaurant). 

Today, Mak's Noodle has several outlets in Hong Kong and Macau. We visited the outlet at The Peak. It is located just on the ground floor of The Peak Galleria. 

Okay, we ordered 1 bowl of Wanton noodle (HKD45 per bowl) and 1 bowl of dumpling noodle (HKD 45). We always start off with its soup, then the noddle and finally the wanton. We believe that the broth has been boiled long hours in bones and superior ingredients (its Wanton noddle in superior soup anyways) because the soup is just simply flavourful and sweet (the meaty way). The noddle? So fine, so springy, so eggy. Mak's Noodle Wanton Noodles are served in standard rice bowl. This is to prevent the noodles from absorbing all the broth and becoming soggy (I doubt the theory though). Each wanton contained 1 piece of prawn that was very fresh and crunchy. Moreover, it was wrapped in a very thin wanton skin that enhanced the crunchiness. Pork & Shrimp Dumpling Noodle was delicious too. The broth is similar to the one in the wanton noodles. The dumplings contained mined pork, shrimp, bamboo shoots and water chestnut. The dumpling was well marinated, very flavourful and crunchy.

There wasn’t any set meal at time of our visit so we ordered ala carte. Personally, small portion for guys esp for us from this part of Malaysia. The broth is too salty for us. Other than that, it’s worth to try.

Ambiance: 8/10 (air-con, credit cards)
Price: $$$
Food: 9/10
Verdict: Worth trying once if you happen to see any of its branch

Hong Kong Day2

Address:

Shop 1, G/F, The Peak Galleria, 118 Peak Road, The Peak HK
山頂山頂道118號山頂廣場地下1號舖