Vietnam Kitchen Revisited

Recently went to have lunch in Vietnam Kitchen in 1Utama. I have been a regular patron of this restaurant since it first opened its doors in SS2; their first outlet (sadly, it's no longer there!). It's prices have been climbing up steadily since then, about 3 to 4 years back. Back then, its prices were reasonable, a bowl of noodles costs about RM6plus.

At present, they recently printed new menus (which usually means prices are hiked up!) and now noodles costs around RM10.90-11.90! Those were the days. The food quality hasn't change much but my gripe is that the cold Vietnamese coffee no longer comes with a small bucket of ice and condensed milk on the side; added according to our own liking after waiting patiently for the coffee to drip into the cup. They now bring the cold coffee to you all mixed! Horrors! That's not how it should be served. So no more orders of Cold Vietnamese Coffee from me here. They still do the drip for the hot coffee though.

Crispy Viet Onions Cake (one of my fave snacks - topped with fish floss!)KCC's fave snack - Mango and Banana Prawn

Beef Ball Noodles
My fave noodles - Lai Fun Sliced HamThe tasty but small portion Seafood Noodles

Though service is fast, the waiters/waitresses that were dashing around (clearing up tables or responding to a customer's call) came across as quite a disturbance to the patrons. They would be clearing the table noisily and one waitress while trying to rush to the front, kicked my chair and gave me a jolt and didn't even apologise. They should be trained properly as to how to go about their duties in a quieter manner. The food is still decent (beggar can't be choosers, as my fave Viet food is in San Francisco, USA!) but with the escalating prices, as my mom said, we won't be eating so often in Vietnam Kitchen. As a matter of fact, I came across another Vietnamese restaurant elsewhere, and I'll be making a visit there soon.

Have food will travel!- wmw

Just Drinks, No Food (eh...maybe a little!)

On rare occasions when we feel like just having drinks and maybe snacks (usually after a meal itself! LOL), we usually end up at the mamak stalls. However, at times we do go to some of the Hong Kong eateries. They have a wide variety of drinks and snacks which look and taste a whole lot different from the usual teh tarik and roti canai.

Here's a collection of drinks pictures I took on different visits. I've forgotten the name of some of the drinks since some were taken months ago and some had names that were just too fancy and long for me to remember! I find Wong Kok's drinks are better than Kim Gary.

From Wong Kok Char Chan Teng

Royal Milk Tea & Pineapple Sherbet/Ice Cream Chocolate Shake

Mango Honey Dew/Chocolate Lava

Chocolate Pot (with bread, honey dew and bananas)

Honey Rolls (sweet, pretty good)

From Kim Gary

Ice Blended Drinks -Grape&Unknown/Fruit Tea (with real apple and lemon slices)

If you must drink and drive, drink Pepsi.
~ Author unknown, as seen on a bumper sticker

Seoul, Korea - Part 4

We then headed to Gyeongbok Palace which was built at the beginning of the Chosun Dynasty. Gyeongbok means Shining Happiness. This place was destroyed during the Japanese invasion in 1592 and was only rebuilt in 1865.
We then went to Itaewon for some street shopping where stall after stall line the pavement on one side and retail stores on the other. From clothes, souvenirs, watches, food etc. etc., the shoppers were spoilt for choice.

Food! Food! Food!

Cuttlefish anyone?

A really simple drink stall!
When they say handbags, they really do mean HANDbags!
Korea's own unique masks

After unloading a fair bit of the contents from our purse, we headed for our much anticipated dinner. Ginseng Chicken! Lovely meal indeed, chicken stuffed with rice in ginseng soup. Yum!
Before we headed back to the hotel to turn in for the night, I manage to take some shots of the famous Seoul Station.

To be continued...