Restoran Steamboat King, Jalan Ipoh

Out with The Mahs for dinner, we were faced with yet another task of picking a place to eat. Driving aimlessly for awhile, WH decided to head towards Jalan Ipoh and decided to stop at Restoran Steamboat King.
This place is located next to the famous Kedai Kopi Mee Bon which serves dim sum till wee hours of the morning. I have eaten there quite a while back but found the dim sum mediocre but if hunger strikes or if one is craving for dim sum while suffering from a bout of insomnia, this will be the place to head to!

Anyway, Steamboat King is like your usual steamboat place. What was different is that they have this "Pok Pok Chooi" (which means very crispy in Cantonese) item on the menu. It's actually deep fried beancurd skin, tasting slightly different from the usual types we get from the Yong Tau Foo stall. It's extremely crispy and it's good enough to be eaten on its own, not dunked into the soup.
The other thing that is different is that they have this particular sauce that I found really nice, it's like a mix of sweet and sour sauce (more sweet than sour) with lots of sesame seed, fried shallots, cut chillies and spring onions.
We opted for the half and half soup; tomyam and clear. I personally prefer the clear soup when it comes to steamboat and it was nice. Tomyam kinda kills the taste of the food for me though I love spicy stuff.
They have set menus there which makes it easier to order as they come with fixed items. Of course you can also select your own ala carte style from the menu. We picked the set menu that had lamb slices.
The steamboat is not too bad. If you are ever in Jalan Ipoh and looking for something to eat, try out this place. Oh, as we were walking back towards the car (further down, passing Mee Bon), we came across a busy satay stall. It looks authentic and the satay smelled good. Guessed we will find out one day soon whether it tastes good too ;o)

There is no love sincerer than the love of food. ~ George Bernard Shaw
"The Revolutionist's Handbook," Man and Superman

Japan - Lighter Side

Jo has been in Japan since Sept 30 and she has been taking some pics and sending them to me. With her permission,I'll post them here from time to time. Meanwhile, here's two of them, courtesy of Jo.

Seems that when she tried to access my blog, it automatically turns Japanese....well, in this case, partially. As in Mrs. Pitt's comment here...it has some Japanese words "san no koomento" in place of the word "said" but the rest are left intact.
The other one is funny, it's from Jo's washroom. I like the part that says "Please do not flash anything other than toilet paper." Ha ha....Mmmm....But it's only natural to flash oneself whenever you are in there, isn't it? LOL......

Without geography, you're nowhere. ~Author Unknown

Seoul, Korea - Part 3

We went to have a look at The Blue House where the President resides and work from. There were many other tourists and traffic was quite busy. There were a number of Seoul policemen directing traffic and doing their rounds here. What was different was that these policemen were on roller blades. Some of them were even obliging enough to take photos with the tourists. Maybe our Malaysian cops should try these out especially those on duty for special events and need to direct traffic too. Anyway, since we couldn't take a tour inside The Blue House itself, we quickly moved on to visit the National Folk Museum.

The National Folk Museum has several areas. Aside from the building itself, there were a lot of other things to see on the grounds itself.
There were folklore performers who staged shows just outside the entrance to the Museum building. This attracted a big crowd and we took our spots to see the show (although it was just for awhile). Pretty interesting as they swirled and jumped about in their traditional dance with long flowing sleeves and colourful costumes. I would not have not seen such things before if not for "The King and The Clown" movie. Mrs Pitt and I said that the Korean movie is definitely less boring than "Brokeback Mountain". Sorry, Ang Lee. There were other performers who donned masks and reenacted stories too. Not that I really understood (it was in Korean) but the antics were funny and it was just amusing to see all those "animations" despite being behind a mask.
Not finishing the show, I moved into the building which was filled with Korean history and had many art pieces. It seemed endless to me and I couldn't finish seeing everything in there as time was restricted (usually is when you go on a tour package!). Plus taking photographs sometimes take up time too.

To be continued ...