Mookata Thai Steamboat & BBQ - A Deal from deal.com.sg @ Pure Restaurant [Golden Mile Tower]

That last mookata experience at Golden Mile complex left a deep impression on my palate and i could hardly contain my happiness when an ex-colleague suggested buying mookata deals from deal.com.sg for our occasional meet-up.

Place: The Pure Restaurant at Golden Mile Tower. Please note that it is tower, not complex! A lesson learnt the hard way as the hungry eight arrived at complex only to realise it should be tower! 

The price of S$30 for two persons included free flow Nestea brand green tea (no, it's not Singha beer)! Kon would be glad to hear this as he is a big water guzzler and can easily down a full mug in mere seconds! 

As every steamboat and BBQ device can accommodate up to a maximum of four persons, you are given the option to top up S$10 each (up to a maximum of two) to add more ingredients to the standard set. 

What goes into a standard set? There were bacon, pork belly, pork liver, chicken slice (black pepper or garlic), plain chicken slice, prawns and squid.

This photograph is not showing the full picture as we were already halfway through the plate when i took it! Other ingredients in the set included cabbage, beancurd, fishballs, crabmeat stick, vermicelli and enoki mushroom! Plain rice was separately charged at S$1 a bowl.

How could i forget the soul and essence of all mookata; raw pork lard!

Let's start the ball rolling and get the juicy fat melting! Unlike the charcoal powered mookata at complex (which i blogged about here), the one here was conveniently powered by handy gas canisters.

Maybe this would explain why the meat at Pure restaurant, despite the wider variety, lacked that special smoky flavour. Nonetheless, my friends and i were still very satisfied with our food! 

The less smokey environment was also less stinging for the eyes! Most importantly, you don't leave with that disgustingly bad smell all over your clothes, hair and body after the meal! 

Chilli wise, it was good but not as extraordinary as the one from complex; i bet this has something to do with the reduction of sesame seeds in Pure.

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Location

6001, Beach Road, 

#01-56, Golden Mile Tower

Map

As above

Reservation

Call 8666-6675 / 6291-0029

Menu

As above. 

The 5 Elements Boutique Hotel - A Review @ Chinatown [Jalan Sultan], Kuala Lumpur

The scrooge in me would not spend more than fifty Singapore dollars a night for overseas accommodation unless i don't have a choice (limited selection etc), or some dumb ass offers to pay for it! Haha.

I would have gladly settled for the cheaper Citin Hotel in my recent trip to Kuala Lumpur but Alex fondly remembered walking past the 5 elements hotel the last time we were at Chinatown and proposed to foot the bill. Yeah!!

Guess the words "the five elements" - traditionally the Chinese philosophy for universal balance has had some effects on him especially pertaining to his stressful work.

Our "boarding" pass! Notice the strip of paper with many numbers? That's the password for the complementary in-room wifi! 

I hate hotel corridors; they are always so eerie!!! This reminded me of my posting on the ten taboos to note when staying in a hotel. For those who wish to know more, please click here. 

Room

Before i show you the room, anyone wants to guess what lies beyond the curtain?

Ta dah! It has always been my dream to have a bay window sofa in my house and although it was only a temporary stay, it was truthfully almost a dream come true! 

Those apartments facing us was a bit of an anti-climax; i can so imagine wrinkly looking old men and women standing outside every door and waving to us at night. Just to set things straight; nothing of that sort happened. 

Both of us preferred to veer our eyes to the other side; the scenic view of Chinatown where we can see modern developments in Chinatown and its historical structures. 

Night view if you are interested.

Finally, a peek of our comfortable room! Honestly, the vibe was really soothing and i had the impulse to just crawl onto the bed and sleep the day away! 

Other amenities include a huge wardrobe where you can stuff an entire month of clothing which doesn't make much sense for short stayers like me. 

Television was a 32-inch LCD and i counted at least four power outlets to charge our devices! Good news initially until i realised only one was working perfectly! 

Bathroom was okay; no bath tub though... What i particularly like was the Chinese-designed porcelain basin; a vibrant "flower" in a sea of plainness. 

Breakfast

The cafe to have our complimenary breakfast is located on level 1 where it overlooks the shophouses bordering central Chinatown. On Sundays, you can even find a bustling flea market lining the road. 

Selection was severely limited and i had to comment that despite the pleasant surprise for the room, i was greatly disappointed by the breakfast.

Easily one of the worst i had. 

And i am a passive eater.

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Location

Lot 243, Jalan Sultan (Chinatown)

Map

As above.

Pricing

Deluxe (Normal Floor) - RM 197 in total

Website for Booking

http://www.the5elementshotel.com

Hot Pot (Steamboat & Barbecue) above the clouds @ Hotel First World [Genting Highlands]

The lower temperature at the highlands has commonly contributed to an increased popularity of hot pot (generally known as steamboat in this region) restaurants, as in the case of Cameron Highlands.

However, the same could not be said for the fun city above the clouds; Genting Highlands. From my understanding, the first and only full fledged steamboat eatery was operational merely a few years ago.

I am aware of its existence and had wanted to give it a try. In my honest opinion, nothing beats drinking and eating freshly cooked ingredients from a pot of boiling soup to warm the body! 

This hot pot restaurant went a step further by providing an external barbecue rim for BBQ lovers like me! To me, it is a perfect combination for the cool weather! 

For any all-you-can-eat buffet, the variety is of utmost importance. There is absolutely no point in paying over RM 30.00 a person and finding less than twenty types of ingredients for the hot pot. So before i touch on the quality, let's start with the variety. 

Buffet veterans would advise you to stay off the carbohydrates and concentrate on more expensive proteins like meat and seafood! Nonetheless, you have the choice of plain rice and various types of noodles. 

Vegetables are a no-no too although i agree they are an unfortunate necessity to having a healthier body and hopefully reducing hefty medical bills in the future. 

Take more bitter gourds which are antidiabetic; for your information, diabetics affect roughly 11% of the population in Singapore and is one of the top ten causes of deaths in Singapore.

Weirdly, you can choose to have more soup too from a selection of ABC, tom yum, curry fishball and chicken soup! I would have preferred to have them as part of my soup base selection in steamboat instead (on that day, i wasn't given an option and i assumed it was a standardised chicken soup across all customers). 

Wide miscellaneous assortment consisting of bite sized luncheon meat, sausages, fish balls, mushroom balls and other fishcake related products. What frustrated me were the missing labels that could have provided more insight on what they are! 

Ready-to-eat food were available for hungry souls who needed something to munch on in the midst of waiting. Nothing much; just deep fried chicken wings and fried rice (i didn't try any of them).

A number of basic sauces and condiments to dip your food. 

Eight types of free flow drinks (including plain water) to choose from! My favourite has to be the rose syrup drink that was nicely flavoured without being overly sweet. 

Now coming to the meat section! Meat lovers would be disappointed to find only four types of which three were chicken based (again, no label) and one was beef. No pork as the dining establishment served Muslim customers. I would talk about the meat later. 

There were more seafood compartments though with baby squids, cuttlefish, crabs, mussels, fish balls, prawns, fish meat, bamboo clams and other shellfishes. 

My review now. 

The prawns were not fresh and the cuttlefish together with the fishcake related food were rubbery and tasteless. Most importantly, the beef was not seasoned long enough resulting in a flavour that lacked essence. Chicken was marginally better although it was a chore to remove the bones.

There was a respite in the form of a teppanyaki station! You decide the proportion of eggs, greenies, mushrooms, bean sprouts and a staff member would whip up the dish for you!

It was definitely more savoury yet i am afraid it wasn't cream of the crop as well; my main aim was in fact the fried eggs. 

I didn't quite manage to eat across the varieties since Alex practically stopped eating after two bites and i had to finish all the ingredients myself! My tummy got so full; I could not stomach the fruits, the cooked food and the delicious display of creamy cakes. :(

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Speaking in my position as a meat lover, i am going to give this Restoran Hot Pot a miss in the future. To be fair, there was no attempt on my part to take on the veggies (doubt it would make much of a difference anyway)! 

Business operators from Cameron Highlands and Liang Seah area who wish to expand their operations, should seriously consider setting up shop in Genting Highlands! 

Location

Lot F/L 2.39, Floor T2, 

First World Plaza, Genting Highlands

Contact

+603 6436 0690

Price

Adult - RM 29.90

Child - RM 14.90

[Subject to Service Charge and Tax]

Gurney Drive - Bringing Penang To You @ Causeway Point [Singapore]

"Bringing Penang to you" - I thought this was a rather bold statement given the love many Singaporeans have for Penang cuisine. Honestly, i could not remember much of its food as my last visit to the Malaysian state was eighteen years ago!

I was therefore hoping that this supposedly popular Gurney Drive restaurant would help to rekindle some of the memories.

Blended Ampla (Left) 

Bandung Chin Chow (Right)

Ampla is commonly known as Indian gooseberry and was said to contain the highest amount of vitamin C in the fruit family. The healthy drink had a flavour similar to blended bitter gourd and you either like it or detest it. Bandung Chin Chow was very well-received by the Gang of Four for its thick creaminess and was even awarded the title of "best bandung" by Alex!

Grilled Stingray

Don't expect too much out of this! The ones in Chomp Chomp would have beaten it with minimal effort. Having said that, i quite enjoyed the sweeter chilli which was also less spicy than the norm. 

Penang Side Dish Platter

Out of the mixture containing belachan chicken wings, lemon chicken, lor bak and cheese tofu, i was generally unimpressed with most except the cheesy tofu. To put it on a more comparable dimension, i am seldom put off by cheese tofu! 

For the lor bak, i found them to be strongly flavoured, meaty and couldn't quite decide whether i hate it or love it. I love the fulfilling bite of each piece but I could almost swear it was made of internal organs (the animal parts that i don't take).

Balacan Fried Rice

Presentation was so simple and plain; i was already condemning it in my mind. Bloody, it cost S$8.90 a plate and yet, it didn't exude the appeal that could have compelled me to eat it! 

To be fair, the rice was the star (although the side ingredients were so pathetically proportioned) and it didn't fail to spark an element of surprise; I particularly liked the strong pungent aftertaste typical of belachan. The best way to eat it (and not feeling short-changed) was to mix up everything!

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Did i manage to rekindle any memory?

Sadly, no. 

Location

1 Woodlands Square,

#05-12/13, Causeway Point

Price

Blended Ampla (Left) - S$4.80

Bandung Chin Chow (Right) - S$3.80

Grilled Stingray - S$8.20

Penang Side Dish Platter - S$13.90

Balacan Fried Rice - S$8.90

[Subject to GST and Service Charge]