Bandung Trip-Day 2 (Part 2)

After half day walking along both Jalan Riau and Jalan Dago, we did not manage to get anything from there. So, we decided to take a cab and visit Rumah Mode which need around 15 minutes drive. I have  read from posts regarding this place which offer a wide range of clothes and the price is quite reasonable too. I could said the offer and quality of the clothes are way better than any factory outlets we visited, plus it is more original. You will understand if you are here. I bought around 15 pieces and cost me around RM600 including brands like Zara, Forever 21, Hugo, Tommy, and many more. We spend around 3 hours there hauling, it is advisable to come in the morning so that you have more time to shop.

We had late lunch at one of the cafe there named Java Bean. The price is a bit expensive compare to town but still reasonable.

Long Cool Iced Tea-Rp 19,000

How long does this cool iced tea will last? I'm not sure but the name make us curious to order it.  It is a type of mint iced tea, indeed very refreshing and cool.

Iced Lychee Tea-Rp 24,000

I love this the most, sweet lychee tea. Taste a bit sweet, we asked the waiter to add water and he gave us a surprise look. It seem like the Indonesian can take high level of sugar. The taste of lychee was strong and smell good.

Nasi Goreng Java Bean-Rp 26,000

This is " Kampung Style" fried rice with belacan served with fried egg, pickles and shrimp chips. Looking at the dish, thinking that it is another simple fried rice we used to have. But we are wrong, it is indeed super. The way they cook the fried rice and the taste was very different.  You just can't find it in Malaysia. A lot of anchovies are cook together where how the fragrant come from.

Spicy Tuna Spaghetti-Rp 34,000

This is indeed a spicy dish (level 7/10), don't play play with the word spicy in Bandung. This is an Asian type of spaghetti which cooked with chilli and tuna only. No doubt about the taste, good but spicy!

Before we went back to our hotel, we drop by their local shoes shop- House of Donatello. It is like our Bata in Malaysia but the quality and price are much more better. I bought a wedge around RM60 but you could probably have to pay around double in Malaysia. The design fit perfectly for me for few pairs I have tried. If my bag still have space I would probably bring back 3-4 pairs. Worth it!

Dinner at Gampoeng Aceh which is located beside our Hotel. The guards at the hotel recommended us this place when we arrived first day. After a long day walking and shopping, we thought of having simple dinner near the hotel and call it a night. It is like our Malaysia Mamak Stall which served very simple meals like Fried rice, fried noodles, roti canai and murtabak.

Menu is very simple but a lot of choices on a specific dish. For example, Fried rice alone they served around 13 types.

Orange Juice

Iced Tea

Fried Mee-Rp12,000

It wasn't those mee goreng we had in mamak stall back in Malaysia nor like those Malay style mee goreng. The taste just doesn't suit us. 

Murtabak Biasa-Rp 11,000

The first impressions for the Murtabak- are we ordering omelette or murtabak? It taste totally like omelette to us, flour was very little used in the murtabak, I guess egg is cheaper than flour in Bandung. It taste great if it is an omelette.

Nasi Goreng Special + Ayam-Rp22,000

I wasn't expect much from the fried rice after what we have ordered above. Indeed the taste wasn't anything to shout for. 

If you are not too tired after a long shopping, I would recommend to go some other places to have dinner. Although it is near to the hotel, I would rather walk 100m more to get better food if I will go back again. 

See others:

• Bandung Indonesia Trip- Day 1
• Bandung Indonesia Trip- Day 2 (Part 1)

Nambawan Restaurant & Cafe | Taman Sri Manja

I have not been to here for quite some times now. It is located at Taman Sri Manja, the only restaurant served western food with pork in their menu here. If you are a pork lover, come over and try. I guarantee you will love here with reasonable price too. The only problem to this place is the parking, very hard to find parking because most of the time are full parked and even double parking. They do have basement parking but no one dare to park there.

Simple and cozy place.

The menu is quite simple. The waitress are two Indonesian girls which are very friendly. Most of the time, I found it quite empty even during the lunch time. I guess of the location and limited parking, people just think twice to come over here.

Let see what I have ordered:

Watermelon Juice-RM3.90

The potion was quite big with the price, worth it!

Ice Lemon Tea-RM3.00

Roast Pork Belly-RM14.90

I love this a lot. The roast pork belly was so crispy and delicious. The sauce make the whole pork belly much more prefect. The pork belly also came with some baked potatoes that is hide below the pork belly. The one that attracted me was the green sauce at the top side which taste like the Nestle's Tropicana Ice-cream except it is not cold. You should try it!

Fish and Chip Tartar Sauce-RM8.90

The fish and chip taste normal, quite nice too but the fish was a bit soft, the batter was crispy. I will still think the grilled fish is much more better.

Tomato Soup-RM3.40

Very thick tomato soup, fresh tomato was used, the taste of tomato is much more stronger than the tomato sauce I had there. :)  I love the taste. 

Garlic Bread-RM 2.00

Nambawan Restaurant & Cafe
10, Sri Manja Square One
Taman Sri Manja, 

Jalan Klang Lama, 46000 PJ.

Tel: 016-224 1533 (Yap), 013-263 2772 (Gilbert)

Business hours: 12 – 3pm, 6 – 10pm

Portugese Grill | Mid Valley Food Court

This is the new Oasis Foodcourt in Midvalley that used to be in the centre court but now they have relocated near the IT place. I know it have move around 1 year now but I have been to the new food court yet ever since it move.More importantly the stall that I used to order my lunch still there.

The Portugese Grill is the one I mentioned. They offered a wide variety of grills fish and seafood. Once you step into the food court, you could see a long queue waiting in front of the stall. yes, that is it! Very easily to spot because it will always has long queue.

All the ingredients are wrap with a aluminum foil and cooked on top of a big grill oven plate. Once it is cook, the staff will use a knife to cut off the aluminum foil and it is served.

Let see what I have ordered: 

 Ikan Bawal (Black Pomfret)-RM6.90

The fish was fresh, I love the sambal sauce the most, spicy and punching come with some vegetables. If you can not take spicy food, must think twice because it is super duper spicy. My friend end up ordered 2 extra beverages to finish off his meal.

 Ikan Pari and Sotong (Stingray and Squid)-RM8.90

Both of us love this the most, the stingray goes with the sambal sauce very well. Although it is still very spicy but we do manage to finish it off with all the sweat coming out from everywhere. The main thing that make this portugese grill taste so good because it is fresh and strong taste of the sambal, spicy, sour and sweet.

Paku-pakis-RM4.90

If you like to have more vegetables, you could also order extra vegetables like Kang-Kung, Paku-pakis and etc. Unfortunately, the vegetables still cook using the same sambal sauce. So you will have additional spicy to your whole meal.

The price is very reasonable. Around RM7 I could get a meal for dinner in Midvalley, I think it is quite cheap. I will always come back for more as long as it is still there. ;)

Old China Cafe | Petaling Street

I was introduced by a friend to visit this place. It is located near Chinatown which is just opposite row of ATC college. I spotted this place very long ago but did not have the chance to try it out. It has been a decade ago my friend visited this place. It is a cafe that served Southern Asian cuisine together with an antique gallery above the cafe.

From the outside, you can see it was decorated like those olden days house which you could still find it in Penang. The interior was not exception too, filled with old photos as well as antique furniture. It gave me a feeling like if I have gone back to my grandmother's time. It is kinda creepy too as I thinking back those ghost movies scene I watched, it is exactly decorated like this. :)

I found that fresh flowers were placed on all tables in the cafe. This is really special, most of the time we could only see fake flowers or plants on the table. It gave me more freshly and lively feel with the fresh flowers while having my meals. Really cheer up my day. Looking at the dishes in the menu, I feel like I am at my hometown. All Baba Nyonya dishes!

Here, they served food that originates from Baba Nyoya communities of Malacca and Penang  which features Malay spices as well as Chinese ingredients and cooking techniques. From the menu, you can order either set meal like Nasi Lemak, Fried Rice, Noodles and others (Not much choices) or ala carte like what I have ordered.

Chinese Mixed Vegetables-RM 9.20

The vegetables included cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, green and red bell peppers stir fried with prawn and ginger in oyster sauce. I thought it was like those normal stir fried vegetables, wasn't have much expectation on it compare to other dishes. But it came out to surprise us, the taste was really nice with the gravy.

Crispy Fried Calamari-RM16.80

As stated in the menu, crispy fried calamari but it was not crispy at all neither soggy. The batter for the fried calamari was quite special with mixture of spices. Although it is not crispy but you can't stop eating it, a piece follow with another piece into the mouth.

Babi (Pork) Masak Asam-RM 14.80

The pork is cooked in spicy tamarind gravy. It is taste a bit spicy with sweet and sour taste, more like those thick laksa gravy. Very nice except it was served cold and we have to request them to heat it up again. I think they have pre-prepare it before hand and just heat it up to serve. But it still taste very nice.

Here is the maps to Old China Cafe:

 

If you have time after the meal, you could even walk up to the second floor using the dark staircase to visit the gallery.

Old China Cafe

11, Jalan Balai Polis, 

50000 Kuala Lumpur

Tel no.: 03-20725915

Business time: 11am-11pm

http://www.oldchina.com.my

Bandung Trip- Day 2 (PART 1)

2nd day in Bandung, after early breakfast in the hotel,we started our walking trip to visit Jalan Dago and Jalan Riau factory outlets. There have more than 20 outlets along these two roads. You will be confuse with all the factory outlets and thinking which to visit best. Not too worry, in this post I will explain it all.

This is one of the road leading to Jalan Riau and captured this monument when we are crossing the road.

Holland Bakery, one of the bakery in Bandung that sell layer cakes and brownies. I personally quite like the brownies which has very rich of chocolate taste and not very sweet. The outer layer was a bit hard but if you  heat up with a microwave, it will be super.  The brownies sold at Rp 47,500, the price is a bit higher than Kartika Sari (another famous layer cake shop) but they are selling brownie kukus instead of bake brownies in Holland Bakery.

You could also see lots of Toast Slices selling in the shop. I guess it is one of their signature item in the shop. So we bought and try. It cost Rp 11,500. The taste was exactly the same as our toast bread except sugar was added on the bread. The taste was not bad, quite nice but it is a bit hard.

Holland Bakery

Jalan Merdeka, No. 68 Bandung

Tel: (022) 4221121

The green van is Bandung's tuk tuk which you will see it all over the place. If you are worry that you will have hard time getting a taxi, tuk tuk will always approach you first. Once you stand beside the road, tuk tuk will automatically stop for you even if you are not taking it. There are fast and cheap. Around Rp 1000-Rp 2000 for a short distance trip, so far I pay extra for them because most of the time the driver do not tell you how much to pay. Only the local know how much to pay. Like I said they are quick, once you off the van, just handle the cash to them, they will drove off.

Secret is the 1st factory outlet we saw in Jalan Riau. I am very excited before coming to Bandung after reviewing blogs about this shopping heaven. But after a round looking and observe, I feel kinda disappointed about it. I was thinking it will be like those premium outlets where all out off season branded goods selling at a lower price. However, what I spotted the most are those fake goods like Versace, Burberry, LV and etc. It is like our Chinatown selling those AA level branded goods in a unreasonable price. 

All of the factory outlets here are selling almost the same design of clothes and bags, just the price is slightly different and the size availability. I personally did not buy any from Jalan Riau and I almost visited all of the factory outlets in Jalan Riau.

You will see lots of these small stalls selling their local foods like mee, ice-cream and many more. I did not dare to try any of it. If you do not mind on the hygiene, you go for this local food which is quite cheap.

Lets look at some of the inside photos of some factory outlets. I did not capture much on the interior of the shops as most of the factory outlets do not allow us to take photos. From all of these outlets that I have visited, I found that all of them come with their own theme, no one have the same interior design of each other although they sell the same thing. I really admired their interior designs, some use modern style, some use cowboy style, and some with vintage design, very interesting.

This is the only factory outlets that sell all men's clothes. That is why it is called ForMen. Anyway, guys out there, don't put too much expectation on this. It is still the same as all the outlets here except they gather all men's clothes together. If you do not mind OEM goods with the branded logo, then you can go for it. The quality is quite good with reasonable price except that it is printed with a big logo like Burberry. For me, I prefer to buy original than fake one, if I cannot afford original I prefer not to buy it. I will feel embarrass if someone come up to me and say " hey, that is not the original.".

I spotted the Mr. Bean shop. The whole shop is decorated with Mr. Bean photos and other cartoons too. This shop mainly sell T-shirts with specials cartoons and words on it. It is quite nice but the a bit pricey. It can cost RM50 for a normal cartoon T-shirt without any brand on it. Anyway, do bear in mind that all the size of clothes selling are a bit smaller than the usual one. So if you are wearing XL size for the moment, I can tell you that you will hardly get any size here. So, please be prepare to have empty handed if you are a big size.

Stay tune for Day 2 (Part 2)

See more:

• Bandung, Indonesia Trip-Day 1