Moz does Jakarta

I don't know why, but after all these while, I felt like doing a travel entry, so here I am ...

I'm currently in Jakarta, putting up at the very nice JW Marriot. Here are pictures of my most visited hotel for the year :P

The room at JW Marriot. Quite nice, and well appointed.

I had my check-in done in my room now, thanks to my new Marriot Silver status ;)

I had a visitor from India with me, so tonight, I decided to go out for some different food, rather than stay around the same area I always eat out at.

So, with Hunady, my local colleague, we went out venturing to Sate Khas Senayan. I'll let the photos do the talking ! Don't blame me if you get hungry looking at the photos, ok ?!

So, we went out to Sate Khas Senayan !! Yeah, it's a chain, but the food is still good. This one is at Menteng, a central Jakarta district, home to the famous and rich people.

My colleagues trying to figure out what to order ...

Someone looks very happy that the food has arrived !

The flying fish, gureme goreng, is a signature dish here ... looks like the ones they make at the Sundanese Restaurant at KLCC, but tastes much better =)

While this dish (I forgot the name), is made of egg tofu, omelette, and bean sprouts. Nice alternative to gado-gado !

But really, this is why we came ! The chicken sate, served over a bowl with charcoal under it ! Simply delicious. It's not the same as kajang sate in Malaysia, so it's not really possible to compare.

Burping AGAIN in Tokyo

Since some of you had some not so nice words to say about my post on Midori Sushi in Tokyo, I flew in to Tokyo to eat there again, and took this picture.

Now you know what I'm talking about ... See if you can spot anything in that picture you would normally find in Malaysia. This is the smaller sushi platter, there is a much bigger one that would have even more !

Now you know what I was talking about then ...


There's sea eel (not river eel), sea urchin, caviar with shrimp, octopus, cuttlefish, scallop, crabstick, fish and toro (fatty tuna) sushis. And of course, some tuna roll as well ...

Burping in Tokyo

Just a short update.

I have not made the trip to the revered Daiwa Sushi, supposed to be the mecca of all sushi eaters yet. This is the famous shop in the Tsukiji Market, where they hold daily tuna auctions (which is off limits to tourists like me anyways).

But today, I made the trip to Midori Sushi in Shibuya. Midori is an above average sushi place, not quite Daiwa's stature, but not bad at all. Everything is fresh, and the prices are good. And even at 9.30 pm when we left, there were still at least 10 people in the queue waiting to get into the place. We endured a 45 minute wait in a queue that was at least 30 long.

I ordered the dish pictured here. The 2940 yen one ... they changed some items to give us fresh buys. But it's .... delicious !

It's so good I think I can faint dramatically with pleasure ... it's ... yummylicious. There's fatty tuna sushi, shellfish sushi, octopus sushi, sea eel sushi, cuttlefish tentacle sushi, big shrimp sushi, crab leg sushi, abalone sushi, salmon egg roe sushi, uni sushi, fish roe on kelp sushi ...

If you guys don't see those sushi items most of the time in Malaysia, that's because salmon sushi is considered ... normal ... not outstanding. Try and order some fatty tuna sushi ... *burp* ...

No pictures =P ... just great memories.

Manila Makan & Shop Place: Tiendesitas

Having been to Manila many times, and usually just sticking to the safe and tested formula of Greenbelt, Landmark and Glorietta Malls in Makati for my shopping and makan, I've never really ventured anywhere outside of that ... until this past trip.

I needed to stay really close to the office, and thus, was based out of Ortigas City, in Pasig, instead of Makati.

For the uninformed, Manila is not one city. It's a metropolitan with many cities within. Makati is one. Pasig is another.

Our local Pinoy seafood meals. Garlic fried rice, spicy prawns and steam tilapia.

This time, for makan and shopping, I discovered ... Tiendesitas ! Wikipedia link here.


The name means "collection of little shops", and is like a small scale Chatuchak / Lumpini night market of Bangkok. It has sections for food, antiques, souveniers, furniture, clothing, accessories, you know ... just name it, it's probably there.

And just like Lumpini in Bangkok, there is live band show at night ! Not bad at all ...

Shops mostly closed by the time I left ... but to the Bangkok faithful, doesn't it remind you of Lumpini Night Market ?

I was having an informal meeting with a customer there for dinner, and we settled on some local seafood at a stall called Fat Butchie's. It's seriously not bad at all ... !

Fat Butchie's !

If you ever drop by Manila, you should really go visit Tiendesitas. A word though ... it's open from 12 noon to 12 midnight, and toilets are located in Comfort Zones. You've been warned !

Ordering what we want ...

*** Photos are of terrible quality because it's taken with my old, outdated, ought to be replaced mobile phone, You are strongly discouraged from suing me if you suffer eyesight problems after looking at them. I know a lawyer very, very, well ***

While going through the phone, I discovered there were some other photos in there ... so might as well publish it, although it has nothing to do with this post altogether !

Jalan Gasing sees a fair share of accidents ! I know the driver is ok, sitting by the road behind the car. This is near Catholic High School, where there is a sharpish bend. Don't speed lah peeps ...

If you have difficulty finding parking in Bangkok, the reason is because there is no parking. Here, you look for prarking instead !!! LOL !!!

Where to makan in Ho Chi Minh City ?

Traveling is tiring, but there are perks of being always on the go. I mean, how many people can claim to have eaten real Vietnamese food in Vietnam? I mean, Vietnam kitchen in 1U doesn't count! It's not in Vietnam mah !

My room service lunch - which is pretty good !

Last week, when in Ho Chi Minh City, I had a chance to try out the highly rated Quan An Ngon ("Delicious" in Vietnamese).

Nah ... address also give ... don't miss out !

Verdict: Good. Must. Eat. There. Every. Time. I. Go. To. Ho. Chi. Minh. City. Must. Try. Everything.

It's always full of people, both tourists and locals. In fact, there were more locals. That's always a good sign !

View of part of the restaurant from the 2nd floor. This is where you sit on low chairs, traditional Viet style.

They are a little like Marche - there are many stalls in the restaurant, each offering different specialities from all over Vietnam. But unlike Marche, where you walk around and order what you want, you order off the menu. Try out the noodles from Hue !

Starters.

It's cheap - around 3-8 USD per person if you don't pop wine bottles ... and the atmosphere is decent as well. And you really don't need to take Vietnamese food with wine anyways ...

My noodle main course. It tastes much better than it looks.

I'm definitely giving this place a thumbs up, and will visit again !