Kinnaree Thai Restaurant, Jaya One

My obsession with Thai food continues with our dinner at Kinnaree Thai Restaurant at Jaya One recently. Kinnaree at Jaya One is apparently a branch of the original restaurant in Bangkok so I was expecting good food.

The restaurant looks very posh and classy. I love the exquisite statues of the Kinnaree and the very beautiful frames of lotus leaves.

Now, about the food. We ordered the Yam Som O (Spicy pomelo salad with shrimps & chicken) and Som Tum Gung Sod (Spicy green papaya salad with fresh shrimps). The pomelo salad served here is an acquired taste due to the addition of thick coconut milk and toasted coconut flakes. The coconut milk made the salad very rich. It's very unlike the pomelo salads we've tried in other Thai or even Vietnamese restaurants. Needless to say, I don't like this salad at all.

The Spicy green papaya salad is served the way I like it. The lime juice gave it the tartness and sweetness from the palm sugar balanced it well. This is one dish any decent Thai restaurant can't go wrong with.

The waiter recommended we try the clear soup for our Tom Yum Kung as apparently it's better. It was a recommendation that we eventually came to regret because it sure didn't taste like how Tom Yum should taste to me. I have to note here that my mom makes a meaner Tom Yum.

For a less spicy dish, we ordered Kai Ho Bai Toey (marinated chicken wrapped in pandan leaves served with ginger and sesame sauce). The chicken was "over-fried" (is there even such a word?) which made it hard. It would have tasted better if it was not over done.

The Poo Nim Sam Rod (stir-fred soft shell crab in sweet and spicy tamarind sauce) fared much better. I requested for the sauce to be served separately to accommodate our daughter who didn't like spicy food. The spicy tamarind sauce was a good accompaniment to the simply fried crab.

We were recommended the two version fish (I don't know the name of the dish) by the waiter coz we cannot make up our minds whether we wanted our fish fried or steamed. I liked the steamed fish in lime juice and fried fish with a sweetish sauce is not bad either. This is actually the best dish so far!

The Stir-fried Kailan with salted fish was not too bad either, but then this is an easy dish for ANY restaurant.

For dessert we had the Thab Thim Krob which is served with slivers of sweet jackfruit.

I am a little disappointed with the food here but perhaps I expected too much. The dinner cost us close to RM300.00 which is very expensive for a meal that did nothing to quell my cravings.

Kinnaree Thai Restaurant12-1 Palm Square, Jaya One, 72A Jalan University, 46200 Petaling Jaya Tel: 03-7957 3910

F4 Fish Head Restaurant, USJ

Weekend dinners are usually looked forward to in our family. It’s a self-reward after a full day of house cleaning.

Last Saturday we had dinner at F4 Fish Head which is located in USJ Subang near the Giant hypermarket. F4 is a popular outlet for those “in-the-know”. It’s popularity can be seen with the many filled tables in the restaurant. We usually make a reservation for dinner because failure to do so means we’ll have to stand and wait for the other diners to finish, which is no mean feat coz it’s a very long wait.

We ordered the Ling cod fish head simply steamed in light soya sauce. The fish head was extremely fresh and meaty. Little Miss Picky loved the fish so it’s proof that the dish is a winner.

Next up was the homemade tofu in thick black sauce. The tofu was very soft and smooth and the dark soya sauce complements it perfectly. It is the perfect accompaniment for steamed white rice. We ordered kangkung belacan and “yau mak” stirfried in “fu-yu” (fermented beancurd). The vegetables came with a glistening sheen and were very fresh and crunchy. F4 serves very nice cuttlefish rings with salted egg yolk and also a mean Assam fish head. But that’s another post for another day!

F4 is located at Lot 776 Sub Lot 3 Jalan Subang 4, Subang Jaya Industries Park, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor. Tel : 012-325 9111.

Westin Nusa Dua, Bali

This is our 2nd resort in Bali – the Westin Nusa Dua Resort. It’s located within the secluded Nusa Dua enclave of luxury hotels and great beaches! Security is tight due to the bombings in Bali so at the Nusa Dua checkpoint, security checks are conducted before our car is allowed to drive in. At the entrance to the hotel, we had to go through another security check with sniff dogs. Once we’re dropped at the lobby, we had to go through a security scanner. Phew! 3 checks just to get into the resort. We definitely could not complain about lack of security!

The lobby at the Westin Nusa Dua is expansive and brightly lit. There is an elixir counter where specially made drinks are available to soothe away the stress and refresh and re-energize the guests.

Our deluxe room comes with a view of the ocean! Every Westin room is fitted with their signature Heavenly beds and bath. The beds are so comfortable it feels like we were sleeping on a cloud. It makes waking up so much harder in the morning. And then there’s the shower. The shower heads alternate between massage and rain showers. If that’s not good enough, Heavenly coffee powder are also available in the room so we had our very own cups of freshly brewed heavenly coffee. Ah! It was sheer indulgence!

The pools are the best part of the Westin Nusa Dua. Westin has a free-form freshwater pool with water slides and saltwater pool. The area surrounding the pools were beautifully landscaped with waterfalls, grottoes and lotus ponds.

Nusa Dua has one of the most beautiful beaches in Bali and the Westin’s stretch has white sandy beaches dotted with very comfortable beach cocoons.

There are many activities for guests at the resort such as Westin Kids Club, traditional handicraft making, aquacise and pool volleyball. Our daughter loves the Kids Club activities. One of her favourite Kids Club activity is fishing. The minders take the kids fishing at one of the ponds surrounding the pools and boy, do they have a lot of fun!

However, the best part is the daily procession that takes place during Westin’s Unwind evening ritual. We got to witness a procession to the temple which was both colorful and interesting. Lovely Balinese maidens dressed in traditional costumes balancing offerings on their heads and local musicians took part in the procession from the lobby to the beach. For the shopping addicts, there’s an open-air shopping mall 10 minutes walk away from the resort called Bali Collection. Another security scan and bag check is conducted before we’re allowed into the mall! Traditional Balinese dances by elaborately clad Balinese dancers are performed nightly in the mall. The mall is especially popular at night with diners due to the many restaurants.

Ubud, Bali

After Jatiluwih, we continued our way to the handicraft centre of Ubud. We were starving by the time we arrived – it was almost 3pm and we hadn’t had lunch. Our first stop was Ibu Oka’s babi guling which was highly recommended, but alas, they’re all sold out for the day. So we settled for lunch at one of Ubud’s famous restaurants, the Dirty Duck Diner. The restaurant was nondescript from the outside but inside, the restaurant opens out to a paddy field. It’s such a surprise and we felt like we were transported to a different place. Outside is the hustle and bustle of Ubud town with its hordes of tourists yet inside it’s quiet and unassuming, just like in a village!

Our lunch consisted of Nasi Campur for my other half, the specialty Dirty Duck (Bebek Bengil) for myself, fish & chips for our daughter and a side order of Gado-gado (Indonesian salad). The nasi campur comes with a serving of stir-fried vegetables, seafood sate lilit, crackers, prawns, tofu & egg. The specialty Bebek Bengil was a big surprise. The duck is marinated in local spices before being fried to a crisp, so it looked dried (mummified even!). However, one bite was enough to throw whatever reservations I had out the window. It was crispy outside and the meat inside tender! It sure was finger-licking good! The gado-gado comes with slices of fried tofu, egg and blanched vegetables smothered in a thick peanut sauce then topped with crackers. It was just as my grandma used to make. I would have preferred it spicier though, but I guess Dirty Duck’s foreign clientele would not like that. After the satisfying lunch, we were off shopping in Ubud’s main market. The market is a hotchpotch of goods with fruits, clothing, souvenirs, stone and wood carvings, windchimes, ceremonial umbrellas, silver jewellery, everything you can imagine in one place! Needless to say, I went crazy with all the shopping. My loot for today is a carved stone lamp, incense and tealight holders. They’re unbelievably cheap and so exquisitely carved too! We also bought a bag of passionfruit coz back home these are hard to find. The passionfruit were sweet and juicy!

Opposite the Ubud market is the Ubud palace. By then we’re too tired to walk across. We’ve been out since morning and it’s late afternoon already. We took about 1h 30 mins from Ubud to our next resort at Nusa Dua, which we arrived at about 6pm. It's been an interesting day of full unique experiences!