<b>Top</b> Spot <b>Seafood</b> Food Court @ <b>Kuching</b> | Malaysia Food, Travel <b>...</b> |
- <b>Top</b> Spot <b>Seafood</b> Food Court @ <b>Kuching</b> | Malaysia Food, Travel <b>...</b>
- <b><b>Top</b></b> Spot <b><b>Seafood</b></b> Food Court @ <b><b><b>Kuching</b> <b>...</b>
- Easy Food Hacks: On the hunt for <b>seafood</b> in <b>Kuching</b>
- <b>Kuching Restaurants</b> and Hotel « Active Boomer Adventures
- <b>Top</b> Spot <b>Seafood</b> Food Court @ <b>Kuching</b> | <b>Best</b> Food Network
- Malaysia: A Country of islands and offshore geographical features
| <b>Top</b> Spot <b>Seafood</b> Food Court @ <b>Kuching</b> | Malaysia Food, Travel <b>...</b> Posted: 09 Nov 2013 09:57 AM PST Rooftop dining is not uncommon for fine dining restaurants and bars. But what about seafood in a hawker setting? Well, in Kuching there's this place called Top Spot Food Court where half a dozen of restaurants – mostly serving seafood (halal options available) operate on the roof of a 6 storey car park.
The environment is dim but airy and always buzzing with activity. If you are staying in the hotels along the Kuching Waterfront, Top Spot is reachable on foot within minutes.
Although you could sit down and order the dishes off the menu, it is more recommended that you browse and pick the seafood yourself – provided if you know how to judge a fresh fish. But from what we saw, the seafood variety here is good and more importantly fresh. So the tastiness pretty much depends on the chef's skills. Anyway, we chose Ling Loong Seafood among the available options simply because the name sounded nice.
The star dish of the night has to be the Grilled Spiny Lobsters, which were wrongfully listed as prawns in the menu. So you could imagine our surprise when these meaty lobsters arrived on our table. They were cooked perfectly, as the chunky sized lobster flesh was sweet, juicy and succulent.
2nd best goes to the Fried Bamboo Clams in Curry Powder, a delicacy that has a special place in the heart of Kuchingians. Compared to a few other renditions I've had, Ling Loong's could be considered one of the best because the clams were very fresh and did not have any weird taste. And freshness is the main thing to look for in clams, because biting into a watery and foul tasting one is the last thing you want to do. I have experienced that before first-hand and I can tell you, it's really nasty.
Midin is a must try in Sarawak. These wriggly yet crunchy jungle ferns are versatile enough to be enjoyed in many ways but sambal belacan style is our personal favorite.
Steamed Sea Bass – we could not find any fault in this common dish.
Unfortunately it was all downhill from here, as both the oyster pancake (more like a oyster cracker) and ikan bakar were quite terrible. You could take my word for it and skip these two. The oysters were overly deep fried which led to a dry and rubbery taste.
Overall it was still a pleasant meal and I only got myself to blame for the oyster pancake because I knew they were not going to taste fantastic just by the looks of it. The food's still good for most of the standard items like grilled lobster, steamed fish, curry bambooo clams and sambal belacan midin.
 Rooftop dining is not uncommon for fine dining restaurants and bars. But what about seafood in a hawker setting? Well, in Kuching there's this place called Top Spot Food Court where half a dozen of restaurants – mostly serving seafood (halal options available) operate on the roof of a 6 storey car park.
The environment is dim but airy and always buzzing with activity. If you are staying in the hotels along the Kuching Waterfront, Top Spot is reachable on foot within minutes.
Although you could sit down and order the dishes off the menu, it is more recommended that you browse and pick the seafood yourself – provided if you know how to judge a fresh fish. But from what we saw, the seafood variety here is good and more importantly fresh. So the tastiness pretty much depends on the chef's skills. Anyway, we chose Ling Loong Seafood among the available options simply because the name sounded nice.
The star dish of the night has to be the Grilled Spiny Lobsters, which were wrongfully listed as prawns in the menu. So you could imagine our surprise when these meaty lobsters arrived on our table. They were cooked perfectly, as the chunky sized lobster flesh was sweet, juicy and succulent.
2nd best goes to the Fried Bamboo Clams in Curry Powder, a delicacy that has a special place in the heart of Kuchingians. Compared to a few other renditions I've had, Ling Loong's could be considered one of the best because the clams were very fresh and did not have any weird taste. And freshness is the main thing to look for in clams, because biting into a watery and foul tasting one is the last thing you want to do. I have experienced that before first-hand and I can tell you, it's really nasty.
Midin is a must try in Sarawak. These wriggly yet crunchy jungle ferns are versatile enough to be enjoyed in many ways but sambal belacan style is our personal favorite.
Steamed Sea Bass – we could not find any fault in this common dish.
Unfortunately it was all downhill from here, as both the oyster pancake (more like a oyster cracker) and ikan bakar were quite terrible. You could take my word for it and skip these two. The oysters were overly deep fried which led to a dry and rubbery taste.
Overall it was still a pleasant meal and I only got myself to blame for the oyster pancake because I knew they were not going to taste fantastic just by the looks of it. The food's still good for most of the standard items like grilled lobster, steamed fish, curry bambooo clams and sambal belacan midin.
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| <b><b>Top</b></b> Spot <b><b>Seafood</b></b> Food Court @ <b><b><b>Kuching</b> <b>...</b> Posted: 01 Dec 2013 11:04 AM PST  This post is also available in: Iban, Malay  1/2 million ringgit price tags on CMS built homes in Bandar Samariang The Taib family company CMS proudly boasts of its "vast land bank" in its annual reports and has started selling off chunks for tens of millions in Kuching. Commercial centres and grand housing estates are also being developed in two key areas, Bandar Samariang, where CMS has 5,200 acres, valued around half a billion ringgit, and of course on the Kuching Isthmus, where land is even more expensive. But, how did CMS acquire all this property and who has benefitted? Sarawak Report has acquired shocking information about the way Taib and his family members have profited from this land, which was forcibly taken (official term is 'alienated') from local people and state ownership. We did it to help the poor The story that the Chief Minister told from the start was that this was land that difficult and expensive to develop, but that his family company was kindly determined to provide housing for poor people. Back in 2001, he even made out that CMS was doing this supposed favour in Bandar Samariang entirely "for the people's benefit" for "not much profit", because other developers didn't want to get involved in such a loss-making venture!
Such a kind old fellow!  Chief Executive and key shareholder at the time, Taib brother Onn Mahmud Interestingly no mention has ever been made again of these poor soil conditions by CMS. This is probably, not least, because in every other country in the world, developing tropical peat soil has been banned, because of the severe environmental consequences. To gain a sense of the value of this land handed to CMS in the guise of helping the poor, consider the recent news that the company has decided to sell on a parcel of 500 acres for over RM45million to Sentoria Group to build a theme park. Suddenly, another developer has been found willing not only to take on the job of developing the land, but to pay big money for the plot. However, this time of course the money has gone to CMS, not the government or the people from whom the area was 'alienated'. At the time CMS got this land for free it was largely owned and run by Taib's brother Onn Mahmud, who shortly after passed on his shares to Taib's wife, with the remainder being largely in the hands of the Chief Minister's four children. No nepotism at all then! Sucking money out of pensions too  Robert Geneid, the Head of CMS Property Development and husband of Taib's sister Raziah Mahmud. But, of course, the Taibs didn't really want to invest their own money in this mission to assist the poor with 'quality low cost housing'. Far better to use their influence to encourage the government controlled Employee Provident Fund (EPF) to put in the money instead. After all, this fat milk cow has been used to pour vast sums of money into endless pet projects to benefit BN politicians, meaning public employees can look forward to far lower pensions, despite being forced to pay a quarter of their salaries into the obligatory savings fund controlled by the government. EPF therefore was dragged into a joint venture with CMS and the investment in the "low cost housing" in Bandar Samariang began. But, in fact, low cost housing was only ever planned to form a small part of the project from the very start. The original terms of agreement, as explained in CMS's own annual reports, made clear just 1/3 of the area was to be housing for the less well-off.  Housing for the poor? The rest of the huge site was to be developed as an ambitious commercial enterprise. CMS's 1997 Annual Report was certainly not bashful about the profit-driven nature of CMS's latest housing project or the ambitions of its new Property Development Division, headed by the new husband of Taib's sister Raziah, the Lebanese Australian, Robert Geneid. It also reveals that, thanks to Taib's ability to pull the strings, that the State Housing & Development Commission had already been tasked with buying whatever 'quality low cost housing' CMS Property produced on the site, ensuring a guaranteed profit.
So, in fact, a mere 4,000 units of the token low cost housing have been included in the first phase of the project, all promoted in the beginning in a blaze of positive publicity, before CMS moved speedily to the much more lucrative "medium cost" housing, where units are currently being sold for the very fancy prices of anything up to half a million ringgit!  Phase 1 – including 4,000 low cost housing units guaranteed to be purchased by the Housing Committee Of course, the fact that the state has ploughed in major infrastructure, in terms of roads and amenities into the area, has made the development potential of this project ever more lucrative. Yet, the Chief Minister is still justifying his handing of it all to his family in the name of charity for Kuching's poor!  Presiding over his family's vast profitable land venture. However, this mother of all land grabs from the Sarawak people is just the start of the story of how the Taib family set about enriching themselves from this project. In 'Phase 2′ of our investigation we will be looking at how individual members of the Taib inner family circle, set about using the massive housing project to develop profitable businesses for themselves, with disastrous consequences for the very poor people in whose name the Bandar Samariang land grab was executed.  "The new township boasts a myriad of vibrant features such as improved road connectivity between central and South Kuching" Borneo Post |
| Easy Food Hacks: On the hunt for <b>seafood</b> in <b>Kuching</b> Posted: 19 Jul 2013 10:12 AM PDT Dinners out with family and friends in Kuching typically revolve around seafood. Kuching is famous for its seafood restaurants where fish, crustaceans and molluscs are displayed for your selection. On this trip, I was taken to two of the excellent but less well-known locations. I was surprised when CH, her sister Monica and friend Jenny took me to a mall. Seafood restaurants in Kuching are typically open air or at least self-contained. But there is a seafood restaurant on the top floor of One Jaya Mall, this is a sister branch of a seafood restaurant at Top Spot, Jalan Bukit Mata.  We started with an order of hotplate tofu and sambal midin (Sarawak fern shoots). It's getting very difficult to source midin for the home kitchen now as supply is prioritised to the restaurant trade. The midin was cooked with sambal, and is as delicious as I remembered. We also had a seafood tom yum soup.  The salt and pepper prawns were somewhat bland. The star of the meal was the deep-fried soft-shell crabs in salted egg yolk. This was crispy, creamy, sweet, salty and buttery all at the same time. I could feel my arteries clog up, but I didn't care.   Cousin KH and her husband took the extended family to Padungan Bay Seafood. KH stumbled across this eatery during a client visit, and had gotten to know the owners well; we knew we were in for a treat. The meal began with bittergourd omelette (so tasty) and midin cooked in Foochow red wine (u'ng ziu).  Then the seafood courses started. Some of the meatiest local crabs I'd seen, sautéed with egg. The crabmeat was sweet and succulent, and enhanced by the simple sauté.  Then they brought out some truly gigantic river prawns cooked with butter.  The steamed grouper was tender and sweet. Followed by deep-fried oysters served with a pepper dipping sauce, and some deep-fried squid.   We barely had space for the braised egg tofu, and only just made it out of our seats that evening. What a glorious way to end the makan (eating) session in Kuching.  I miss my relatives, friends and the beautiful, sweet crabs.  Bukit Mata Seafood Restaurant Padungan Bay Seafood Restaurant |
| <b>Kuching Restaurants</b> and Hotel « Active Boomer Adventures Posted: 22 Nov 2013 06:12 PM PST Our Kuching Restaurant: TopSpot While in Kuching, we found some interesting and delicious food atop a parking garage. This isn't anything new to us as we ate at, and thoroughly enjoyed Miami Beach's Juvia last year. In fact, Tom and two friends once lived in a New Orleans parking gargle for a few days, but that's a whole other story Back to restaurants and parking garages… TopSpot is a wonderful restaurant. But Kuching Borneo isn't Miami Beach, the parking garage on which TopSpot is located certainly isn't a star architect showpiece as in Miami, and TopSpot certainly isn't a star turn for a renowned chef. It is, however, a wonderful group of restaurants which we highly recommend. TopSpot is actually about ten restaurants and is best described as a seafood centric food court in which all of the food is totally fresh, patrons select exactly the fish, crab or lobster they want, and one of perhaps six ways in which they would like it prepared. While those that specialize in seafood have attractive displays of a large range of fresh fish and shellfish (and often vegetables as accompaniments), not all sell seafood. A few have other specialties,such as meat, satay and local Malaysian dishes. One even focuses exclusively on coconut deserts. We were like kids in the proverbial candy shop. We didn't know where to start. We chose Lung Loong Seafood (restaurant #6), starting with bamboo clams steamed in soy sauce and garlic (small, but very good), followed by barbecued stingray (underdone fish and overpowering sauce) and finished up with a delicious, steamed river crab. We rounded this off with a plate of steamed oyster mushrooms, baby corn and sugar snap peas. All this and a bottle of Wolf-Blass Chardonnay for about $40–with the wine accounting for over half the total tab! So good, in fact, that we didn't even consider going to another restaurant and returned the next night for more clam and crabs, and to try another fish and one of the coconut deserts. When we returned, we tried Bukit Mata Seafood (#25). Since our appetites were limited by a late lunch, we reluctantly limited ourselves to two dishes and vegetables: large stir-fried, garlic-ginger sea clams; followed by their specialty–a large ( over 2 kg) steamed river crab that was then pan-fried in slightly sweeten, roux-based salted egg yolk; accompanied by steamed oyster mushrooms, baby corn and sugar snap peas in a light mushroom sauce. Everything was incredible, with every dish,aided by the sauce. Combined with a bottle of Chilean Vina Maipo Chardonnay, this feast set is back less than $50, again with the wine wine more than half. Absolutely one of the most satisfying, best price/value restaurant meals we've ever had. As if this weren't enough,we stopped at the coconut stand for a fresh glass of coconut juice with strips of coconut meat and longon fruits. Again delicious.the price for this, less than $1
Doing Chinese In the Pullman Hotel We were travelling during the rainy season and encounter pouring rain around lunchtime (plus TopSpot wasn't open for lunch). So we decided to eat lunch at our hotel (Pullman). After a review of our dining options, we decided on its Chinese restaurant. After all, we hadn't been in China for almost a month, and it would be another month since we would return to Hong Kong. We began with two orders of dim sum: very good chicken and shrimp dumpling and pretty good, lightly deep fried (versus pan-fried which we generally prefer) pork Shanghai dumpling. We followed this with a "medium (versus large) order of Peking duck three ways. When we saw the half-duck come out, we were surprised to see that it all went into dumplings, which our server made for us. Then, a few minutes later, came a platter with four duck dumpling and stir-fried duck with ginger and scallion. We weren't overly impressed. The duck, while crisp, was dry and lacking in flavor. We disguised this by adding more hoisin sauce to the dumplings. The dumplings, however, were in a rather bland broth and the stir-fried duck was a bit too heavy on ginger for our tastes. This being said, however, the service was excellent. Hotel: Pullman Kuching Our hotel in Kuching was the Pullman Hotel. It was very comfortable and a close walk to "downtown" and to the museums. The bathroom was very large with a nice shower, scale, toiletries, etc. Linens were soft and we had plenty of towels plus bathrobes. They even had wash cloths, which not all hotels have. The bed was very comfortable too. As a bonus, the hotel was right near a laundry and TopSpot. Even though their web site said they charged for wifi, they did provide free passwords for wireless in the common areas and in the room, |
| <b>Top</b> Spot <b>Seafood</b> Food Court @ <b>Kuching</b> | <b>Best</b> Food Network Posted: 09 Nov 2013 01:57 AM PST By vkeong Rooftop dining is not uncommon for fine dining restaurants and bars. But what about seafood in a hawker setting? Well, in Kuching there's this place called Top Spot Food Court where half a dozen of restaurants – mostly serving seafood (halal options available) operate on the roof of a 6 storey car park. The environment Food Blog by: VKeong |
| Malaysia: A Country of islands and offshore geographical features Posted: 04 Nov 2013 01:34 PM PST
There're lots of choices to stay in Malaysia, so it's tough to decide where to stay? Mid-range hotels and 5 stars hotels with Chinese, Indian or Malaysian traditional cuisine and cozy rooms are easily available for vacationers/visitors anywhere in cities. You can enjoy luxury hotels or resorts located on islands. Accommodation is so cheap in Malaysia, you can easily get a room for $ 3 to $ 9 USD/night. Private rooms are available for $ 11 to $ 20 USD/night. You can camp in Taman Negara and can save lodgings cost. Anyways, here're some suggestions. Lone Pine Hotel, located Batu Ferringhi, Penang Island, posses welcoming staff, stunning swimming pool, lip-smacking food, and calm atmosphere with beautiful sea views. You can get a huge variety of cocktails in bar corner. Golden Sands Resort by Shangri-La, located on Batu Ferringhi beach, Penang Island, is a fantastic family resort, offers services such as water sports, tennis court, delicious food, pools, cozy rooms, hospitable staff and family entertainment center. Its cuisine includes Bar & Grill pizzas and seafood, tea/coffee, snacks, pastries.
Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur, in Kuala Lumpur City Centre, is a fantastic hotel with superb services. Welcoming staff, comfortable rooms, suspended pool and delicious Malaysian food make it more worthy staying. Tanjong Jara Resort, located on Batu, Dungun, is one of the top 25 hotels in Malaysia, offers services such as Spa village, Pools, tennis court, delicious dining out, air-conditioned rooms, seafood and bar. You can spend a relaxing morning with coffee and newspaper on the beach. Berjaya Tioman Resort, located in Pulau Tioman, is a traditional Malay style resort, offers services like pools, golf, tennis court, spa, coffee, snacks, global drinks, tasty food, air-conditioning cozy rooms and water sports including diving, fishing, snorkelling etc. The Majestic Hotel, Majestic Malacca, Cameron Highlands Resort and Sama-Sama Hotel, in Kuala Lumpur, Holiday Villa Beach Resort & Spa and Four Seasons Resort in Langkawi, Miri Marriot Resort & Spa, Mega Hotel, Grand Palace Hotel and Imperial Palace Hotel in Miri, Seven Terraces, Yeng Keng Hotel, Museum Hotel and Hotel Panega are also wonderful places to stay in Malaysia. As far as meal is concerned, you can have it in restaurants, western hotels , cooking own when living in camping or as a street meal and just have to pay $1 to $3 USD /head for street meal, $4 to $6 USD/head in restaurants while western food is a bit expensive. Malaysia is a Muslim country that's why drinks are expensive here. Anyways, here are some suggestions of restaurants for you. Dining in the Dark, located on Changkat Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, is an amazing restaurant deeply into darkness and offers delicious food including soups, desserts etc.
Black Forest, located on Changkat Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, offers German cuisine. Kebaya, located on Stewart Lane, Georgetown, Penang Island, offers good services and food. Living Room Cafe Bar & Gallery, located on Batu Ferringhi, Penang Island, is a good place for families, lovebirds, special occasion or groups. You can enjoy Bar, Asian and Eclectic cuisine here until late night. Top Spot Food Court, located Bukit Mata Kuching, Kuching is a family restaurant, offers best seafood and opens until late night. Jambu Restaurant and Lounge, located on Crookshank Road, Kuching is a restaurant offers best pasta in town. It also deals with Bistro, Bar for cocktails and Tapas etc. Black bean, The Heritage, Tribal Stove and Bella Italia are also superb restaurants in Kuching with the fantastic setting near river. La Casa Kuantan, Crocodile Rock Pizza & Grill Restaurant, Satay Zul, and Dallah Restaurant in Kuantan offer great services with superb cuisine. Malaysia is a country with many attractions or points of interests and more exciting thing is those are quite cheap. Here're some suggestions, and you must visit those places once you are in Malaysia. Birch Memorial Clock Tower, located in one of the biggest cities of Malaysia named "Ipoh". Here're plenty of attention-grabbing sights such as museums, temples and historical buildings.
Galeria Perdana, Rice Museum, and Padi Langkawi, in Langkawi, are amazing places with precious stuff and collection, to visit. Langkawi is a beautiful island with lovely beaches and plenty of interesting sights. Ave Stella Maris Catholic Chapel is a beautiful church. Langkawi Wildlife Park and Underwater World are educational and exciting places with lots of fun. The Islamic city "Kota Bharu" is a great city with royal places, museums, and plenty of other eye-catching sights. Taman Negara National Park is a beautiful park in oldest rainforest Taman Negara. It's a place with lots of activities like trekking, safaris, and canopy walks.
Islamic Art Museum, Petronas Twin Towers, Putrajaya Bridge, Petrosains Science Discovery Centre, Kuala Lumpur Bird Park, Thean Hou Temple, and Lake Garden Parks are some suggested amazing places to visit in Kuala Lumpur. Mount Kinabalu National Park, is the best choice for hiking, this Park is full of fun and will never disappoint you on your visit. Malaysia is a land of festivals and celebrations as multicultural people exist here. Tourists or vacationers can enjoy these festivals almost every month of the year. Here are some suggestions for our visitors. Tamil Community celebrates festival named "Thaipusam". It's a unique festival that is worth seeing. It can be best observed at Batu Caves in Selangor or Penang, in Januanry. Chinese New Year is celebrated in February and last for 15 days. You can enjoy lion dances, fireworks, and delicious Chinese meal. In April, Good Friday and Malaysia Water Festival are celebrated. Wesak Day, and Harvest Festival are celebrated in May. June is a month with amazing festivals like Hari Gawai and Dragon Boat Festivals. July and August are the months with festivals such as the Rainforest World Music Festival, Independence day, Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Hungry Ghost Festival. September becomes more colorful with Malaysia Day and Mid-Autumn Festival. Hari Raya Haji, Deepavali Festivals of Lights, and Christmas are celebrated in October, November and December. Malaysia is not less than a heaven for shopaholics. Super international brands have covered Malaysian market and have luxury stores here. Sales at shopping mall attract many tourists every year. Mega Sales held on Christmas and Independence Day and last up to two months. Utama, BB Plaza, Fahrenheit88, Lot10, Plaza Low Yat, Suria KLCC and Sogo are some remarkable shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur.
ICT@Komtar, Island Plaza, Midlands One Stop, Plaza Gurney, Prangin Mall, Queensbay Mall and Straits Quay are some suggested shopping centers in Penang. Langkawi Fair is a beautiful place for a shop in Langkawi. Malaysia is a country with beaches. Therefore, beach holidays can be enjoyed all around the year. Summer season is mild, and usually climate is pleasant in Malaysia so you can visit it in all seasons. Anyhow, December and January are two peak tourists' seasons. From June until August is also a good time to enjoy beaches activities.
I assure you, your vacations to this country holding natural beauty, would be a treasured and unforgettable experience. |
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