Self-made Flavored Coffee

My personal cup of Hazelnut coffee,
with strawberry UHT milk added to
grant a strawberry flavor.

Ever went to your neighborhood café to fancy yourself a sip of smooth flavored latte, took one look at the price, and wished that you could whip one back home without leaving the comfort of your room and spending RMs just to satisfy your desire for flavored caffeine? Well, why don't you do so?

Flavored coffee usually get its flavor either from the roasted beans treated with chemical flavorings or from syrup added into the cup; find out more from About.com. Die-hard coffee drinkers may not find this notion acceptable, with the additional flavor "contaminating" the smell and taste of a bitter cup. Well, I am not really a faithful drinker and I find that strong taste a little unpleasant, so I prefer my cup to be blessed with some sweetness and flavor. I have tried some flavored coffee from different cafés, and sad to say that not all are up to my expectation, including those from the famous ones (your favorite neighborhood 'S' and 'C', pick one).

Malaysia Food Blog - Hidden Recipe café

Location: Sungai Dua, Penang Isle

A shop which unabashedly copy the famous brand of Secret Recipe? That was my first thought, but a visit to the shop shows that it is anything but. Although it shares a word in its name with your favorite neighborhood confectionery shop, a taste of its food does give credit to its namesake.

The shop has a tropical outlook, and the interior is lined with wallpapers of bricks with photos of happy visiting diners decorating a portion of a wall. Glow of yellow light beckons lovers to spend a romantic dinner or the occasional passer-by to spend a relaxing night, although the interior is a little packed from the cramped arrangement of tables and chairs. Since it is strategically located just a few blocks from USM and with its offer of 10% discount off of set dishes for students of USM and INTI college who can show his student pass, you can expect this spot to be frequented by students.



Welcome to Hidden Recipe! Greetings from a tropical outlook and well-lit interior...

Malaysia Food Blog - Fatty Loh Chicken Rice shop

Location: Georgetown, Penang Isle

When I first heard of the comical name Fatty Loh (大肥罗), it was because my colleagues said that it is one of the must-visit shops for chicken rice enthusiasts. His name resounds throughout my colleagues, and by chance I managed to visit the shop in a sunny afternoon when I drove past the street. And what do you know, if you read its logo carefully, it does say "Penang's Most Famous Chicken Rice".

Chicken rice may not be any extraordinary dish for Malaysians, but it is not easy to find a decent one anywhere. With stalls sprouting anywhere a shop is located like mushrooms after the rain, the dish is enough to satisfy one's belly but not one's taste buds. For this shop, they serve enough to satisfy both.

Malaysia Food Blog - Koh Samui restaurant

Location: Ipoh, Perak

Being from a different generation, choosing a dining place to celebrate my father's birthday has always been a tough choice for me. When he suggested Thai cuisine for his 58th birthday celebration, it got me thinking: where can I find a good Thai cuisine spot in Ipoh? Fortunately, he was the driver and he suggested Koh Samui, so there we went for his birthday celebration at the expense of my money...

Koh Samui has 2 branches in Ipoh, and one of them is located right across Kinta City, otherwise known as Jusco to the locals. Ipoh may be known for its food, but famous Thai cuisine is rare here, with this restaurant being one of them. In case if you ever wonder what the name means, try browsing 'Koh Samui' in Google and it will return the name of an island off the east coast of Thailand, known as one of the tourist destinations in Thailand.

The restaurant greeted its visitors with an interior reminiscent of traditional Thai architecture. Wood was the main element here, with wooden chairs and wooden ceiling reinforcing this concept. Green was chosen as the main color, and it looked soothing under beams of yellow light shining from the ceiling, offering a feel that you are dining under the setting sun.

Cheesy Bites Dip-licious from Pizza Hut

This picture was taken when I went to visit Pizza Hut to celebrate the year 2010. Cheesy Bites Dip-licipious was the rush then, and I tried this under pressure from my girlfriend... I did not regret it though, and as a cheese lover, this is the perfect dish for me!

Cheesy Bites Dip-licious, with a bowl of mouth-watering melted cheese

There were enough cheese to go around, as the bulbous crusts surrounding the pizza were actually filled with melted cheese, and if you did not have enough, there was a separate bowl of melted cheese for you to dip into before gobbling it down.

An advertisement from Youtube may serve to refresh your memory if you do not remember how the cheesy it can be.

Malaysia Food Blog - Eastin Hotel - The Lobby Lounge

Location: Bayan Lepas, Penang Isle


Setting up Eastin Hotel next to Queensbay Mall and so near to the Free Industrial Zone in Bayan Lepas could not be a more strategic choice. With multitudes of multinational companies located in the neighbourhood, scores of foreign representatives can be expected to drop by the neighbouhood every month. As it is these companies' culture to have dinners and teambuilding activities, and with it being in the vicinity, a budgetary lunch in this hotel would be an irresistable offer. As such, it has always intrigued me what such a hotel can offer to one's palate.

A seminar by one of my company's supplier lent me the oppurtunity to try out their buffet lunch in the Lobby Lounge. The lounge area greets visitors with a tall ceiling and a spacious layout, along with two parallel rows of dishes. Combine this with sparse decorations and a white motif, and you get a sense of freedom and peace of mind. I seldom attribute this sense to buffet areas, which I somehow expect to be tumultous and rowdy, with throngs of hungry diners grabbing for the last bit from the dish.

Malaysia Food Blog - Bali-bali Cafe - curry mee

Location: Sungai Dua (near USM), Penang Isle

Being from Ipoh, the taste and ingredients of curry mee in Penang, and even the way it is served, is definitely a new for me. As it was voted as the number 5 must-eat hawker food when one visits Penang (Visit Penang website), you can hardly find a spot which does not have a stall dedicated to this spicy dish. When a new curry mee stall was set up in the food spot I frequented, I thought: just another curry mee...

What surprised me was that, for a stall so ordinary and so less mentioned (try Google it...), it does serve with an extraordinary taste. In my years in Penang, I sampled numerous curry mees and this is still one of my favourite.