Hua Hin; Thailand - Cicada Weekend Night Market

It was an impromptu trip to Hua Hin and Bangkok as we were eager for a short getaway from work. Our flight on 19th June was during morning yet we arrived Bangkok around 1pm. It took 2 hours drive towards Hua Hin and we requested the driver to let us drop by to have lunch on the way to Hua Hin. We requested the driver to bring us to somewhere that has Thailand's famous stir-fried rice noodle dish; Pad Thai. So, Pad Thai with the delicious prawns was our lunch.

 Pad Thai with the delicious prawns

Royal Pavillion was our choice of stay in Hua Hin and the hotel provided free shuttle services to Hua Hin Beach, Railway Station, Pleanwan and Cicada Market which only opened during weekends. For the first stop after checking in hotel, we utilized the free shuttle service to Cicada Market which had been highlighted by most friends who had been traveled to Hua Hin.

Cicada Market; an art market constituted with contemporary arts which provided opportunities to the locals to showcase the handmade decorative items, fashion clothes, jewelry and accessories, collective secondhand items, paintings, etcetera. Apart from that, it's eye-opening session for which you could enjoyed several live entertainments, performances, music, fine arts from university, community theatre, designers and various artists.

The must-taking visitor photo took at waterfront.

Music performance

The young boy was pyramiding high the glass bottles. 

Fragile glass could be broken if he misplaced unstably. 

At the entrance, there was a counter which visitors could purchase the coupons for foods. It was like a food fair for me.Food zone called Cicada Cuisine where a wide variety of local and international delights could be purchased, such as grilled seafood, grilled pork satay, Pad Thai, Fried Mussels Thai Style, Chinese noodle, Korean B.B.Q, various forms of rice-based dishes, American and Italian pasta dishes, and variety of desserts. The coupons were only for food, and food here was slightly pricey compared to the market behind Cicada Night Market.

Congee stall

Squids, fishballs and etcs will be grilled upon purchase.

Grilled meat and vegetables on charcoal. Price: 45 baht per stick. 

Anyone wants to eat grilled cuttlefish?

You need to purchase the food with coupons

After patronizing around the stalls, we decided to satisfy our stomachs before the next journey. The mouth-watering food that we had ordered:

Grilled pork with vegetables

Kanom Buang, Thai dessert- tasty and popular street food dessert in Thailand.

A thin waffle stuffed with creamy meringue and fresh coconut.

Boat noddles with tender pork meat

Fried Oyster with Omelette 

How could we miss out mango sticky rice?

Mouthfuls of sticky rice with fresh mangoes and coconut milk had us ended with satisfied stomachs. 

Cicada Market is divided into four venues: Art A La Mode, Cicada Art Factory, Amphitheatre and Cicada Cuisine. Art A La Mode is where art and craft vendors alongside the paths on the site sell items of clothing, handmade bags, fashion accessories, souvenirs, crafts, used items and cards. After dinner, we walked around to discover the handicrafts here.

Wooden phone case which the designer would draw according the picture you show to him on it upon purchase. Unfortunately, only for Samsung and Apple Iphone models.

Awesome Tower Bridge Lego
Would have purchased it if the price was lower.

Elephant magnets
Regretted for not purchase one for my mom.

The handmade tak tor toys caught my attention. 

The shop had handmade home decoration items as well.

The beautiful art pieces that you could bought home too.

Fashion items, handbags, wallet, purse, scarfs, hair accessories, handmade hats and earrings were sold in this Cicada Weekend Night Market.

This stall had caught our attention as many people gathered around to view how the stall owner using a bunsen burner to shape the lovely characters (glass bottle). The stall owner had also allowed us to take as many photos/ videos as possible. He had also explained the step of making all these translucent and delicately shaped items.

A pig inside a bigger translucent pig.

Awesome elephants!

Shopping hauls:

Earrings with a good deal

Cicada Night Market; a place that worth to be visited as the arts corner was really great and not to be missed. There were several stalls that offered customizing service in which they could help to design hats, caps, handbags, wallets, phone casing and etc. according to your requested design/ photo. The music performance here were great too, you can just sit down on the provided chairs and relaxed yourselves with the on-going live band performance. Food-wise were normal and over-priced.

1977 New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice; Mid Valley Megamall

1977 New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice has an outlet opened at the upper floor of Mid Valley Megamall conveniently to be dined by shoppers who crave for chicken rice or Chinese cuisines. The family led by the late Mr. Yan Khoon Yin operated a shop selling mainly steamed chicken served with bean sprouts and Hor Fun noodles in Ipoh, Perak. Their first "1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice" restaurant opened at Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya in year 1977 and currently their business has extended with branches at Jalan Gasing, Sri Petaling, Damansara Jaya, Sunway Pyramid shopping mall and Mid Valley Megamall.

Due to Mother's Day celebration, most restaurants were fully booked introducing the set meals which we were reluctant to dine-in. We randomly picked one of the restaurant in Mid Valley Megamall  and 1977 New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice; Mid Valley Megamall happened to be our choice of dining spot. There were two-storey, hence you could opt to dine at upper floor which was more comfortable and spacious. The signature meals of 1977 New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice i.e. Organic Kampung Chicken dish and roasted pork had been sold out. With the recommendation of the waiter, we opted the following dishes: 

Roasted Fortune ChickenGreatly appreciated the bones-removing service, we managed to eat the roasted chicken conveniently. The chicken meat were tender and flavorful. The chili sauce wasn't the best one to match with chicken rice but still acceptable.


Bean Sprouts @ RM15

At its price, I could say we had eaten premium bean spouts.
Anyway, the bean sprouts were crunchy and nicely seasoned by the salted fish.

Buttermilk fish fillets
The buttermilk fish fillets were coated with salted egg butter milk and topped with curry leaves, becoming my most favorite dish of this restaurant. 

Pork Meatballs @RM2/ each
The meatballs were made of pork and minced dried cuttlefish, quite expensive to be charged at RM2 for one meatball although it looked packed with meat. It's bouncy at each bite anyway.
The soup was flavorful but I could tell it's full of seasoning. 

Address:
T-013D&061 Third Floor, Mid Valley Megamall,
Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City,
59200 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Thai Cuisines @ Khuntai Authentic Thai Restaurant; Kepong

Khuntai Authentic Thai Restaurant is one of the famous dining spot in Kepong for those who want to tame their taste buds with Thai foods. The restaurant was often seen crowded when we dined at nearby Chinese restaurants therefore we decided to try their food during my mom's birthday.

External restaurant was decorated with wooden branches, wooden chairs and tables giving a jungle feel for me. As there were stray cats seen, we preferred to have dinner inside the restaurant instead of the open area.

The old photos of Royal Family of Thailand

The symbol of Thailand- elephant-design creatures could be seen at every corner of the restaurant.

The menu was pretty extensive covering most Southern style Thai food. Some of the waiters here could speak Hokkien language and they even discussed about some of Thai royals' history with my dad. We ordered pineapple fried rice, the signature white tom yam soup with mixed seafood, green curry chicken, stir-fried vegetables and Thai-style vermicelli. 

Pineapple fried rice

The pineapple fried rice was quite tasty with generous amounts of cashew nuts and pineapple cubes.

Taste-wise was quite nice, but lack of the fragrant which I expect from a plate of good fried rice.

I thought they will serve the fried rice in a pineapple like what I often see in Thailand.

Signature White Tom Yam Soup with mixed seafood

Being the signature dish of the Khuntai Authentic Thai Restaurant, it 's one of the famous food which most food patrons ordered here. The clear soup compared to the red tomyam soup we used to drink was less oily and more flavorful. Ingredients of the white tom yam soup were squids, prawns, mushrooms, lemongrass, tomatoes, etc. I would be happier if more seafood were given.

A closer look at the Tom Yam.

Green curry chicken

Green curry chicken was served warm with cabbages, eggplants, long beans, and etc. The green curry broth was rich in creaminess and quite aromatic when it was served. The chicken meats were tender, yet portion of chicken was small. Each of us -6 pax  got a piece of small-sized chicken meat only and we were rather disappointed as the dish was more like green curry with mixed vegetables.

Thai-style vermicelli was ordered as my brother was still hungry.

The vermicelli was nothing much special for me.

Stir-fried vegetables with prawns

Overall, the dinner was just average , not worth the hype. Food portion was quite small and taste-wise wasn't up to my expectation. Anyway, each taste bud is different, perhaps you would find the food tasty. You may check out below address here:

Address:

8 Jalan Desa 2/2, Desa Aman Puri

52100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Super Hokkien Mee, Nyonya Kuih Muih and Yam Cake @ 和喜茶室 One Corner Cafe; Jalan Bawasah in Penang

If you love to eat prawns, prawn noodles or hokkien mee is definitely a must-try hawker delicacy when you visit Penang. Southern states used to call it as prawn noodles due to the aromatic soup which is made by boiling prawn shells and prawn heads together for hours. During the recent visit to Penang for Qing Ming, we chose to have our breakfast at One Corner Cafe which located at Jalan Bawasah which was directly behind the iconic Penang Plaza. 

It’s rather amusing to watch the locals in their haste to score a bowl of Hokkien mee at the stall in One Corner Café. According to my aunt, a bowl of this full-bodied soup stock with a strong aroma of prawns could have up to an hour waiting time. When we placed order to the stall at 7.30am, the hawker had informed that our 6 bowls of hokkien mee will be served within 40-60 minutes.

Apart from the famed hokkien mee, there were a wide selection of Penang delicacies such as Lor Mee, Penang curry noodles, chee cheung fun, yam cake, economic noodles, kueh teow t'ng, bean sprout chicken rice,wantan noodles and etcetera. 

Take a peep on the amount of take-away orders of Supper Hokkien Mee.

This is one of the reason why this place came alive with hustle and bustle.

The seller was busy taking and packing orders; you may easily being told to leave if you cannot tolerate with the long waiting time. 

Kuih kosui

Various Nyonya kuih muih

Kuih talam

This pandan and coconut layered cakes or better known as Kuih Talam was a common Nyonya Kuih. However, I found that only Penang's Kuih Talam has a much springy texture of the green layer and fragrant coconut layer.

Kuih kosui (Pandan and dark palm sugar flavor). 

It's sweet, soft and chewy topped with lightly salted fresh of coconut. 

Penang local coffee was the nice match with Nyonya Kuih.

Pulut tai tai complemented with kaya, kuih talam, kuih bingka ubi

(taken back to home as our tea-time snacks)

The yam cake, or more affectionately known to locals as or kueh was ordered to fill the emptiness of our stomachs while waiting for hokkien mee. The texture of the steamed yam cake is very soft, made of yam cubes. The yam cake was topped with generous amount of deep fried shrimps, shallots, white sesame,chili slices and scallions, providing a boost of flavor and fragrance while eating. 

The famous hokkien mee was finally served after 40 minutes waiting time. Super Hokkien Mee's hokkien mee was much spicier and you could request the seller not to place extra spoonful chili paste. Slurping down a strong prawn taste of the soup was great! Pork ribs and fresh prawns were used as the base after the prawn shells had been boiled for a few hours giving it a rich, meaty flavor. The hokkien mee was garnished with crispy fried onions, shallots, lean pork slices and 5-6 prawns. The steaming bowl of hokkien mee had me left with satisfying stomachs.

Address:

One Corner Cafe 和喜茶室

2, Jalan Bawasah (Behind Penang Plaza)

10050 Georgetown, Penang.

Business Hours: 7:30am onwards (Closed on Tue)

Korean Fried Chicken @ 22 Korea Fried Chicken Factory 韓國炸雞工廠

22 Korean Fried Chicken Factory was one of our stops during Johor Bahru food trail in December.
We were lucky to spot this shop after driving around Mount Austin for few rounds as the direction (address) was very vague. Korean Fried Chicken had become a food phenomenal due to the hit Korean drama My Love From The Star in which the main characters Do Min-jun and Chun Song-yi having their favorite food i.e. fried chicken and beer (maekju).

The sign board 

Extensive range of Korean cuisines are available in 22 Korea Fried Chicken Factory 韓國炸雞工廠 such as main course (Kimchi Fried Rice, Korean Jajangmyun Set,yopokki) and their signature fried chicken with different types of sauces like crispy, garlic, gangjeong, Bul dak and Hot BBQ flavors . French fries, chicken nuggets, potato wedges, drumsticks, burger were available here too. I wonder if KFC will come out with Korean version fried chicken!

The interior design is all-in-one factory concept with shelves, long chairs and containers are used as chairs. Korean merchandises, tidbits and snack foods were sold here too.

Source: 22 Korea Fried Chicken Factory

Menu are shown at the entrance

It was almost 4pm when we found the shop and long queue was formed in front of the counter.The ordering process was done at the counter and we were given a "beeping UFO” which will vibrate signifying the ordered food were ready. The wait was about 20 minutes. Let's look at the food we ordered now. We chose chicken wings set, chicken drumsticks and 22 signature burger. Paper cups were given to fill our ordered drinks ourselves. By the way, there were no beers served here.

Interior decoration

Each of us were given a plastic glove so that we will not make our hands dirty when eating the fried chickens. Well, not a good idea as I still like the "licking good" concept of KFC chicken.Anyway, compared to KFC chicken, 22 Korea Fried Chicken Factory's chicken wings and chicken drumsticks have less batter used when fried, hence less oily. 

Left: The fried chicken wings and chicken drumsticks [ Garlic soy sauce and Hot BBQ ]
Right: Burger with potato wedges (belonged to value set of fried chicken wings)

The chicken wings coated with garlic flavour, nicely fried and crispy. The skin of chicken drumsticks was fried to a crackly crisp with a layer of savory spicy-sweet marinade. The burger didn't fail our expectation either. Tender chicken meat which had well-marinated, you will definitely want to have more bites of it!Each of us were still hungry after eating, perhaps we shall order main course to share during next visit.

22 Korea Fried Chicken Factory 韩国炸鸡工厂

Address: 51 Jalan Austin Height 8/1 Taman Mount Austin 91100 Johor Bahru

Opening Hours: Tue-Sun 12pm to 3pm; 6pm to 1030pm