Dwaeji Galbi,Pajeon, Kimchi Soup, Korean style fried chicken@Gangnam 88; Solaris Mont Kiara

With the uprising of Korean culture in Malaysia, Korean restaurants and cafes are sprouting everywhere especially in KL city. However, it's very difficult to convince my mom to try Korean cuisines as her choice of foods is only around Chinese style.

Upon the celebration of Father's Day after the consecutive examination weeks of siblings, dad had provided the menus for mom to choose over with the persuasion that he'll foot the bill. Gangnam 88 was the choice for us to taste Korean cuisines.Ever since South Korean musician Psy’s Gangnam Style had gone viral on YouTube, the word "Gangnam" had been a popular word in most people’s dictionary including my mom, this was one of the reason why Gangnam 88 was chosen to be dined at. Secondly, we wanted to dine at a restaurant which served wide range of Korean cuisines such as bibimbap, BBQ foods, kimchi soup and etc.  It's located strategically at the 1st floor above Coffee Bean at Solaris Mont Kiara.

Considering the crowds and waiting time, we went to Gangnam 88 around 6pm. We were greeted warmly when we stepped into Gangnam 88. At Gangnam 88, you'll be seeing LED TV playing the latest K-Pop musics from famous idols like G-Dragon, Girls’ Generation, Super Juniors and etc., accompanied with the posters of K-Pop stars are placed all over and the cabinets fill with Korean stars merchandises.

I guess the man who is wearing blue shirt is the owner of this shop.

Menus were provided as soon as we were seated. The man who wore a blue shirt was suspected as the shop owner as he's not wearing the uniform as the rest of waiters/ waitresses. He helped in explaining the foods after seeing us flipped through the menus for several times, Eventually we opted for family set which consisted of pajeon (pancake), kimchi soup, seafood jeongol, BBQ pork galbi (Dwaeji-galbi ), sweet and sour fried chicken. While we ordered soju, he had a short chat with us. A joke that I merely remembered was we asked for whereabouts of Song Joong Ki when he asked what else he could help. He pretended to call him and said that Song Joong Ki would be arrive within minutes. Well, a lively and funny chat though.

Soju for us to cheer!

Seafood Jeongol

Similar like what we saw from other tables, the soups were served to boil till piping hot on the portable stove. Spicy and tangy soup was really comforting and satisfying as a starting meal. The cabbages, sliced pork bellies, ramyoon, mushrooms, dumplings were the ingredients,

Webfood octopus pancake

Seafood pancake was the staple snack that we had while we waited for the rest of Korean foods to be served. The seafood pancake was packed with a generous amount of ingredients, we shall try its kimchi pancake during next visit.

 Kimchi Soup 

The signature Korean dish which was served with the delectable ban chan (side dishes) came next. The side dishes included bean curds, eggs, fried anchovies and nuts; kimchi, potatoes and seaweeds. The fermented kimchi vegetables provided deep flavor to the broth and it tasted appetizing when ate together with sliced pork meats and bean curds. Kimchi soup here was not too sour and spicy, warming our stomachs after consuming the pork and chicken.

Sweet and sour chicken

The deep-fried crispy chicken meats were glazed in a sticky, sweet, and spicy sauce. My mom and I loved this dish very much and we had eaten so many bite-sized boneless chicken pieces. 

Dwaeji-galbi – RM49 (large portion)

Their tasty savory sauce’s recipe is from South Korea’s Jeju Island restaurant for more than 30 years as mentioned. The sizzling BBQ pork ribs were marinated well and very flavorful. We tried having the bite-sized meat wrapped with leafy vegetables as shown in Korean dramas.

The photo was taken right after all foods were served. 

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience to dine a wide range of delicious Korean cuisines. A Korean restaurant that offers a splendid variety of foods, worth for the price paid. 

Address:

GANGNAM88 - 1 ST Mont't Kiara Solaris

No. 1-1, Jalan Solaris 3, Solaris Mon’t Kiara

Off Jalan Kiara,

50480 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : 03 - 6206 5888

"No break time"

am 11:30 ~ am 01:00

1st_solaris@gangnam88.net

Coordinate:

N03 10.30.36, E101 39.35.23

Hua Hin Railway Station

The second day had been kick-started with the visit to one of the most famous sightseeing attractions in Hua Hin with a long cultural heritage and Royal connections which is Hua Hin Railway Station. Let's see the past history of Hua Hin Railway Station, being one of the Thailand’s oldest railway stations, built in the reign of King Rama VI. In addition, it's one of the country's most beautiful train stations with unique architecture.

As Hua Hin Railway Station was not far from the hotel, we followed the map provided and walked to here. The locals here were helpful in giving us the direction too. The railway station was clean and well maintained. The signboard of Hua Hin station was seen from far, here's the first location of the day to have several photos captured.

Such a beautiful railway station that I had ever visited.

The railway station started to be crowded with many tourists came for photo-shooting.

The exquisitely designed Royal waiting room was relocated from Sanam Chan Palace in Nakhon Pathom province, also built during the reign of King Rama VI. The architecture was painted in red and yellow; very well maintained. Anyway, I guessed it wasn't frequently used in the past.

Locomotive in glossy black and green at the opposite of railway station.

As there was no train passing through, most of the tourists captured photo with the long railway.
It's one of the best place for photo-shooting as the backdrop of railway and railway station were very nice providing several photos' captions that you could think of.

As we checked the train schedule, there wasn't train going to pass by. Hence, we left after 1 and 1/2 hour spent here. Hua Hin Railway Station is a place that worth for visiting if you love photo-shooting and like viewing architectures. It's free of entrance fees and it's worth visiting if have ample time.

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