Dakgalbi

Yesterday we went to Mr. Dakgalbi in Queensbay Mall. A friend wanted to go to the mall, and we didn't know what to eat. The same friend was a crazy big fan of Mr. Dakgalbi, and I had never tried it before, so we ended up eating there.

They told me the portion was huge, so we ordered a 2-pax set for the three of us. We opted for ring cheese (instead of just cheese that is mixed into the stir-fry) because they said there was more cheese in the ring cheese. However, in the end we still asked the staff to mix the cheese in for us, because otherwise it was too difficult to eat the cheese with the noodles. (most likely the ring cheese is for dipping, not to eat with noodles...)

The photo is after the stir-fry was done, and ready to eat. This was the second time I've had dakgalbi; the first time was in another shop which did not have ring cheese (this ring thingy is a recent fad). The ingredients come raw, and they cook it in the middle of the table for us. The main ingredient is the marinated chicken (which is what dakgalbi means), and there was a lot of cabbage (2nd main ingredient?), and just a few pieces of rice cakes and 2 slices of potato (they could just as well have not been there). We could opt for rice or noodles (the set actually came with one portion rice and one portion noodles, but the others said the rice didn't taste as good as the noodles, so we requested for both portions to be noodles instead), and whatever other add-ons (which we didn't add). The first time I had it, there were strips of sweet potato too, and I liked that. This set didn't have sweet potato. (maybe it was available as an add-on? I didn't notice)

This set cost RM76 nett (normal set without ring cheese was RM60+... can't remember the exact price). I do feel it is rather on the expensive side...even when shared three ways. However it did taste good. Pretty similar to the one I had before, actually... maybe they use the same Korean chilli paste. :P

Morning clouds

Last week's photo theme was clouds.

The above photo is the most representative of clouds.

However I snapped a few others that are rather pretty in the morning sun, so I thought I'd post them too.

Clouds behind the trees... the first and the third photos are of the exact same clouds, just that one is brighter than the other. And I really can't decide which one is better.

All the photos were taken at dawn, before 7am. First one on a cloudy day where it was going to rain (I can't remember whether it actually did rain after that), and the other one on a sunny morning (that's clear from the photos!)

Crisis indeed

I just watched a Japanese drama series called Crisis: Special Security Squad.

One word? Superb.

However it is rather dark. Not for those who like happy endings, because there is a healthy dose of realism in it. Some characters are so serious, you can probably count the number of times they smile. The characters are fleshed out well; it's like every bit of information has a purpose. There are ten episodes, and I feel that the plot links the ten episodes together really well.

One thing that I didn't like was when they didn't handcuff a couple of terrorists when they clearly could, and in the end they didn't get to catch those terrorists.

Another thing to note was that the squad seemed ridiculously honourable, never using their guns unless if the opponent has a gun. They will use their fists to fight if it's sufficient, and then if the opponent has a weapon they will bring out their batons, even if they have a gun that they can use to gain the upper hand quickly. So silly. *eyeroll*

Different textures

Two years ago, the Photo Friday theme was texture. And it's back!

This time I ended up snapping a photo of my steering wheel. There are really a number of different textures there!

It might be relevant to mention that I just got my new car today. However this theme ended yesterday, so this is the steering wheel of my Viva.

I found my pointy hat!

My friend showed me that Pikachu has a Halloween costume on Pokemon Go!

By the way, Pikachu's tail has a heart shape at the end if it is a female. So this would be awesome as my female witch avatar!

A solitary calamondin

This week's photo theme is solitude.

I was stumped for ideas... then I thought of checking my fridge for a lone item.

I had bought a few limau kasturi to use in a dish, and there was one left over. So it is now sitting in the fridge on its own, waiting to be used. It is even separated from its citrus cousins. Poor calamondin!

Great service at Ahyu Hotel

Some time ago, I wrote about the food I had in KL. Now this post will be about the hotel room.

We booked a room in Ahyu Hotel, which we found had great reviews online. The room was a double room, but later we requested a twin room instead. When my friend went downstairs to ask whether we could change the room, I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of the double room.

There is only one hanger on the hook here; but the other room had two hangers, one for each of us. Not sure whether the second hanger in this room got stolen, or was somewhere else in the room.

Our actual room:

The room is exactly the same as the double room, except for the beds. They had a hair-dryer provided in a drawer.

One morning after pulling the sheets up at night, I noticed that they provide orthopedic mattresses!

This hotel is rather new, so everything looks nice inside. The outside is also recently painted, I think.

This hotel is really very good in both location and service; it is very close to the Masjid Jamek LRT station (maybe 5 minutes walk?). When we couldn't get hot water from the shower, we went downstairs to ask about it, and they came to show us how to work on the settings. When the man came with me to the room, he actually stepped back and told me to go in and get "ready" first (I can't remember the exact words), so that we don't have all our girl's stuff lying around, I guess.

One power socket (the one near the kettle) was working on and off (we had to hold the plug in place to make sure it didn't cut off), so we told them about it upon checkout. They also thanked us nicely for telling them, and immediately called someone on a walkie-talkie to look into it.

The only drawback (for racist people :P ) is that the hotel is located in Little India.

Bear in motion

There's a lot of motion going on in this photo, but most notable of all is the VIP bear!

This was during our company dinner; there were two bears there during registration. I assume they were for entertainment's sake; for people to take photos with. Here's a photo with the other bear:

Small country

It isn't often that you find a country small enough to hold in the palm of your hand!

Because the theme was country, and Taiwan seems to love making geographically-shaped key-chains. I have a few similar ones without even having been to Taiwan!

Bandung and charcoal

May I remind you of the mee bandung that I mentioned previously?

I brought my parents there. They said the mee bandung was good, but the char kuey teow was better! Here, take a look:

mee bandung

char kuey teow

In the char kuey teow, there are two prawns at the bottom of the plate

This is a continuation of the previous post about food with the parents. We also made another visit to Kim Hin at Sg Dua. We ordered the same dishes as before, plus a new dish of clams.

charcoal tofu with abalone sauce, RM15

four heavenly gods, RM12

lemon steamed clams, RM12
(photo taken after we had eaten a few clams)

salted egg mantis prawns, RM15

signature pork ribs, RM24

The prices have gone up a bit. We ordered a medium portion of tofu this time, since we didn't have enough of the small portion last time. But this time it didn't seem to taste that good. We could have done with a small portion! The pork ribs were also a medium portion, and the rest were small ones, but they don't look too small, do they?