The opening of Bakestone

A bakery called Bakestone opened in Penang two weeks ago. They already have branches elsewhere, but this is the first on Penang island. They came up with a pretty good opening promotion.

A couple of signature items were at 60% discount on the first 2 days, then there were four items at 40% discount on the next 4 days, followed by a 20% discount storewide on the next 6 days.

I visited the store during its 40% discount days to try some of the items. 

cute squirrel mascot outside the shop

I snapped a photo of the bagels because the colours look so good. The croissants and pain au chocolat looked good at well. (So did a lot of other items, but I didn't want to snap everything...) I didn't buy them because there was no discount for them on that day...  

I shared a mango passion tiramisu with a couple of friends. We brought it back to the office and ate it together.

mango passion tiramisu, RM18.90

(Note: All the prices that I'm putting in this post are before the discounts.) 

It wasn't that good. :P The mango was not very ripe, and my friends said it was too sour (from the passionfruit, we guess). I didn't find it too sour, but I felt that it just wasn't good enough... it was just like sponge cake at the bottom, with a layer of cheese/cream mousse on that, and that orange cream you see on top.

gochujang chicken bun, RM11.90

I wasn't going to take a photo of this. It was just chicken pieces in a charcoal bun. The purple cabbage has a sour tang to it (Korean-style?) and the chicken had some gochujang flavour... and then I noticed the pumpkin slices at the bottom, and took a photo. I liked the pumpkin slices, but the other fillings were not really to my taste. However, I really liked the bun. There was a generous amount of pumpkin seeds on the top of the bun too, but we don't see it in the photo.

The very next day, there was a bad traffic jam, so on my way home, I decided to just drop by Bakestone to have a light dinner. The 40% promo was still on, so I bought these two items which were on discount. 

I didn't expect it, but they reheated the bun for me and put it on a metal plate. It did make it better! (I had actually already tried the bun the previous day.)

There were not that many tables for us to sit and eat there...I was lucky I found an empty one. (What if I had taken my plate and then had nowhere to sit? Hmm...)

pretzel chicken roll, RM9.90

After eating, I realized why it was called "pretzel". The chewiness of the bun is similar to a pretzel (the buns, not the sticks :P ). I liked the filling here better than the gochujang one. Both buns are good, though.

strawberry puff, RM12.80

see the inside of the puff

There are five puffs (one in the middle), each filled with cream. I liked that cream. The strawberry slices were just nice too, not sour. The whipped cream was too thick, and there was too much of it. I ate half of the dessert in the shop, and took the rest home. (Luckily they didn't move it to a plate for me. :P ) When in the shop, I tried to eat the amount of cream proportional to the puffs, but it felt too rich. When eating it at home the next day, I decided to leave some of the whipped cream behind, and it tasted much better.

Anyway, the cream puffs from Sin Ka Oon are a lot better, so I don't think I will buy this again. It was good to try it at the discounted price, though. :P 

The following week, we went back there to try other items at 20% discount.

the famous pistachio mario (the black one, RM14.90) and walnut mario (RM13.90)

We were all attracted by the pistachio mario. My friend and I shared half of each mario bun so that we could try both.

clockwise from top left: rose lychee bagel (RM6.90), croissant (RM5.90), pumpkin donut (RM4), cranberry cream cheese bun (RM4.90)

Their trays were too small...round and classy wooden things. Being wooden made them heavier than the usual plastic or stainless steel trays too. So after I had selected four items, I no longer had room for the mario bread that I wanted to buy. That is why my friend and I shared a tray for the mario bread, and then she took another tray to get other breads for herself.

The rose lychee bagel really had lychee pieces inside! 

The cream seemed to be like cream cheese. The rose petals were a little weird to be eaten...I liked the lychee but didn't really like the rose petals.

The spring onion bagel looked pretty interesting as well...not sure whether I would like that more (but it wouldn't have lychee inside!)

Anyway I liked the texture and chewiness of the bagel (it was a little less chewy than the pretzel bun, which sounds about right :P )

The croissant was nice and fluffy inside, but the outside was not really crispy (only tiny parts at the end were). 

The pumpkin donut was kinda chewy with lots of air pockets inside. Quite nice, but not super nice. But it is special; I've never seen this anywhere else!

The cranberry cream cheese bun was so-so. I remember the bread seller at Lucky Eatery (which is no longer there) had a better one (but that depends on our taste).

And leaving the star of the show for last, here's what the cross-section of the mario bread looks like: 

I liked this one. It's probably the best of the lot. The bread was soft, and the cream was light, not too sweet. And the pistachio one really does taste better...well worth the extra 1 ringgit I believe. And to think that I was only going to try the walnut mario at first...

Will I go again? In general I think all the breads are good, so maybe. But the location is not very convenient, so it's not a sure thing!

Peacocks at the Crystal Palace Gardens

On our last full day in Porto, we visited the Crystal Palace Gardens (Jardins do Palácio de Cristal). It was unfortunately a cloudy morning, and raindrops started just as we reached the garden (we took a Bolt car because this garden was a way out of the city center).

entering the garden

Super Bock Arena, which is used for events, it seems

In the garden and around the circular arena, there were lots of peacocks walking about. Some were prettier than others.

this is one majestic one

the same one

two others (or is one of them the same? I can't remember)

two pretty ones together

There were other birds roaming the park too. I only took a few photos of them.

eh why are you coming here...

The rain got a little heavier when we were there, and we took shelter under a canopy for an ice-cream stall where there were tables and chairs (the stall was not open; no stalls were open), and waited for the sky to clear. There were no other attractions nearby, and this was the last place on our agenda, so we weren’t rushing to go anywhere.

After some time, the sky did clear, and we walked around a bit more, taking better photos of some of the same places. (The garden is actually quite small and not very interesting. On a lovely day it might look nice, but when we were there, it wasn’t that great.)

To show you the difference before and after we waited it out, here is a drawing of the view, beside the view it is supposed to represent:

before

after (we can really see the bridge!)

a proper photo where that drawing is not blocking the view :P

zoom in to the pretty garden (we didn't walk down; stairs were slippery)

We discovered  that the garden has a lovely view of the river (would be even better if there were blue skies):

another view of the garden near the entrance, as we were leaving

Climbing and climbing and climbing…

In my last post about Porto, we crossed the Douro river.

Now that I’ve gotten my food posts done, let’s pick up where we left off, and explore the attractions across the river.

Right upon reaching the other side, we can already see a sloping road. 

boats on the river

view of the Luis I bridge, cable cars, and the monastery (Mosteiro Santo Agostinho da Serra do Pilar) in the distance

bridge plus river

I tried snapping a panoramic view; it didn't come out too bad :)

In a lane behind the shops facing the river, we came across an interesting rabbit artpiece.

Half Rabbit by Bordalo II

We were heading to the monastery, which we could either take the cable car (from the bank of the river) or walk to. We decided to walk, so here are some stairs that we needed to climb!

view from the top of the stairs

In the distance you can see another bridge. There is a bird flying at the top of the image, which is a plus.

Think we've reached the top? Nope...here are more stairs. 

I remember that after climbing these stairs, we still had another flight of stairs to climb up into the garden (Jardim do Morro) itself.

view from Jardim do Morro

Mosteiro Santo Agostinho da Serra do Pilar as seen from the garden

They say that this monastery is special because its shape is completely circular. We had heard that it was temporarily closed, so we didn't make our way there (it was across the road from the garden).

looking up to the highest point of the garden

I climbed to the top to take a look; my mother decided to rest her legs instead.

Here are a few shots from the top of the garden: 

There is a metro stop right beside the garden, so we took the metro back across the river. Walking back would have been rather pointless; there were no other sights to see, and walking down those steps would not have been fun! (And as mentioned in the previous post, even though pedestrians can walk across the top of the bridge, we sure didn't dare to...)

Playing at the Pokemon Lab

I found out quite by accident that Lalaport BBCC has a Pokemon Play Lab! Since we were staying at Swiss Garden nearby, we went there a few times. 

It's not easy to notice; it's tucked at the back of a food court on a high floor.

some finger puppets

The first time I visited, I was wearing my Dragonair t-shirt. I spotted a plush Dragonair and took a photo with it.

Another day I wore my Pikachu t-shirt, and took selfies with the numerous Pikachu.

My mother liked this giggling Pikachu, and we encouraged my father to make the same pose. :D

a close-up of one of the tables; it seems like the table-top is designed to play Pokemon card games

And let's finish up with a closer look at the bug wall at the back.

The merchandise were all pretty expensive, so we didn't buy anything. There was no super-cute Pikachu that I wanted to adopt. :P