Good Eats Luxury Travel
If you ever find yourself visiting Xiamen, China, a decent hotel I stayed at is the Ibis Styles XM Zhongshan Hotel. It is located right smack in the middle of the famed Zhongshan Road, which makes it quite a convenient location.
We weren’t sure what to expect when we booked the room, but were pleasantly surprised. The room was for 3 persons, so it boasts a double bed, and a large single bed.
…Some days you need a change of scene. It might explain why hotel staycations are now increasingly popular among city dwellers. While looking for a good, but not wallet-busting hotel experience, I decided on the JW Marriott Hotel Kuala Lumpur.
It is by no means a new hotel. But I read that it’s since been refurbished. The room I was assigned was listed as “Premier” and came with a King-sized bed. I’m not sure if this makes this the regular room.
…I chanced upon a posting by a friend on Instagram about an affordable place selling barbeque pork ribs. Now, seeing as “affordable” and “pork ribs” don’t go together where I come from, when the opportunity arose, I went to investigate the curiously named “Down to Bones” at OUG, Old Klang Road.
The shop is a simple, no frills shoplot, serving a fairly limited menu. The star is of course, the Pork Ribs (RM23), pictured here. You get 2 sticks of pork ribs, grilled and then served with their signature sauce, that is piquant and tasty, with a hint of spice. It comes with sides of buttery mashed potatoes and homemade coleslaw that is crunchy and has the right acidity to offset the sweetness of the pork ribs.
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I recently visited Penang, the famed street food paradise so beloved by Malaysians. Having not been up North for quite a few years, we were excited to hit the food trail, and to eat at old favourite places.
What we did not expect, was to be sorely disappointed. Here are 3 old favourite food haunts we hit up, that we will likely never return to because it was no longer worth eating there.
Although I don’t regularly eat mee goreng, the one at Bangkok Lane in Penang was a must visit over the many years. It was always well fried, with a hint of spiciness, and the addition of potato, and cuttlefish (sotong) made it special. This time, it was very wet, without any of the smoky flavour that comes from wok-frying (“wok hei”), and it was just salty. No piquancy in flavour, just salt. Suffice to say, any cravings I’d harboured for this old favourite is now gone.
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I won a bottle of sake and had to claim it at Palillos Spanish Yakitori, or I’d never have heard of the place. Located in the nightlife area of Changkat Bukit Bintang, in the middle of KL City, it’s not a place I usually go to.
Palillos is located upstairs of Pinchos tapas bar, up a narrow, dark staircase. It’s easy to miss, and to be honest, you’d only go there if someone asked you to, because I didn’t think there was much about the place worth making the special trip for.
Palillos claims to be a fusion between Spanish and Japanese food, but what it really means, is that this is finger food, or snacks. Palillos is basically a bar – let’s not mince words, and the food is reflective of bar food. Nothing terribly substantial.
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