Kaneng Thai Food, Bercham, Ipoh

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Jason

This is an…. extremely delayed post. (If you look at Motormouth’s post, it was written on May 2010!)

How long was it since my last blog post on Ipoh? Whenever I go back, I am a bit hesitant to go out as the weather back there is crazily humid and hot. Anyway, this is an extremely delayed post. At that time, Motormouth was still working (and blogging from his old office during working hours :p ) in Ipoh. He suggested this Thai place… a shack located just opposite SJK (C) Bercham. And it’s really a shack with no proper signboard (just a small bunting outside the shack with the word “Thai Food”). Then how do we know the name? We saw the business registration certificate hanging on the wall, that’s how!

The place has no air conditioning but the proprietor Mr Tan quicky switched on all the fans for us to cool us down on that hot Saturday afternoon upon our arrival. We were their first customers for that day, which was rather strange, considering we were there around 1pm but Mr Tan’s explanation seems to be acceptable; apparently, most people would shy away from non air-conditioned eating places during lunch time, especially when we’re talking about Thai food here. Anyway, we were rather surprised with the cheap price tags here and that caused us to order slightly more than we could handle. Starting with Thai-style Mango Salad, Kaneng uses slightly sweeter mango. Additional anchovies provides the crunch and texture and it wasn’t spicy on it own, but beware of those “hidden” (or should we call it “camouflaged”?) chopped bird’s eye chillies. Reminds me much of Sawatdee’s version.

Their fish cakes were rather ordinary though; while Motormouth commented that they were starchy, I feel that the cakes were too springy, highly possible that they were not homemade.

The tom yum was passable, not too fiery hot (as Mr Tan commented that they toned down the spiciness based on customers’ requests) but I would prefer it to be more sourish. The fried rice was fried with belacan (fermented shrimp paste), has a nice breadth of wok to it, fluffy grains – it makes a good substantial individual meal, as well as the Phad Thai itself. One thing I noted was, there were plenty of ingredients thrown in the Phad Thai.

Thai Food (Kaneng Thai Food)
No. 583, Lorong 8,
Kampong Bercham,
31400 Ipoh, Perak.
(Opposite of Bercham primary school).

Tel: 016-560 7908
Business hours : 12pm – 10pm daily. Closed on Thursdays.

*Read also SimpleGirl’s experience HERE.

The Bistro, Millennium Resort, Patong, Phuket

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Jason

Before I begin…

I would like to wish all readers/floggers a Happy Chinese Rabbit Year. Gong Xi Fatt Chai!

Okay, back to business. This is a long overdue post and also my last post for the week.

We were wandering around Jungceylon, Patong Beach’s largest shopping mall the whole day, trying to seek shelter from the scorching hot weather outside. It was almost dinner time when we passed by the connecting passage that connects Jungceylon with Millennium Resort Patong, (which is located just next to the mall) and saw a big notice board promoting their food and beverages at 50% discount! Hotel food at half price discount, wheee!!!

*Sorry for the typo error on the picture; it should be “resort” instead of “hotel”
It was rather early for dinner actually (5pm?) but we doesn’t want to go back to our hotel and come out again, so we decided to have early dinner and we were the only customers at that time. Serving Mediterranean, Western and Thai delicacies, they have an optional al fresco dining at the garden terrace too. Menu is easy to browse with big fonts, description for each dishes and spiciness level indication. And before we place our order, we double (or maybe triple) check with the waitress and yes, we were entitled for the 50% discount. :p

Complimentary bread with butter. It was rather strange though to serve bread as starter since we ordered only Thai dishes that evening, but the bread were good, no complaints here.

We decided to go fiery hot that evening, hence we ordered all spicy dishes such as the Red Curry with Pork (usual price 250 Baht). You can choose the type of curry (red or green) and ingredients (pork, chicken, beef or prawns) and it will be the same price. Although spiciness level was indicated as 2, we found it rather mild (as you can see the colour is not very red here due to higher content of coconut milk) and the sliced pork were really, really tender! I learnt a new Thai word here too; apparently “Moo” refers to pork and not beef. Beef is called “Nuea”. It would be much easier if “moo” is beef, doesn’t it?

Tom Yam Talay (seafood, usual price 210 Baht) came in its full glory; abundance of squid, fish fillet, prawns, onions, tomatoes, button mushrooms etc all swimming in a tangy tom yam soup. It has the right amount of kick in every sip, sending us into “sweat mode” directly. But luckily for us, the Vegetarian Massaman (original price 170 Baht) was mildy spicy, similar to the pork curry. Plenty of vegetables were chucked into this delicious curry dish, including carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, button mushroom, baby corn and oyster mushroom. And lastly, the deep fried seabass with three flavours of chilli sauces (original price 300 Baht) wowed us with its succulent, firm and fresh meat. Did ala sweet and sour style, the sauce lend a touch of Thai to the overall dish.

The Bistro
Millennium Resort Patong Phuket
199, Rat-Uthit 200 Pee Road,
Patong, Kathu, Phuket 83150, Thailand

Tel: +66 76 601 701
Web: The Bistro, Millennium Resort
Business Hour: 6.30am to 10.00pm

Thai Thai, Hilton Arcadia Resort & Spa, Phuket

Posted on September 24, 2010 by Jason

Why was I ended up at Hilton? That is because my friend joined the Hilton membership and has one night free stay voucher at any Hilton hotels/resorts around the world… hence, during a short gateway to Phuket in August, we stayed one night at Hilton Arcadia Resort & Spa, Karon Beach and moved to Patong the second day. Being a member has quite some privileges such as free buffet meals, 50% discounts on group dining, free upgrade to luxury suites and so on. If you’re interested to join or know more about the membership offers, do not hesitate to contact me.

Initially, we wanted to have our dinner at those local shops but little did we know, Hilton Arcadia is a huge place! There were about 3 pools, 3 tennis courts, 4 restaurants and one golf course all stretched out on a 75 acres of lush tropical gardens. Walking from our rooms to the lobby easily takes about 15 minutes. So we decided to have our dinner in one of the in-house restaurant instead with 50% membership discounts. Since Sails was having seafood night that particular day (we’re not a seafood fan), we decided to go for Thai Thai for some fiery Thai delicacies.

For your info, this place is not related to another Thai Thai restaurant in Sunway Pyramid. The place was tastefully decorated with a combination of modern and rustic Thai arts. Menu was extensive but we did not see pomelo salad or mango sticky rice in their dessert section, though. We received a complimentary appetizers (not sure if it’s for all patrons or only for Hilton members); minced chicken salad (foreground) was gorgeous with a tangy dressing, vegetable roulade (middle) was ok, nothing fancy and grilled black pepper chicken cutlets was lip-smackingly delicious.

A traditional Thai spicy and sour prawn soup with lemongrass, galangal and button mushrooms (275 Baht). This was one of the better Tom Yum I’ve tasted in Phuket. However, the gripe kicked in later; CK claimed that the prawns doesn’t taste very fresh.

Northern-style stir-fried Australian scallops, baby corn, sweet basil and young peppercorns (425 Baht). 4 pieces of large, fresh (checked) Australian scallops were seared and then stir-fried with long beans, baby corns, sweet basil leaves and young peppercorns. The scallops were really fresh, plump and juicy but the sweet basil somehow masked the flavour of the scallops. The baby corns were crunchy and sweet, unlike any other I had before, which were usually bland.

The last two dishes sadly, did not live up to our expectations. The Steamed Cod Fish with Red Curry (340 Baht) was disappointing as it was overcooked, rendered the meat dry and tough. The same goes to Steamed Chicken with Lemongrass and Thai Herbs (355 Baht) – the presentation was quite messy with all the crushed lemongrass on top of the chicken but the aroma of the lemongrass was quite soothing. Other than that, there is nothing to shout about.

Still got space for dessert? Of course! I had the Tub Tim Krob with Coconut Ice Cream (170 Baht), which came with not only just red rubies (water chestnuts), but also green and yellow ones and some coconut flesh. It was a trick on the palate as the coconut ice cream itself is sweet but the thick coconut milk was salty. Contrasting flavours in one simple dessert.