Jules eating guide to Malaysia & beyond: January 2010

Friday, January 29, 2010

Noodle Bowl - Abu Dhabi

There aren't many authentic Malaysian makan places in Abu Dhabi, besides Reem Island and Meena Cafe . But those two favourite makan places of ours can only, in the kindest way possible, be described as "canteens at construction sites (albeit super duper canteens!)", thus we are only left with Noodle Bowl and Al Wahda Mall's Noodle House !

Fried rice or CKT .. the choice is yours ;-)

KCL shared some of her Wantan Noodle soup with her ...

I couldn't resist trying their Nasi Lemak ... Alas it was slightly dissapointing, as the "triangle of taste" just didn't gel:-
1) Nasi - Not lemak-y
2) Sambal - Flavour hardly had any "kick"
3) Chicken - Average, but hardly impressive

The real reason why we got here ... XO Sauce

Steamed cod fish (Good) and Chiu Yim Squid (Really good!) , and stir fried veges too (Pricey!) ...

Hmmm ... more XO sauce!

A nice cincau dessert ... Complimentary :-)

A parting shot as we walked out ... Decent food, hit-and-miss on some dishes (Good char kuay teow, nice wantan, some nice dishes, but stay away from the nasi lemak) but pricey by Malaysian standards (Average by AD standards!) at RM30-40 per dish.

Monday, January 25, 2010

We love the food at Reem Island, Abu Dhabi!

Ah... a lunch treat at Reem Island one weekend ;-)

GPS: 24°29'30.6"N 54°24'6.7"E
(Updated! June 2010 - Thanks to an anonymous Dubai reader!)

Woo Kok, 12 AED, the flakey yam pastry used to be better, hope it improves ... and Lor Mai Kai, 8 AED, I prefer KCL's Precious Pea recipe! Pssst... its halal :-)

Wan Tan Mee, 15 AED or RM$13 ... Good! Served with pickled green chillis, we like!

Ham Yue (Salted fish) Fried Rice, 19 AED or RM$17. Really good! We liked the home-made-tasting sambal belachan it was served with ... Plenty of wok-hey (fire!).

Kaymer wins at Abu Dhabi again!

What a leaderboard ... Here's how the Abu Dhabi Golf Championships ended!
-21 M Kaymer (Ger)
-20 I Poulter (Eng)
-19 R McIlroy (NI)

Selected others:
-12 S Garcia (Sp)
-9 P Casey (Eng)
-2 C Montgomerie (Sco)

Two titles in three years? Kaymer is Mr Abu Dhabi!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Cloudy sunset over Abu Dhabi

One evening I gave a little workout to my Nikon D80 and Tokina 12-24mm lens

There are not many clouds over Abu Dhabi and the desert ... but I captured these, this evening ;-)

Experimenting with shooting in Aperture priority, -1EV

This is ... Abu Dhabi

My new and improved ... Garlic fried rice!

Anyone know why its better to use over-night / fridge-cold rice to fry rice?

Hmm ... thanks to bbG, I have now re-learned how to fry rice :-) Finally!

Har Meen - Prawn Noodles at home, Abu Dhabi

Prawn Mee ala bbG for lunch one day ;-)

Not even sambal was missing ... thanks bbG!

The perfect weekend lunch :-)

Friday, January 22, 2010

Abu Dhabi Golf Championship - Day 2

My 125 AED one day ticket for the Championship ;-) My first golf tournament, ever!

Welcome to Day 2 of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship!
Venue: Abu Dhabi Golf Club PO Box: 51234, Sas Al Nakl, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Tel: +971 2 5588990
Prize Money: US $2,200,000
Official Sanctioning Bodies: PGA European Tour

Player Field: 112 members from the European Tour and 8 specially invited players to produce a starting field of 120 players.
Format of Play: The Championship is played over 72 holes (4 rounds) of stroke play. After 36 holes the field was cut to the leading 65 players plus ties.

Sob, strictly no cameras, but I brought in my Blackberry Javelin, and managed a few piccies ;-)
I had many special memories from the day, here are just a couple ... (1) Sergio Garcia standing next to me, taking a drop after smacking a wild shot into the grandstand!

Me at my first golf tourny, nupe Aunty C, I wasn't playing there!

Memory no. (2) Sergio Garcia taking DRIVER from the fairway :-) BANG!

Here's the "super group" ... Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy, and Sergio Garcia

Camilo Villegas' caddy ;-) And ... a shot for the gals, Camilo himself! Yes, it was an amazing field ...

It was sooooooooooo hot, 30c and it was winter here! So, we stopped for some breakfast, my Steak Pie (30 AED) and really refreshing Czech lager, Pilsner Urquell (25 AED, a bargain!).

OK ... back to golf. Here's the monster 600 Yards, Par 5 second hole ...

I came to see AK, and he didn't dissapoint ... Anthony Kim rocks!

Memory (3) ... AK throwing a ball at a little boy next to me, he was so happy :-)

Hmmm ... memory (4) ... Following the other "super group" of Geoff Ogilvy, Lee Westwood and Paul Casey, that's 2 Major winners in that group!

I like The Mechanic too, this is Miguel Angel Jiminez. Where's his cigar!?

Finally, memory (5) ... Thongjai Jaidee just putted for a birdie, and as he walked past me, I said "Chuk dee, khap" to him, and he smiled and said "Khop khun khap" back.