McWings by McDonalds - UAE

McDonaldsArabia.com describes this as succulent chicken wings rolled in a mild spicy batter and served hot and crisp ...

Its good, its very good! Paid 8 AED for a 4 piece pack, which is about RM$1.50 per piece of succulent chicken. Here's a list of all the branches in the UAE.

Our chicken McWings are halal :-)

I had mine takeaway tonight, and had it with some rice :-) There's a choice of sauce as well, I had the Sweet and Sour.

Meena Cafe at Port Zayed - Closed until further notice

Tonight (15th January) at Meena Cafe, they will be serving the last meals (Curry mee special today!) until further notice. I just said goodbye to the chef :-(

This place will always hold special memories in the heart of my family as well as countless other Malaysians who arrived here in the desert ...

For the minutes that we were eating the delicious and honest food of Meena Cafe, we were transported back to a simpler place called home, even though we were 5,500 km away from home ... Curry mee, Nasi lemak, Fried tung fun, the countless chap-fan meals ... and a fantastic chicken rice.

Meena Cafe and all the Chefs and team who have served us, you shall be missed. Good luck!

Belgian Cafe : Pork ribs and Mussels in Abu Dhabi

Add: Intercontinental Abu Dhabi - Al Bateen, not far from the Corniche
Tel: +971 800 423 463
Reservation: Recommended ... The place was 2/3rds packed by the time we got there at 8:30pm, and was full by the time we left at 10pm!
Opening hours: Daily, 5pm - 1am
Entertainer: 2012 edition (Entertainer costs 350 AED or RM$280, and is a book of vouchers which allows us to dine for buy-one-get-one-free at many places in Abu Dhabi).

Yes, the bread's in the bag. Nice warm loafs to start, with good french butter.



I had the Leffe Brun (Dark - Some may prefer the pale Blonde instead), which was magnificent. A 50cl large "pint" is 42 AED or RM$33 which may not be cheap, but it was straight from the tap. Fresh, and perfect, so full of body. My BIL, LM, tried the Kriek (25 cl, 38 AED) which had strong hints of cherry, interesting!


Both the dishes we picked was from a strong recommendaton by DS, and he was spot on both times - I had the Mussels Provencale, 130 AED (RM$105). Fresh, very generous portion, and delicious broth / gravy with lots of chunky mediterranean bits such as aubergine, tomatoes, onions etc.


My mussels from ... Brussels :-)

LM chose the Liege Spare Ribs, yes PORK. It completely came off the bone, and the marinade was spectacular. I can't wait to come back :-) The fries (came along with our mains, we had a cone each) were great too, chunky and perfectly fried. Obviously, this being the Belgian-experience, it was served with mayo!

Yes ... the service was average at best, we had to ask for the menu, and were never asked if we enjoyed our meal (Despite me having a big camera and flash on me!), nor made to feel special. But the food makes up for this!

Romeo y Julieta : Short Churchill

Purchased from: AUH (Abu Dhabi International Airport), 2010
Humidor: 22°C and 70% RH


Enjoyed this with my BIL at Chamas, Intercontinental Abu Dhabi, last night, and it was good! Nice solid and even burn, and according to some professional reviews, it needs some aging (I have had mine for 2 years!). It exhibited a lot of creamy smoke, and I had no problems not re-lighting the darn thing, it stayed lit (Perhaps that was thanks to good aging!).

Ring gauge: 50
Size: Medium (12.4 cm)
Type: Robusto
Taste: Woody

Nespresso: Dhjana from Geneva, Switzerland

Look what my BIL brought back from Geneva :-)

Nespresso.com ... Dhjana is a blend of Brazilian, Colombian, and Costa Rican Arabica beans along with Indian Robusta, Intensity level of 8, and the beans are 100% AAA-certified (Nespresso's Sustainable Quality program) .

Yes, there are outlets at Abu Dhabi Mall, as well as in Dubai Mall, but nothing beats "home delivery" and produce specially hand-carried over from Switzerland :-)

Wan Tan Mee - Takeaway from Reem, Abu Dhabi

What does 15 AED (Or RM$13) buy you in Abu Dhabi these days?
I got a Wan Tan Mee (Kon Loh Mee) takeaway from Reem Island Cafe on Saturday, yumms!
Here's some directions on how to get there, and these are the GPS coordinates:
N 24° 29' 30.4"
E 54° 24' 04.4"


I asked for extra "cheng lat chiu" (Pickled green chilli) ...

Abu Shakra - Delicious Egyptian grilled lamb

We were gonna head to Damascus Flower tonight, but OK and DL changed their mind and asked me ... "Wanna try the lamb place?". Oh yes!

Add: Estiqal Street

Located: Opposite Eurocar in downtown Abu Dhabi, not far from New York University

Main intersection: Corniche Road, and turn at ADIA (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority)

Tel: +971 2 633 7849

A variety of dips, I think I counted 4 ... to enjoy with the bread (Ask them to warm up the bread if you wish).

Delicious, simple salad ... and bread.

Excellent! The grilled lamb, was succulent, smokey in flavour and cooked to perfection. Brought back memories of Hing Ket in Kampung Jawa, Klang.


The shrimp with an Egyptian curry-esque batter was good too :-)

The meal came up to about 250 AED or RM$200 for the 4 of us, not cheap but great quality and good service as well.

Heh heh ... Chilly Willy!?

As we walked towards our car, there's plenty of Mawaqif parking opposite New York University.

Beijing - Best chinese restaurant in Abu Dhabi

Yes ... its our favourite chinese restaurant in town again, Beijing!

GPS:

N 24° 28' 51.6"

E 54° 21' 53.8"

Located: Near Madinat Zayed

Tel: +971 2 621 0708

Our favourite ... the Mixed seafood with Tofu in Hot Pot (42 AED, or RM$35).

And I think its the first time we ordered the ... Steamed prawns with Garlic sauce, turned out to be the show-stealer. Excellent!! 48 AED, or RM$40.

Always seem to order the fresh and perfectly prepared Dry fried Green beans with Garlic (18 AED, or RM$15) too, but thats because its so darn yummy.

And ... MD and DS (and I!) were hungry, so we ordered an extra dish - Crispy Tofu Kung Pao style, 22 AED (RM$17). Good too!

Large steamed rice, is 25 AED. Small single-helping of rice is 5 AED. And a refillable pot of Jasmine chinese-tea is 5 AED. All in all, a yummy, satisfying and good value meal ... BURP!

McDonalds Big Breakfast & Premium roast coffee

Test shot early this morning inside the lift, armed and ready to go!

One morning, me and my D7000 + 40mm Micro f/2.8 headed out to McD's for breakies ...

McDonalds on the Corniche - Click here for a location map, its on the site of the ADNOC (Petrol station), next to Spinneys.

Premium roast coffee ... 5 AED, or RM$4, tastes strictly average. I prefer my home-made Nespresso! At least they serve some posh-French preserve / jam!

Big Breakfast with an Orange juice ... 11 AED, or about RM$8.

The masterpiece? The hash brown of course!

AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED now Made in China

Hmm, my AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED is 8 months old, and still nearly untouched!

Review: Previous write-up

Yes, it has VR, is my fastest focusing lens, fantastic sharpness, and build-quality ... but why is it now made in China!? According to Amazon and KenRockwell, the batch made from 2010/2011 is indeed .. Made in China.

No... I haven't hard problems with this lens, but I have hardly given it a good work-out. Its certainly more about customer perception and expectations I guess. Any how, here are a couple more shots ...